What, Who, and Why

Want to have a little fun? How about an inspirational escape? Enter the world of Flame Fractals through the program that continues to gain popularity. I'm talking about Apophysis, and I'll explain why you might want to add it to your program arsenal, if you haven't already. This article is not intended as a tutorial, nor will I go into an explanation of what flame fractals are. Links to such information will be provided at the end of this article.

Apophysis is a stand-alone Flame Fractal generator created by Mark Townsend [Renderosity artist WUB], stemming from the work of Scott Draves, who originally wrote the Fractal Flame algorithm back in 1992, and relying on the Delphi code of Ronald Hordijk's screen saver program. Though Mark is no longer actively involved in its development, the Apophysis project continues through an active mail-list testing new beta versions and a core team of developers at sourceforge.

Piotr Borys, one of the current developers, has been involved in Apo�s development for over a year. He states, "That Apo has a great GUI improvement, plus it's really much faster now. Besides, it has a new experimentations field: parameterized variations." You can download version 2.0 from Apophysis, or check out the current beta at SourceForge.net.

The program's ease of use is quickly matched by the sheer fun of it. As anyone who has used it will tell you, it can be extremely addictive. It is a journey of discovery that can inspire and help in creation of fantastical fractal works of art. It is also an excellent tool for creation of background imagery for any project.

The Journey Begins

Let's take a look, shall we? When you open the program, the interface you see contains a list, or batch, of flame parameters on the left side, automatically generated at start-up. The window on the right shows a preview of the currently highlighted parameter. You can explore this batch, and even run more random batches until you find something of interest to you. But that's only part of it.

Mutations and Variations

There is also a settings panel that can be used to control the type of random batch that results, by setting different variations, or even forced symmetry options. Of course, you can also explore different variations, by way of a drop-down list from the main window, or by using the Mutation window. The Mutation window shows the current flame in the middle, and eight mutations surrounding it. Clicking in this window brings even more mutations, and is a great way to explore a particularly interesting flame.

Tweakin' the Night Away

Now the real fun begins. Once you find that ultra-groovy starting flame, you can open the Transform Editor window, and tweak it till it's just the way you want it. This can be done by pulling and moving the triangles (transforms) that appear in the window. There are, of course, more options here, but this info is provided in the help file included with the program.

Groovy Gradients

Just when you thought you couldn't go any further with your discovery, you realize the effects of color. It is nothing short of amazing how much you can change a flame, simply by playing with gradients. There are also options here, including rotation, hue, and saturation to control the coloring of the flame. The journey is endless.

Endnotes

Here we have another great program in open source, and one that keeps getting better and better. What lies ahead for it? Well, in the words of Piotr Borys: "Every one of us has some vision of its development. Personally I'd like to see Apophysis more configurable (although it's quite powerful in this matter already), better scripting, better color management, and animation support." Why not give it a try today? There is nothing to lose, and it may just be what you have been looking for. With my eternal gratitude to Mark Townsend (for making this possible), Piotr (for the quotes), and everyone else that has had a hand in the development of Apophysis, I hope this article serves well in spreading the word.

We invite you to visit the following links:

• Apophysis
• Apophysis tutorials provided by Renderosity's Fractal Community.
• Scott Drave's site, Cosmic Recursive Fractal Flames
• Get involved by joining the Apophyis mailing list.

Nick's Notes is a regular featured column with Renderosity Staff Writer Nick C. Sorbin [nickcharles].