Hi! I’m “sita” who always think about how to minimize my jobs.
This time, I wanted to create my own desktop image for my laptop, and I was looking for an easy way to create original and cool images, and I found a way to create mysterious images called “fractal art”, which I’d like to introduce.
First, here is the wallpaper image I currently set as my desktop
How do you think? I got the image which at least strongly captures my heart!
In this article, I’ll write the way to create such a mysterious image, which even I, with little artistic ability, could do.
What is a Fractal Art?
To give a simple explanation (that doesn’t seem to be written by tech guy), it is a pattern in which many same shapes are lined up. It is often a mysterious figure that appears to have many identical figures lined up, whether seen from close up or from a distance. The following link will help you understand it.
Fractal shapes can be observed frequently in nature, such as in biology and astronomy. If you are interested in fractals, you should study them more or less. This must be exciting.
After you know fractals a little, you may think “the desktop image I showed at first doesn’t look like a fractal at all!” However, if you connect the curves together for a very very long time and look at it from a distance, you get a mysterious image like that.
Anyway, everything is ok if only I can create cool images.
The fractal image editor Apophysis 7X
From here, I will explain the drawing software that created the fantastic image. This time, I used a software called “Apophysis 7X.”
1. First, click the green Download button on the link below to download the software. (You will have to wait about 5 seconds for the download starting.)
2. After the download is completed, unzip the file.
3. Double-click Apophysis7X.exe in the unzipped file to start it. (For 64bit PC, it is better to run Apophysis7X64.exe.)
Now you can use Apophysis 7X. Installation is not required, so it’s easy.
Generate random fractal
When Apophysis 7X starts, the fractal images are randomly generated at first. Click the name on the list left side to see the first generated images. Find your favorite image from the list.
Most images don’t look pretty at all, like the above screenshot. So it’s a bit hard.
In order to find your favorite images more efficiently, let’s set the rules for random generation. Go to “Tools ⇒ Settings ⇒ Random” to set the random generation rule.
For the first steps, adjust “Forced symmetry” to give symmetry to the shape, and “Random batch” to set the number of generation and file name.
As an example, I set the “Type” of “Forced symmetry” to “Dihedral” and the “Order” to “3.”
This time, I chose this image. You might think, “Oh, the image was so dirty and covered with many little dots!.” However, the software just skimped rendering power until the final output in order to prevent PC becomes too slow. No problem.
Modify the image you chose
After you have selected your favorite image, you can fine-tune it. With your favorite image displayed, click on the button labeled “fx” above.
Then you’ll see an editing window like the one below. Tweak and arrange the triangles with looking at the preview in the upper right corner. I don’t know details about how the image is generated yet, so I can’t give you any advice. However, try moving the triangles and vertices to create a pattern that strongly fascinates you. As other software, you can use “Ctrl+Z” to undo the operation, so try various things and undo repeatedly to create an image that makes you crazy!
You can also change the color pattern.
You will see an editing window like the above figure, and you can change the color pattern of the fractal by choice from the selection box below.
Render your image
After the image modification is complete, it’s time to output the your masterpiece beautifully. First, click on the blue gear button on the left.
In this window, you can input following things.
- “Destination” : Where you save the image
- “Size” : Resolution of the output image
- “Quality” : How accurate
Make sure that the ‘Resource usage’ (RAM usage) does not turn red. For Quality settings, Density 4000, Filter Radius 0.7, Oversample 2 as shown in the image is recommend.
When the settings are complete, click the ‘Start’ button below.
When you see a screen like this, the rendering has been executed. The time shown in the ‘Remaining’ section below is an estimate of how long the process will take.
It depends on your PC specs, and of course if you have high quality images, it may take a while. You should be patient. On my XPS13 9300 laptop, which was pretty good at the time of writing this article, it took about 5 minutes to generate this image. And it takes about 30 minutes to render it as 4K. So, it’s possible to do it on a laptop, but it’s better to use a desktop PC.
This software also supports multi-threading. You can find the setting in “Tools ⇒ Settings ⇒ General”. It will save you a lot of time.
This is the final product of the image. The generated images have transparent background, so it is recommended to use other image editing software to add the background.
Gallery
I also show you other my works here. You can make many fractal arts in short time after you are used to operating the software.
Conclusion
This is the end of my introduction to creating fantastic images “fractal art”. It’s very attractive that you can create your own fantastic images even if you have little artistic ability! When you have trouble with making some designs, please try this method!
