dailymeh:

You know Mandelbrot, right? It’s a set of points that, if you draw its outline, produces a 2D fractal, like the Sierpinski triangle, but more visually interesting.

Well, someone found a 3D equivalent dubbed the “mandelbulb”. The above is a cross-section showing the interior of the structure. This thing produces incredible views, and you can keep varying parameters, zooming in and out, taking cross-sections, iterating, and so on to get infinite variations of the thing. It’s awesome.

To be precise, it’s probably not the true analogue of the 2D mandelbrot set, but it is a very impressive approximation:

As exquisite as the detail is in our discovery, there’s good reason to believe that it isn’t the real McCoy. Sure, there are incredible patterns, and I for one could be fooled at first glance. However, it would seem that the real thing will have even more exquisite detail, surpassing even the pictures we’ve seen! (That’s if it exists, but hey, there seems less doubt about that now!)

Evidence it’s not the holy grail? Well, the most obvious is that the standard quadratic version isn’t anything special. Only higher powers (around after 3-5) seem to capture the detail that one might expect. The original 2D Mandelbrot has organic detail even in the standard power/order 2 version. Even power 8 in the 3D Mandelbulb has smeared ‘whipped cream’ sections, which are nice in a way as they provide contrast to the more detailed parts, but again, they wouldn’t compare to the variety one might expect from a 3D version of Seahorse valley.

That means the biggest secret is still under wraps, open to anyone who has the inclination, and appreciation for how cool this thing would look. For sure I’ll still keep looking. For those people who take up the search, I wish you the best of luck. Until then, we’ll still have great fun exploring this object to the right I think!

Check out the gallery for lots of pretty pictures.

Imagine if they used this stuff to teach about trigonometry, geometry, imaginary numbers and so on. Math class suddenly became a hell of a lot more interesting! I know I’d be a lot more motivated to dive into hairy formulas if I could relate to it visually, like this.

Looking for something fun this Friday night? Join Reel13 & Rooftop Films in Williamsburg for the Animation Block Party. The audience will vote on Reel13 shorts for broadcast. Reel13 will have a table set up at the venue and a few volunteers helping to hand out ballots and talk about Thirteen. Let me know if you would like to volunteer. Free booze after the event at Matchless! Contact me for details at allend@thirteen.org