Duh. A bad case of delayed intelligence here.
FinalCut can composite images too, and has almost all of UltraFractal’s merge modes with a 1:1 correspondence. It was a simple matter to bring in the three Tendrillon layers and merge them with “Multiply” and “Difference” to get the exact look of the original UF image.
FinalCut can do […]

So far, so good. Shake composites the individual layers very well for straightforward merge modes (add, multiply, etc). Some of the modes in UF seem to be non-reproducible in Shake. For example, “Difference” would appear to be equivalent to ISubA (Subtract, but take the absolute value) yet the visual discrepancy is obvious.
[Update: see my entry […]

Most settings don’t produce smooth results. Particularly with magnification, all sorts of bad things happen. I’ll post movies of all results soon. My methodology is:

Create a 100 frame movie
Create keyframes at 1, 40, and 100
Start with default at frame 1; mild change of parameter at frame 40; large change of parameter at […]

I’m approaching the movie itself with preliminary POC (Proof Of Concept) steps. These will expose issues that need to be solved and refine processes to be efficient. I’ve completed the first POC, which has helped refine my ideas for what needs to come next. Current thinking, starting from first POC, is:
Study #1 - “Test the […]

One thing that attracts me to the premiere fractal artists’ work is their incredible use of texture — which is sadly lacking from my own work to date. They get stuff that looks like rusted metal, or crumpled paper, or diaphanous clouds. Whereas I’m getting pretty comfortable with UFs layers and merge modes, this texture […]

Here’s a picture of my studio. Big items are the gorgeous 30″ Cinema Display surrounded by a pair of Event 20/20bas speakers. LogicControl is underneath the monitor, although a Wacom tablet often lives there if I’m not actually mixing something.

Photon X25 keyboard is to the right; my big MR76 synth (that I basically just […]

As I mentioned in my Fractal Study #1 post, I was wiffle-waffling on a domain name for my fractal movie adventures. I’ve decided that
Fractanimus
captures what I’m after: Fractals — Animation — Music
…plus, it alliterates well. “Fractanimus, Fractanimus, oh how I love thee Fractanimus!”
Er, yeah. Right. Anyway, the domain now exists although it redirects […]

My first (modern) attempt at a fractal movie — albeit, only a short study.
The purpose was to “prove out” the various technologies involved, and expose technical challenges. I’ve definitely succeeded, and even came up with something that I think is kind of interesting. It’s on the road to achieving my four quality points that make […]

I’ve wanted to create a fractal movie ever since I first played with fractals in the late ’80s. I think there’s a (small but real) market for this. I also think that the move to HD opens up interesting possibilities, given the relative lack of HD content.
So: my mission now is to create a “feature […]

You’d think that after nearly 44 years I’d figure out that making future predictions — in writing no less! — is an absolutely assured way of failing to achieve them.

One a day plus vitamins. Ha!

Immediately upon starting this year, things went a bit awry with my business. Nearly three months later, I’m finally poking […]