When I see a fractal thathas a luminousity to it and it looks "lit" , how is the lighting created? A stupid question I suppose but one I'd love to get an answer to...such as which programs can you get these lighting effects in, or is it all done with colours. Can someone help me with this info? jools

Could you give an example of such a pic that caught your eye?
Some programs such as Xenodream produce '3D' fractals, and luminosity is part of the 'lighting' setup available. Other programs such as UltraFractal are 2d, and any 'luminosity' is due to either the coloring scheme chosen, or to post-production work in another program.
Also, if a particular piece catches your interest, write an IM to the artist of that piece. Most of us welcome questions and comments on our techniques, and are willing to share information freely.

Attached Link: http://www.arcanefractals.com/mythology.shtml

Hi Jools, My experience is mostly with flame fractals here. If you look at my flame fractal titled Mount Olympus, specifically the cloud formation, is this what you mean by being "lit"? If so this lit effect was bought about by increasing the "brightness" and "vibrancy" values (in Apophysis). When I first rendered this flame I nearly discarded it because it was extremely dull. By increasing the above settings the image was transformed. However the gradients themselves also determine if areas are lit plus the form or density of the flame fractal itself. So really the interaction of these factors determine if areas are lit/highlighted. This is where all the time is spent experimenting and playing with gradients and the lighting controls. Hope this info helps you a bit. Fran

I'm not sue what sort of fractals you are used to creating or wich program you use, but I can think of several ways to use lighting in fractals. In Ultra Fractal, there's a coloring algorithm called "lighting" wich can be used together with some formulas (like for instance Slope PopcornJulia). You can also add lighting by using effects in Photoshop, like KPT materializer or Flaming Pear's Laquer. I'm still abit unclear about what you mean by "lit", but this is what I interpreted it as.

Thanks very much Rosemary, Fran, and kinggoran. All your advice was invaluable. Rosemary, a fractal I can give as an example is this week's featured fractal in the fractal community, Stargrave. I have been using Fractal Explorer and am trying Apophysis ( I know it will be fantastic when I get the hang of it and can manage to render something, but I think that will require a new computer to give me the memory to do it. I've done the tute there and LOVE that program.) Fran, Mount Olympus is EXACTLY what I mean :) thank you for that. One new and speedy PC desperately needed here. KingGoran, yes you understood what I meant alright, and I'll look into those filters for photoshop. Ultra Fractal is also on my shopping list and I believe it compliments Apophysis nicely. Thanks to you all for your very helpful advice. Helene A quote from somewhere that seems to suit this site..... "No box is big enough to contain the imagination"

Ah. I see what you're after. Yes, for something like this, the primary starting point would be to choose a coloring gradient that contrasts a brilliant bright color with a darker background color. Pure clear reds and yellows against the black, in the example you used. Also, depending on the program you use, you can increase the saturation and contrast within the program itself, or do it in a second graphics proggie as post-work.
There should be many coloring gradients available...check in the free stuff link in the Forum banner above.

Thanks Rosemary. :) I didn't think those effects were possible without some external lighting program. The controls for gradients etc take so long to change on my pc that I think the whole experience of Apophysis will have to wait for a more powerful machine. Fractal Explorer doesn't give me this problem, but I have yet to see anything like the "lit" effects from Fractal Explorer. Regards, Helene