Howdy to everyone in the forum - great images in the gallery!! i am just starting to be intersted in Fractal art - do you all use different software to create the images? which fractal creator would you guys( and gals ) recommend for someone to start off with? any help is a great help thanks lee (Ddd)

You will find a list of programs on the Community page. I would recomend a freeware program to begin with. Any one of them are good and fun to work with. My personal favorite freeware program is Fractal Explorer. Marion

Many people are using Apophysis to make Flame Fractals these days. It is also a free program. My personal favorite is UltraFractal but it is not a free program. You should wander through the gallery and check, as many of the artists state what program they use. If you see one you really like and it doesn't say, you can IM the artist and ask. Most will be happy to tell you.

I use a number of them mostly here I post Apophysis it is a great program which can be used by itself or with gimp also free or with Ultra Ftractal which is not free nor is Xeno Dream. There is Fractal Exlporer, Sterling Ware, Xaos , Chaos Pro, V Chira, fractalus, Flight From Fractal, Tierazon Dust Fractal Snowflake Fractal just tons 99.9% are free programs and I think most are listed As Kansas said I'd suggest Apophysis plus get some of the free ones to try all of them what we like may end up not being your favorite ..Good Luck Carolyn

IMO, by far the most versatile and powerful fractal program you might try is Ultrafractal. It costs like $39 but that's VERY cheap compared to other graphics programs and well worth the money. You can make images with many layers of different fractals and fractal textures along with a very capable set of graphic editing tools like merging and opacity/gradient editing all resident in the program. There's a learning curve involved but TONS of help and tutorials and once you figure it out the sky's the limit on what you can do. You can also make compositions with multiple Apophysis flame layers along with straight fractal layers with total control of colors and transparencies. Apophysis was originally, and sort of still is, written as a plug-in for Ultrafractal and has a feature where you can export to UF in "upr" format. You can also make the backgrounds of flames transparent in UF simply by pulling a slider to transparent in the "Outside" coloring tab. UF also allows you to render your final images with anti-aliasing for a nice, smooth and polished look. Sheesh, I sound like a salesman! lol As Viv said - welcome to the "grand obsession" lol Rick

The best advice is go through the gallery and maybe some personal galleries and see what type of fractals you like. After you see what you like, use that program.

first ... welcome on board lee :). i did it the way the other said. i took a look to the different galleries and then i downloaded first all free fractal-programs g ... then i need many hours for testing ;) ... now i have three favorite fractal-programs: apophysis (free), chaoscope(free) and ultra fractal (not free). have fun and a nice day ulrike

good day to you all thanks for the response - i had already looked at a number of images in the Top20 and couldnt seem to find the names of the software used - obviously i searched the web for free software, it was the groups advice on which software was best - It looks like i will try Apophysis and poss Fractal explorer thanks very much and i hope to contribute to the group and gallery within the next few weeks! thanks lee (Ddd)

Just ask the artists via IM. I am sure, most of them will answer you :-) BTW: I am a fan of UF3, mostly because of the control I have over it. Every formula and colouring is readable text. And the possibilities for writing my own stuff are near to endless...