Hi I was considering buying UltraFractal. I've seen some beautiful things done with it so i downloaded the demo. But everything looks like it's just part of a Mandelbrot system. What am I missing?? TIA Jim

Hi Jim, I think you are missing a lot! There are hundreds of formulae in the public database, and many of the Mandelbrot formulae have Julia switches so that you can choose seeds visually from anywhere on the Mandy! UF has a huge learning curve, so the best thing is to follow the excellent tutorials that are available in the help section. They are really some of the best tutorials I have seen anywhere. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or post them here in the forum. Vivian (tresamie)

Thanks Vivian I appreciate your time to answer this dumb question. Must have been tired (or LAZY) when I first looked at it. After I left this message, I explored more - and yes - all the information was there (help & PDF manual - which I think are the same). I used to teach programming (but am not super at math :( - prefer art!) so even the - well I'm not sure what they call it in UF - but the script for development looked familiar. At any rate I saw enough and explored enough (including a lot of sites) to make an easy decision to purchase. SO I DID! I KNEW there had to be more to it. I'm a software junkie but have enjoyed fractals since the first I saw - maybe back in the 80's. There are a lot of free things out there such as Apophysis and others. I very recently bought XenoDreams also but I don't think it gives you the control to write your own formulas exactly like UF but it will create 3D objects to put into my myriad of 3D programs (Lightwave, Cinema 4D, Rhinoceros, Bryce, Vue, Poser, etc. - told you I was a software junkie). The learning curve won't be too bad after learning 3d applications. So thanks again for your reply. hope I can contribute here as well (In time!) Jim

You should consider joining the UltraFractal mailing list. (Warning, they generate 50 emails/day or more so maybe you should think about getting a separate msn or yahoo email account just for the list). The people there are friendly and helpful. The formula contributors often ask for beta testers, and usually alert the mailing list when they add new formulae, sending a few demo parameters, etc. I have used Bryce to display a few of my fractals, and I have seen others (jockc, for instance) who use other 3d programs. Have fun, but beware, UF is addictive...remember to eat and sleep occasionally. :)

Hi Jim - I've got a walk thru tutorial that I've written that you might find helpful in learning UF. It goes into stuff like making and editing gradients, layering, texturing, making mask layers and also how to use the "mode switch", which is invaluable for finding the right seed numbers to get a fractal formula to "spiral up". Just send me an IM and I'll send it to you - or you can download it from Panny Brawley's WAY cool site - http://www.fractaldaydreams.com/renderosity_tutorial.zip c-ya! Rick

Rykk, that's a fantastic tutorial. It should be linked under tutorials or on the community site! Viv

Thamks to both of you. I'm 58 (retired educator) and have Multiple Sclrosis and just hope I have enough time and energy left in my life to learn at least SOME of what I'd like to learn. It's ALL addictive! I was intrigued from the time I saw the first Apple computer!!! Thanks again. Jim

Thamks to both of you. I'm 58 (retired educator) and have Multiple Sclrosis and just hope I have enough time and energy left in my life to learn at least SOME of what I'd like to learn. It's ALL addictive! I was intrigued from the time I saw the first Apple computer!!! Thanks again. Jim

Attached Link: http://www.ultrafractal.org/tiki-index.php

There are many formulae public available which are not a part of the public UF dBase. Read the article I wrote about that. Open the webpage; click on Articles in the Menu; Title: UF General Background Info. There you will find a lot of important information. You can make a copy of it and paste it in your word/text editor. All the best. Jos.

Wow! Thanks Jos. Hehe. You had no intention of me just reading that ONE artile did you? I copied several and explored the site some. I'm interested in knots also. SOMEWHERE I have a lot of knot resources also. Thanks for the help. Some NICE art on that site too! Jim

Attached Link: http://formulas.ultrafractal.com/

Did you do the download from the formula in the right way? Open UF>>Options>>Update Public Formulas>>Full formula collection (1st time). After that you can do it weekly (weekly update) or Monthly (monthly update). But you can also take a look what formulae are added as real new formulas or updated to the dBase. Open the webpage and click on: view list of changes. All the best. Jos

Viv - thanks! I made it to help folks get past the frustrations I faced that made me quit UF from around 99-00 to Jan 2003. I had asked Nick about putting it in the community page but never got it figured out. Rendo "owned" the "rights" to it for 90 days after I wrote it, so things were fuzzy. I'll go look into it again. It's been real cool hearing about the help some folks have gotten from it! c-ya! Rick