I'm sure the topic has been discussed before my time here, but I would like to hear some views on post work. That is, there seems to be some weight behind the notion that post work is somehow impure, or it defaces the natural beauty of fractal art. And yet so many images here are clearly well worked to wonderful effect. When, if ever, does post work detract from the Art? Cheers, Tim

Post work only detracts if it is not well done, IMHO. An artist should use the tools s/he feels comfortable with, or wishes to challenge themselves with. And...oh yes...this has been discussed many times on this forum, look at the archives!

Thanks Tres. Holy smokes! Has it ever, ad nauseum. I suppose I should have searched the forum before I posted my question, ... but that would have been too logical. I will declare that I favor any type of processing that enhances the art. Sure it can be a crutch, but some of us need crutches. And if a piece is posted that has been post-processed please don't sneer. Remember that there are many out there that sneer at all computer generated images. Tim

Fractals are often delicate, and can very easilly be ruined by postwork. On the other hand, effects such as "levels" in Photoshop or "Clarify" in paintshop rarelly detracts from an image. Postwork can be used to add textures and layer several renders ontop of eachother. Whenever working with Ultra Fractal I tend to render in PSD format so that I can alter the hue/saturation/value and opancy in photoshop for each layer in postproduction.

"Fractals are often delicate, and can very easilly be ruined by postwork." Define "ruined."

I've met enough people who didn't know what fractals were to realize it's not about how you got there. I'm a total fractal geek but I know art lovers don't care about how complex my formula was, or how many iterations it took to achieve my level of detail, or whether or not I created my piece using a single layer or fifty layers. They care about what it looks like at the end of it all. They only care about the final product and that's all that matters. Either create a fractal or create art. However, don't create art with a bunch of magic rules, restrictions, and boundries in an effort to impress a small niche of people who may have an underlying appreciation for your work. It only puts a damper on your creativity. Be free.

Excuse me, but if I add a layer that shifts the color space of my work in UF then I'm doing postwork. No less and no more than if I take the exact same image into GIMP or PS and do the exact same color shift there. It is absurd and meaningless to proclaim "post work" starts where the fractal generator ends - every single fractal program in existence today allows you to do certain amounts of post work right there in the fractal engine itself. Getting a kaleidoscope effect via a mapping transform is just as much (or as little) "post work" as generating the exact same effect in a paint program. If I modify the gradient transfer function, then I'm doing "postwork". Wenever you have more than one layer and you merge them somehow you're doing "postwork". Unless you're producing black-and-white images for the sole purpose of outlining the shapes of certain mathematical sets in the complex plane, you've already "post worked" your image. Computers make fractals. Humans make fractal art. If the latter somehow "ruins" the former, then there is nothing conceivably wrong about that.

I couldn't care less one way or the other, but was real interested in the comment by Daqfari, "...create a fractal or create art." So if someone is able to pull of an incredible looking fractal that totally blows your mind without doing any postworking, it's not art? My response is stop putting the issue in nice little, neat, organized, categorized boxes and instead "be free."

Aeires; Thanks for the response. When I made the comment "Either create a fractal or create art", I didn't mean a raw fractal couldn't be art. It very well can be. I was refering more to the creation process.

Thanks for the clarification.

Can we compromise and call this art "Creative Fractalling". This covers a host of ideas (regardless of any 'postwork')and it has a certain ring to it don't you think? ;o)