I'm not positive, but i think the price per performance you will get out of a dual core pentium will be higher than a celeron. Don't go for the top model, as you pay a premium price for those. Maybe find someone with a new celeron chip, and find out render times on there.

Rick,

There are no dual core celerons. you will probably want to go to a Pentium D. Pentiums also have a higher cache, so the processor can store more info on the processor, and doesn't have to access the memory as much if it is doing repeditive computations.

i find that a lot of the mathmatical significance of the some of variations are lost when the triangle are moved and squished.

I don't think apophysis is an easy program to create art with. it is very easy to create images, but art takes time and understanding. For me i think there is a lot of crap flames out there. if it cost something, then i think the average apophysis user would be better. There would also be a user manual though.

Diversity in fractal art, and therefore the programs used, is essential to fractal art being accepted more by the public. UF creates some very nice images.

Keith, you have a distinctive style, and i think i would enjoy your art with whatever program you use. You have obviously put time and effort into UF. if you are willing to do the same with apophysis i know you will impress a lot of people. That being said, whether you jump the bandwagon or not, don't give up UF!

Michael

Thanks!

I'm reading about colour theory now. Thanks sharkrey! From your perspective, Keith, this is one horrible art class. Very good point! What good is it to have a fractal art hobby, and not want to learn? Of course if you are here on a social level, and are here to make fractal images, and forget about art, then i can see people taking offence. Once again i have gotten myself into a discussion that will never be solved on a whole. we can only try to do better individually, and encourage good art. Michael

I really don't want to offend anyone either. i am part of the commenting problem too. awesome, cool etc. some people even ask for critisism and don't get very much. i guess it is a real shame. maybe we should have a special forum area for critisism. we might have to lable it with Violence though. Michael

I don't understand why people could be offended from another person's personal preferences. Why don't you IM people and tell them that in your opinion they could do better? If you are willing to be helpful, and do what most people wont do, then that is awesome (to use a 'commentable' word). If they can't take that, then why are they here? Let them be offended. Michael

Two weeks! Wow! I'm glad you took the time. My longest render was six days on a Pentium D. it was a 3200 X 2400 @ 100,000 quality. It is such a joy (and a relief) when a long render turns out! Michael

Pretty cool! You did a great job on that! must have taken a long time to render such long animations! Nice music too! Michael

Keith: What are your views on creativity? You find that there is a lack of creativity in flames. Is there also a lack of creativity in other styles too? I do see that flames are quite often similar to one another. In my opinion (and i don't mean to offend you Craig or anyone else), but i find random generations and mutations just don't do it for me. There has to be something else. Intellegent design. Craig: You asked if "can we step it up a bit, and try creating more cool things?" I think that was a leading question. It was more like a calling of all apo artists to step it up. The obvious answer is yes. That means doing something different. You like your style, but you cannot make anyone else like it. if you want more views, you have to give people what they want. There is so much more to apophysis than mutations. I've never used a mutation on any of my flames i have posted. Michael

The way i see it, if the fractal gallery was split, then there wouldn't be as many people looking at the apo thumbnails. Many people would only go to the UF gallery and no any other fractal program. You may find that 30 viewings drop significantly. I think all fractal images belong together. The reason i like fractals is because it amazes me what math can do. There is so much more to good fractal art than what program is used. Creativity, and being different are so important to what i look for in a fractal. There are apophysis users who do get 50+ viewings. I have, and so have you Craig. There are, however UF images that get more recognition than i think they should deserve. If i were more social, and had a huge network of R'osity friends, then i am sure i could get more viewings, and spend less time making fractals too. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being here on more of a social level though. It is a community after all. I think UF does deserve a lot of credit though. it is a powerful program, that can create awesome fractals. My only suggestion is to try something new with apophysis. be creative. Michael

Keith: I would not consider your words to be harassment. I found it very funny. I think there are people who want a special place for apo art, and that is ridiculous. However, I think you did misinterpret Kid_Fisto. He said: "so what's the problem with apo? any ideas? can we step it up a bit, and try creating more cool things? " He didn't want special treatment, he wanted apo artists to be more creative. I think that is the answer to the lack of flames in the Hot 20. Now there are problems with the Hot 20, but that is another issue altogether. And also Keith, i think it is called a Daily Deviation. You might be watching too much Jeopardy :)

I use apophysis without UF. I never really new that it was designed to be used with UF. I only found fractal art last August though. I think UF does get a lot of recognition in the fractal community. However, i also find that the artists are more professional, and present their art a lot better. I hope no apo users are offended by this. UF is much more commercially viable. It is no wonder that it is therefore more popular. It is up to us apo artists to create better art to change that. I see lots of camplaints about a lot of UF images being the same. Just the same old spiral. I think there are UF artists who need more creativity, and do something different. I hope no UF users are offended by this. But how is this different from apophysis? There are a lot of flames that have very little aestetic qualities to them posted here. Not much different from the random generated flames found on startup. Michael