OH! Thanks so, so much, guys, for including my piece in this week's edition! I'm honoured!

It's okay, Joe, you did the right thing when you made this apology, and besides--it happens to the best of us sometimes, whether we mean it to, or not--and we already know you didn't mean it to happen. I second Titia's response--you really are a gem!

I think I shall enter this too! Here's my first entry, and what I believe is likely my best Terragen piece, ever!
Dreaming of Middle Earth

Duncan,
I use Ultra Fractal, and do many fractals that are very strongly 3D in looks; I get the 3D effect by using color in very deliberate and calculated ways. You should take a look through my gallery, as I've got many 3D fractals in there.....well, I certainly  would call them 3D, at least....just go back a page or two, and you'll find them!
                                                                                                      Daff / Michelle

Wow! Thanks so much for including my art again this week! I really am honored to have my work included in such a grouping!  :D

Thank you so much for including my Night In Fanghorn Forest in this week's edition! I am honored that you have!  :woot:

Wow! Thank you for such an honour! I'm thrilled to have one of my fractals in this group, and since it's my first time to have this experience, it's all the more special! Congratulations too, to everyone else chosen--I know for sure, as Fraxa said, that I'm in very good company!

I do believe that Apophysis is a wonderful tool with which to create fractal art, and I use it, as well as UF, all the time. Sometimes I combine them, and sometimes not, but one thing I have noticed--for me, it's more difficult to come up with something really nice in Apo than it is in UF. I have to put out more effort, most of the time, to get an image I'm happy with in Apophysis, but when I do get one I really like, it's usually something that makes me sit up and go "Wow!". Art is so subjective--what one person thinks is fantastic, another person may see as just weird, or not worth looking at. Fractals are indeed odd things, and I've come to realize just how infinite they are, and how incredible this whole art form really is. The flames in Apophysis are, to me, something that you take and make art out of--when you first see them come up, after running the script, they're usually not much to look at--but then the artist takes them and turns them into a fractal art image--whether it's beautiful, or strange, or just something off-the-wall different. As someone else said, it's another tool in the toolbox. Each tool used to create fractal art has its place, just as each tool in painting or drawing, or any other art form has its place. The paint or charcoal isn't the art--the image you make out of it is. Same thing with flames and other mathematical formulas. The formulas aren't the art, but the images made from them are indeed art, no matter which formulas or algorithms you choose to use, flames or otherwise. And honestly, I love having so many tools available to me, to see just how many wonderful images are possible! It's a fractal world, and I love it!

Heather, Ahh, thank you for this more detailed explanation, as I was still having problems figuring it out yesterday, after reading your message to me. Now I can go back and try it again, and I will also go to his website to take a look at all of that as well. I'm trying to learn as much as I can in UF, as I love using it, and after trying several different programs, I feel that UF, to me, is much easier to use than some of the others, and gives you more control over more things. That's just personal experience, though I do also enjoy using Apophysis, and am now learning to use the two together. So I thank you greatly for this information, and will let you know how it goes! Happy rendering! Michelle / Daffodil

I have to agree with fractalinda, and I had also wondered what the heck the numbers were for when they got posted as a response to some of my art. I really, honestly just didn't like it, if you want to know the truth. I had no understanding of it, and didn't want to have to try and figure it out. Basically, it left me a bit rumpled in my feelings, in that I really couldn't understand why someone wouldn't just leave an ordinary comment that could be read, understood, and appreciated, whether totally enthusiastic, or gently critical. I appreciate my viewers greatly, every one of them, and when commenting, try to leave them with my heartfelt response to their work, and some encouragement, which we all need! A series of numbers just doesn't cut it--it's not nearly as personal, not understandable, and therefore, just not the same as receiving a more heartfelt response. Linda's right--if we wanted no actual feedback, we surely wouldn't be in here, but in our own private sites somewhere else. I'm sorry to hear that it had to come to banning for him, but hopefully, one day, he'll learn something from the experience...hopefully.

Well, at present, I'm in, but the first time I was able to get back in wasn't until this morning (Oct.5th), and the site went down, at least for me, on Oct. 3rd! I tried everything I knew, and nothing for two days! Even now, it's slow, and I'm afraid it might go down again. My problem is, I'm paying to be able to do 3 uploads per day, and I'd really rather not keep missing days! Gah! I hope they get this permanently fixed, and soon as possible, whatever the heck the problem was/is. At least I now know it wasn't just my end of things....