A colleague of mine (photographer) wants to try out fractals so he can combine them with his photo's. Now, I use UF, but I'm not sure if that is just a Windows-program or would run just as smoothly on a Mac. Can anyone advise me (and him) in this? What is a good Mac-fractalprogram and can the fractals from it be easily imported in PhotoShop? Thanks! Yvonne

Attached Link: http://www.fractalarts.com/ASF/Download.html

I don't have a Mac, but I know that Spangfract is written specifically for the Mac. The link has a list of a few programs that can be used on Mac. I think UF needs to have Mac running in the Virtual PC mode and some people have problems with it and others don't. HTH Tres

spangfract works in the classic mode of OS X and with OS 9 ... you can actually use M$ Virtual PC on the mac, get Ultra Fractal and other wintel programs to get working, but on a 800MHz Mac it reduces the speed and acts like a PII 366MHz ... for OS X i recommend the program i use, which is artmatic from UI Software, which fractals are easy to import to photoshop for it generates PCT files ... the program artmatic also has the ability to import photo's ,,, and if the man in question isn't all mac minded like i am, he can connect a wintelly to the mac, and share the files merry xmas Harmen

For what it's worth, I ran UF on a Mac under Virtual PC for years, however when the Macs evolved from OS9 to OSX the performance of VPC went down the toilet bigtime. On the same machine, I found it to be something like 5x slower under OSX than it was under OS9. The only MacOS native fractal programs that I really like are KPT Fraxplorer/Fraxflame, but they're a tad pricy (now part of KPT Collection). I never found anything else that was even remotely suited for creating "art" (as opposed to mathematically oriented fractal images). I eventually gave up on using my Mac as a fractal platform and bought a fast PC, but I can't see many people doing that, especially a beginner. That said, once I got a PC I stopped looking for Mac-based programs and settled down with UF and Apophysis. I wish your friend luck. Blatte

I use SpangFract, but it has taken months for me to feel a little bit comfortable - there is no documentation and although very powerful it is intimidating - from what i see browsing through the gallery, no one else seems to use it

I see Spangfract occasionally...I know Luc2 uses it, but I think most are on PC, not Mac.

also, if your friend can run X11 (on Panther) the Gimp can render some fractal images - save as a jpg and import into Photoshop or use the Gimp

I am SO frustrated by the absence of a high-quality art fractal program for the Mac--! What's up with that? I shouldn't have to run PC emulation software in order to get results like the ones in the Fractal Gallery. Why has no one written one for the Macintosh platform? I have all of the free ones and they're interesting toys, compared to the stuff that's done by the top PC programs. This is just not acceptible. Patricia

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1144869

Yesterday I stumbled over Fracture - here in the gallery (see link) - I googled it and it seems to be a pure mac programme... Since I have a PC I did not follow it any further...

Ciao,
Andreas

Fracture makes lovely basic fractals, but I don't quite "get" the way it's set up, as a screensaver, rather than as a desktop app. I did DL the PDF and will read up on it.

Usually, the fractals that are most attractive to me are the ones that go a giant step beyond the basic flat fractal and appear to be 3D (depth) or that are more complex than flat fractal images ususally are--ie. the ones made by those PC-only commercial apps. I'm not sure that Fracture can do those.

Is it possible that they could also be produced somehow from flat fractal images inside graphics apps? (a 2 step process, IOW) If so, then are there any tutorials for working with fractals inside, say, Photoshop, in order to add depth/complexity to them?

Patricia

Message edited on: 01/29/2006 13:34

Attached Link: http://www.artmatic.com/

go to enclosed site Patricia, there you'll find what your looking for, for the mac

Thank you--that program looks interesting, if complex to learn. And a bit expensive, but it seems to be the only full-featured program for the Mac, so I'll just have to save up for it. Does anyone know of a 'Rosity fractal artist who's using ArtMatic? In the Fractal Gallery, I've looked in vain for information on what program the artist used to create the images. I'd like to talk to an ArtMatic user and find out whether their images are entirely created in the app or if they involve manipulation with Photoshop. The app's site doesn't seem to have any information on this aspect either. Patricia

Attached Link: http://www.undisclosed-design.com

Well of course, look in my gallery, i am using Artmatic and there is an Artmatic gallery with a forum @ Rendero too. You can also take a look at my site, Patricia *smile* and at the site i have posted here at the previous message. All the fractals i make with that program, i use Photoshop to put them together to make my extra-ordinary and unique designs... Have fun watching, viewing and studying Harmen

Wonderful! You are doing those very complex fractals that I'm interested in learning to do. I'm happy to see a whole gallery just for ArtMatic, even if it's small at present. Are there any tutorials that you know of for working with fractal renders in Photoshop? I keep seeing things in the fractal gallery that look like 3 dimensional fractal forms or that feature a fractal that looks as if it's bulging out of the picture plane. I have a new version of Photoshop, but am not finding tutorials to do that kind of manipulation of the image. (The ones I see in the gallery are usually done in XenoDream or UltraFractal) Thank you for your help! I'm a rank beginner at both fractals and at Photoshop (though I can do elementary postwork on Poser renders at present) Patricia

Attached Link: http://uisoftware.com/PAGES/index.html

At the URL, i posted here are the documentation d also a demo of the product available, you can use also for your designs. Although the normal saving abilities don't work, you are able to create some fractals with it, as with the little program Grab you can get what you have on your screen generated. With lots of patience you are able to make those huge designs you want, as you find in my galleries Of course you'll find in the Artmatic gallery here several other ideas than what i have come up with. My work is often compared to what airbrush artists have accomplished. So everyone who is using this program has his/her own idea about what they are creating. I just like to combine various programs to create my artwork. Another artist who is known to be using this program in a different way than i am doing, calls himself Rumple, Kurt Erben. His work is totally different than what i am trying to accomplish on my screen, and surely he uses other tools to finish his work as well. http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=Rumple Hopefully you can combine your poser work with what you can accomplish with Artmatic. And for any further questions, you can always turn to the forum at this community or the forum you find on the site of the software and of course you can email me h.wiersma7@chello.nl, i wouldn't mind helping out... Have a nice sunday Harmen

Thank you, Harmen :oD Patricia