Playing Around with FE

Hello, my name is Dennis Marko alias Denny59JMark. I was asked by one of the FEusers to do a tutorial on a fractal that I uploaded a while back, called the "Green Spot". At the time that I created that fractal I was literally playing around with FE, clicking something here, clicking something there, and changing numbers willy nilly. I really just came up with the "Green Spot" by accident. I sent an email back to the FEuser saying that doing a tutorial on the "Green Spot" would be like trying to teach someone how to doodle. The more I played around with FE, the more I noticed that I was getting images unlike anything that was being uploaded by the FEusers. So I decided to do the tutorial about these unusual and beautiful images. It was like having a color show going on in the monitor. Let me give you a brief history about myself, and then I will get on with it. I am 59 years old, have been working with computers for the past 21 years, mainly as a hobby. I became familiar with fractals while working with an AMIGA computer, about 12 years ago. I never got over the beauty of fractal images. I now have an IBM compatible computer that I built myself. I am hoping to do Multimedia Authoring in the very near future. I have never written a tutorial before, so please bear with me. I am going to write this as if there are users out there who have never used FE before, and for the new members just joining the group. If you follow the tutorial, you will have an enjoyable experience. Also, this is the first time I am using an HTML editing program. So here goes.

You should have FE open and see a screen like the image above, (Fig. 1).

Press F6, or with the mouse, click on the Fractal menu and then click Select fractal, (Fig. 2).

You now have the main work screen for creating fractals, (Fig. 3). The upper left of this screen is where you select which formula to use for your image. Since this months theme is Sterling fractals, let's select one of the Sterling formulas to work with, (Fig. 4). This tutorial will work with Implemented, User Formula or Sterling formulas.

Select Sterling fractal #23. You will see the image in the lower left change from the standard mandelbrot to an image that resembles a yellow plus sign. Not much to look at here. Let's change the filter properties. It now says: None (default). Click the arrow on the right where the down pointing arrow is and move the slider down. When you find Fractal Dimension II, click on this and watch your image change again. Still not much to look at. Change the filter limit from 0,010000 to 1.000000 and click the mouse button down by the bailout number. Now we are getting somewhere. There is a significant change in the image this time, (Fig. 5).

Now there are several ways we could go with this image. Put a check mark in the inverted box. Again, the image takes on an entirely different realm. Un-check the inverted box and put a check mark next to the "View as Julia". Another big change in the image. Un-check the "View as Julia" box, and in the number boxes, type in the numbers as you see them in Fig. 6. When typing in numbers in any of the boxes in this window, click elsewhere so that the changes take effect.

Next to the image in this window there are three icons, plus, minus and a hand. Clicking on the hand icon and moving the mouse pointer over the image, and holding down the left mouse button will allow you to move the image around wherever you want to. If you click on the plus or minus here the image will change. This is where I got the green spot from. All you have to do is keep clicking on the plus or minus until the image either disappears, or there will be nothing further to view. When you are satisfied that there are no more images to be had, click select. This will take you to the main viewing window. Now, depending on which way you went with the fractal in the other window, (plus or minus) in this window you want to go the opposite way. Hence the color show.

There you have it! In my opinion, the biggest key in getting some really interesting effects is the number in the filter limit box, and and the numbers in the Julia Set area. Also, try putting a check mark in the "Filter only" box for another interesting effect. Just remember, not all of these things will work well together or even at all. Just play, play, play for some entertaining times. This concludes the tutorial. If you have any questions, comments or complaints, please feel free to send me an email at: rosdennmark@msn.com

Thank you.

Dennis Marko alias Denny59JMark