I’ve always been fascinated by Fractals, mathematical oddities that create ordered chaos and patterns that mirror themselves on many scales. I couldn’t explain the maths behind them but they come up in all sorts of contexts from producing (pseudo)random melodies in grooveboxes to modelling chaotic systems such as the weather.
One particular reason that makes me love them though is their power to create artwork, often surreal mulicoloured alien looking and captivating all at once. Back in my DOS freeware days I used to use fractint to create 2D renders (I remember hitting the colour cycle button and watch as everything turned into a crazy trip of flowing gradients). Recently though I’ve discovered some excellent freeware for making 3D ones or Mandelbulbs as they are often referred to.
They make great backing visuals for tracks and I’m working on creating a library of them to VJ live with
If you want to try making some of your own check out the excellent Mandelbulb 3D (huge number of variety/features but a little daunting) or Mandelbulber (A little more limited but perhaps a bit easier to start off with). Both are completely free … I ❤ the internets 😉
PLUR – D
Dataphiles' Music Madness 