Introduction to XaoS Fractal Zoomer

XaoS is an "interactive fractal zoomer." It's open-source (free) and lots of fun. XaoS is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux at:
http://wmi.math.u-szeged.hu/xaos/doku.php

If you download XaoS, make sure to check out the built-in animated tutorials, which can be found in the Help menu.

You can read more about fractals at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-similarity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set

This video was created with the following free programs:
XaoS: http://wmi.math.u-szeged.hu/xaos/doku.php
CamStudio: http://camstudio.org/
VirtualDub: http://www.virtualdub.org/
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
GIMP: http://www.gimp.org/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tutorial
• howto
• demo
• introduction
• to
• GNU
• XaoS
• fractal
• zoomer
• free
• open-source
• software
• Benoit
• Mandelbrot
• set
• zoom
• trippy
• effects
• VirtualDub
• CamStudio
• monsoonami

[popily47]

i downloaded this in school during health becuase i was bored. and i have to say., that class went by so fast thanks to this program. could you make a video on the User Formuas? they seem complicated to understand but nothing too much to handle. i think it would make the program alot more fun too make your own.

[monsoonami]

@popily47 Hi, sorry for the late reply. I haven't experimented with the user defined formulas too much yet, but the idea is that each pixel in the picture corresponds to a point in the plane of complex numbers. For each complex number, you get a formula which is iterated over and over. If the sequence of values from the iteration diverges toward infinity, that point is not in the fractal set, and it is colored according to how fast the sequence diverges. (to be continued)

[monsoonami]

@popily47 (continued) If the sequence of iteration values does not go to infinity, then that complex number is in the interior of the fractal, and the corresponding pixel is colored black (or whatever color according to your color scheme). The Mandelbrot set uses the formula z_(n+1) = [z_n]^2 + c, where c is the point on the complex plane, the z_n values (z_1, z_2, z_3, etc.) are the sequence of iteration values which we are interested in, and the starting value is z_0 = 0. (continued)

[monsoonami]

@popily47 So for a User Formula, you can type in things like z^3 - z + c, sin(z) + c^2, -cos(z^2) - sqrt(c), tan(z) - exp(z^3), etc., where z^k means z raised to the k-th power; sin, cos, and tan are the usual trig functions; sqrt is the square root function; and exp(z) means e (Euler's number) raised to the z-th power. As you can see, a little math experience is necessary to understand this stuff. Just play around with different formulas to see what kind of designs you can get.

[BrotherPsyker1]

Great vid! Thanks. I downloaded this software and this really helped me

[yallhoassbitches]

pure math.. nice vid!!

[Droscove]

I learned a lot after reading this. (:

[kimo921]

Very nice, thanx for posting.

I'll have to check this out.

Peace.