The
basic fractal flower needs only two total transforms. With practice
you will be able to create a wide variety of unique and fun fractal
flowers using this technique. I’m using specific numbers for the
weights and variations so that you are able to reproduce the results
exactly and gain a working knowledge of how these flowers are
created. You should feel free to experiment with the values after you
have worked through the tutorial.
1. Set the Stage
Step
1
Begin
by opening the Editor window in Apophysis and choosing the New
flame option to reset to a blank screen.
Step
2
Remove
linear from the transform on the Variations tab by changing it to 0.
Set the spherical variation to 1.
2. Setting Up the Two Base Transforms
Step 1
Move
this first transform up 0.5 units and to the right 0.2 units. The
easiest way to accomplish this is to switch to the Triangle tab and
set the units to 0.1. Then use the up arrow five times and the right
arrow twice. This will allow you to maintain precision until you begin to
adjust this transform by hand.
Step 2
Now
we need to rotate the transform by 105 degrees. To do this, change
the degrees of rotation from 15 to 105 and click the Rotate clockwise
button.
Step 3
Before
we move on to the next transform, let’s modify the weight of this
spherical transform slightly. We want Apophysis to focus more on this
transform than the next. The default weight for all new transforms is
0.5. Change the Weight on Transform 1 to 0.75.
Step 4
Create
a new transform by clicking on the New transform button at the top of
the Editor’s toolbar.
Step 5
Before
we move this transform, let’s modify the variations applied to it.
Currently linear is set to 1. Switch to the Variations tab and change
linear to something around 0.55. You can modify this value later to
see how it changes the effect. Additionally, add in radial blur with
a value of 0.45.
Step 6
Modify
the Weight of Transform 2 to 0.23.
3. Finer Positioning of the Transforms
Step 1
The
next few steps can be a bit tricky, so keep your eye on the variation
preview window on the top right-hand side of the Editor to see how
the fractal is being affected by the changes you make. Change to the
Triangle tab. Use the smaller triangle in the Editor to decrease the
size of the triangle by 125. Do this a total of seven times. Each time
you click the triangle to reduce the size, notice how the shape of
the fractal is beginning to form.
Step 2
This
adjustment could be done with great precision in the Editor text
boxes, but we are going to do it by hand to gain a better
understanding of the effects a transform has on a fractal.
Click
on the Y-axis of the second transform. It will be the yellow circle
node with the Y beside it. Drag this node down and to the left so
that you stretch the triangle and flatten it out.
Step 3
Going
back to your Editor tools on the Triangle tab, move Transform 2 to
the right by 0.6 units.
Step 4
Rotate
Transform 2 clockwise by 105 degrees. This action gives us the structure of the petals. Switch to the Variables tab and change the radial_blur_angle to 0.2444. This adjustment affects the shape of the petal.
4. Setting Up the Colors
Step 1
Before
we finish up the structure of the fractal, let’s adjust the colors. In
the Adjustments panel, choose the Gradient tab and select the gradient
100_rw_yellow_orange.
Step 2
Switch
back to the Editor and this time the Colors tab for Transform 2.
Change the Transform color number from 0.0 to 1.0. Adjust the Color
speed to somewhere around 0.015.
Step 3
Make
Transform 1 active. Change the Color speed setting to about 0.66.
Drag along the Transform color slider until you find a color
combination you like. Feel free to adjust the Color speed as well.
5. Bringing It All Together
Step
1
If
you’re still with me, so far it looks as if all we have created is a
big mess. That is about to change. Make certain Transform 1 is still
active. In the toolbar of the Editor, click the Flip horizontal
button. This button looks like two tall triangles side by side.
Notice the transformation!
Step 2
Now
we’re really seeing all of this hard work pay off. This step requires
finesse and patience. The origin of each transform is a node labeled
with a capital O. You can click on this node and drag the entire
transform around the plane. Try it now, and as you do, observe the
amazing transformation of the fractal. Take your time and try to find
a nice flower design.
Step 3
Once
you find a flower shape you’re satisfied with, close the Editor
window. In the main window, use the zoom and positioning tools to
focus on a particular part of the flower and give more visual
interest and presentation to your fractal. A tool in the toolbar
called Show guidelines will allow you to visualize the rule of
threes.
6. Final Adjustments
Your
fractal may appear to be dark, as mine does in the above image. You
can easily correct lighting issues with the Adjustment panel.
Inside
the adjustment panel, switch to the Rendering tab. Here you can adjust
the amount of gamma (in this case pixel depth) and the brightness of
the fractal. At times, the main window of Apophysis will mislead you
with regard to brightness. Trust the smaller preview window in the
Adjustment panel when you notice discrepancies.
If
we render this fractal now (feel free to test it out), you
will notice an extreme amount of “fractal dust” in some images.
This can be desirable at times, but in this particular case, it looks
as if we do not know what we’re doing and we’ve just created a
mess.
Let’s remedy that by lowering the Gamma setting down to 1.2.
This reduces the total amount of pixel depth. Next, change your
Brightness setting to somewhere between 1.2 and 3. This style of
fractal is naturally bright and reflective, so too much brightness will
easily lead to the whites being blown out.
7. Rendering the Fractal
The
last step is to render the fractal. Click the purple gear on the
toolbar of the main window to access the rendering interface. Here
you will want to adjust several options, including where to save your
fractal image and at what size you wish to render it.
Keep in mind that
large renders can take several hours to days to complete. Also bear
in mind that you can choose a jpg image extension to have a solid
background when saving your image, or select the png format for a
transparent background.
Set
the Density to 10,000. Change Filter Radius to 1. This will render
a very smooth fractal. If you want more crisp edges, lower this value
to 0.5, or feel free to experiment with other settings.
The Oversample setting
will render the fractal at the size you have chosen, multiplied by its
number, and then downsize the image automatically to create a smoother
image overall. In our case, rendering the fractal at 600 pixels wide
with an oversample of 3 means that Apophysis will render the fractal
internally at 1800 pixels wide and then downsize it automatically. In this instance, an oversample of 3 is very useful. Don’t go crazy with the oversample setting, as it requires exponentially more RAM and is rarely useful above the value of 3. For some
very large renders, I only use an oversample of 1.
Below are a few different renders I created by modifying values and dragging the spherical transform around in the Editor. Try
experimenting by modifying the values of the variations on both
transforms. Adjust the weights to see how it affects the overall
image. Move both transforms around and rotate them to discover more
combinations and some incredible effects. Above all, have fun!
Taking It One Step Further
To make the flower above, I added the crackle variation to the radial blur/linear transform. In addition, I changed several values on crackle to create a small blurred effect. Try adding other variations to the linear/radial blur transform to create some interesting structures.
I created the above piece by modifying the radial blur value and adding in a Curl3D final transform. I then modified the values for Curl3D and repositioned the scene. Try adding in different final transforms to see powerful affects on the fractal.
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