Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

Today's image is named "Pits and Bieces", which is a play on the words 'bits and pieces'.  The reason for the name will be obvious as soon as the image is seen, and with a calculation time of 1-1/4 minutes, the wait will not be long.

The parent fractal is a degenerate Mandelbrot set.  Today's scene is located some distance east of the remains of the East Valley of the parent.  Little East Valley stuff remains in the image, though a few hints appear here and there.

Surprisingly, the image is extremely sensitive to changes in the escape radius, imag(p3), which in the image is the formula default of 100.  As the escape radius is increased or decreased, the image changes dramatically.  It evaporates and vanishes entirely when the value of imag(p3) is increased to about 8500.  When imag(p3) is set to -13.92, the image takes the shape of a Maltese cross.  Any negative value greater than this gives a blank screen.

Before experimenting with the escape radius however, be warned that the calculation time increases dramatically as the ER is increased.  When imag(p3) is set to substantially greater values, the calculation time increases to more than 15 minutes.

At an escape radius of over 8500 or so, the result is a blank screen consisting totally of 'inside' stuff.  But even here all hope is not lost.  Using an active inside fill such as 'bof61' brings the blank screen to life.  But here again, the calculation time grows even longer.

The rating of a 7 seems about right.

Near perfect outside conditions kept the fractal cats happy here at Fractal Central on Friday, even though they are inside cats.  Partly cloudy skies, low humidity and a temperature of 79F 26C are near perfect by any human's or any cat's standards.  In my area, the rush died out in the morning, followed by a slow afternoon.  The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours.  Until then, take care, and don't be caught with your fractals down.

Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com
jimmuth@aol.com


START PARAMETER FILE=======================================

Pits_and_Bieces    { ; time=0:01:15.73-SF5 on P4-2000
  reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm
  formulaname=MandAutoCritMinZ function=recip
  center-mag=+0.2794802820587657/+0.0280646118234618\
  /6.298586e+008/1/180 params=1/1/3/-1/0/0/0/0
  float=y maxiter=1500 inside=0 periodicity=6
  colors=000mVHsPGxHCzCAz68z06``P0ze4zkGsoRks`dvkXzv\
  PzzHzzAzzAvzAizAVzAHxA2vA0o00i00b00X000Eu0AmA6eP4Z\
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  zuzzZv4XsAVqGToLTmP`eLe`J }

frm:MandAutoCritMinZ {; Jim Muth
a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2),
g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(((-a*b*g*h)^j)+(p4)),
k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel):
z=k*((a*((-z)^b))+(d*((-z)^f)))+c,
|z| < l }

END PARAMETER FILE=========================================