That fractals as art fascinate me is no secret. I’ve covered Gem Preiz’s work several times in this blog, and more recently enjoyed Mac Kanashimi’s marvellous Dragon Curves at the LEA. So when I heard by way of Caitlin Tobias that Mac had another fractal-based art exhibit opening in SL, I had to add it to my places to hop over to.

3D Fractals opened at SperiMenta on Monday March 31st, although I missed the actual opening. Co-hosted by SperimentArt & Tanalois Art, it is like Dragon Curves, located high in the air. However, it is also on a much smaller scale, not that this makes it any less interesting. It features two pattern generators which, over a period of time, individually generate a range of deterministic fractals defined by their Hausdorff dimension, and which – once rendered – stand both individually or as a pair.

The fractal forms created by the generators include the greek cross, Hilbert curve, Htree pattern, Menger sponge, octahedron, Sierpinski triangle (tetrahedron / pyramid), solenoid fractal, and Vicsek snowflake. Several of the shapes have additional complemented or inverted forms as well, and all are cycled by the generators in turn, each appearing for several minutes at a time prior to the next being rendered.

If all this sounds terribly dry, it isn’t; the shapes can be quite fascinating to watch and compare / contrast as they rez and are coloured, their structure a mix of prims and mesh. If you decide to visit, and assuming your viewer supports de-rendering, I suggest you temporarily de-render the black platform prims over which the shapes appear. This give a much better impression of them, as they seem to hang in the air, and allows for a spot of photography as well!

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