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Here are some of my favorite fractal creations. All of these are iterated function systems; they have been scaled for display using a technique I invented, and then displayed using Senile Depth First Search, which I also invented. Senile Depth First Search is a great deal faster than the Random Iteration Method used by many fractal display programs. You can try your hand at creating your own fractals at Otmar Lendl's Iterated Function System Playground.

[Sort of looks like a comet -- 7345 bytes] Stylized Halley's Comet

I created the comet accidentally while trying to model gravitational interaction of galaxies using fractals. I started out with two fractal galaxies shaped like octogons, and a bug in the simulation caused one galaxy to get smeared into this shape. This IFS has eight mappings.

[A 3-leaf clover -- 7724 bytes] Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To celebrate March 17th one year I tried to figure out some mappings that would come out looking like a shamrock. I never could figure out how to add a curved stem! This IFS has seven mappings. The seventh, adding the minature blue shamrock at the end of the top leaf, is optional.

[A colorful spiral -- 11076 bytes] Hurricane Doris

This one looks to me kind of like a satellite picture of a hurricane. Lots of people tell me it looks to them like a picture of a spiral galaxy. I like to hear that, since that is actually what I set out to make. This IFS has seven mappings.

[A spiral that looks a bit 3-D -- 7071 bytes] Spiral

This is my number one favorite. I produced it shortly before coming up with Hurricane Doris above, during my quest for a fractal galaxy. This IFS has nine mappings.

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