Fractal Variants Creation Page

Applies to:

Fractal Architect

Serendipity

Fractal Architect can create many different fractal variations off of existing fractals.

Opening the Variant Creator page

Variant Creator is accessible from almost all fractal thumbnails in the Fractal Architect

The thumbnail's context menu have a View Selected Frame Variants... menu item. (Open the context menu by right mouse clicking on the thumbnail.)
Select it to open the Variants Creation page.
(Or you can use the Command-Option-V key combination to open the Variants page for the selected fractal.)

Fractal Preview window.
Gallery fractal thumbnails.
Recently opened fractal thumbnails.
Make New random fractal thumbnails.
Variant thumbnails.

Fractal Variants Creator Page

The Variants Creator shows a group of fractals that are random variants of the base fractal.
It provides an easy way to create randomized variants of a main fractal them. You can control what types of variants are created and the big the random variant changes are.

Variant Change Types

These are the basic change classes you can apply to a base fractal to make a Variants batch:

Change colors.
Modify Transform weights.
Tweak the Matrix components by a random value.
Mix-in other transform variation types.

Note: You can apply more than one type of change type at a time by clicking on multiple change types with the mouse.
Here the Colors, Matrix, and Mix-In change types have been selected.

Variant Change Type Parameters Pane

This pane holds the parameters for the different Variant change types. Open it by pressing this button.

Color Variants

Color variants are changed from the original fractal by creating a new color map with a random number of colors.
The number of colors is a random value that ranges between the specified minimum and maximum values.

Minimum: Minimum number of colors in the color map.
Maximum: Maximum number of colors in the color map.

Transforms Variants

Transform variants are changed from the original fractal by modifying selected transform's weight, symmetry, color index, and/or variation weight values.

Transform weights: Sets the magnitude of the random transform weight adjustment.
Transform Symmetry: Sets the magnitude of the random transform symmetry adjustment.
Transform Color Index: Sets the magnitude of the random transform color index adjustment.
Variation Weights: Sets the magnitude of the random variation weight adjustment.

Matrix Variants

Matrix variants are changed from the original fractal by modifying selected transform's pre and post matrix coefficients by a random amount.

Pre Rotate/Scale: Magnitude of the random adjustment for the pre matrix's a,b, d, and e coefficients.
Pre Translate: Magnitude of the random adjustment for the pre matrix's c and f coefficients.
Post Rotate/Scale: Magnitude of the random adjustment for the post matrix's a,b, d, and e coefficients.
Post Translate: Magnitude of the random adjustment for the post matrix's c and f coefficients.
Transforms Affected: Determines which of the fractal transforms are modified by this variant class.

Mix-In Other Variation Types Variants

Mix-in variants are changed from the original fractal by adding random mix-in transform variations to the selected transforms.

Variation Name & Weights: Sets the magnitude of the mix-in variations' weight adjustments.
Variation Use: Unless checked, that particular mix-in variation will not be added to the fractal.
Master Mixin Amplitude: Sets the overall magnitude multiplier that is applied to all mix-in variation weights.
Transforms Affected: Determines which of the fractal transforms can be modified by mix-in variations.

Add a Final Transform with a set of Variants

A final transform is added to the original fractal having random variation weights selected from the variations you choose. Each variation has a slider that represents the maximum possible variation weight. The range of each slider is 0 to 1, with 1 being on the far right end.

Variation Name & Weights: Sets the magnitude of the final transform's variations' random weights.
Variation Use: Unless checked, that particular variation will not be added to the final transform.

Symmetry Variants

Symmetry variants are changed from the original fractal by adding reflective and/or rotational symmetry to the original fractal.

Symmetry Range: Set the range of symmetries that can be randomly chosen. Negative values have both reflective and rotation symmetry, while positive values are only rotational symmetry.