"Ray Tracing Deterministic 3-D Fractals 2"

Created on July 01, 1989

1989   ·   paper   ·   papers

Ray Tracing Deterministic 3-D Fractals 2

Hart, J., Sandin, D., Kauffman L.

image Quaternion Julia Set Before & After Quarter Turn in the Complex Plane Credit: J. Hart, EVL

As shown in 1982, Julia sets of quadratic functions as well as many other deterministic fractals exist in spaces of higher dimensionality than the complex plane. Originally a boundary-tracking algorithm was used to view these structures but required a large amount of storage space to operate. By ray tracing these objects, the storage facilities of a graphics work-station frame buffer are sufficient.

A short discussion of a specific set of 3-D deterministic fractals precedes a full description of a ray tracing algorithm applied to these objects. A comparison with the boundary-tracking method and applications to other 3-D deterministic fractals are also included.