No we don’t all share some kind of predilection for brass instruments, nor do we all display an unatural appetite for eating yoghurt from a little plastic pouch. Tubaholics are group of digital artists who have a special affinity for tube fractalism. But what is tube fractalism?

Tube fractals

Well…fractals can be broadly defined as geometric patterns that are repeated at ever smaller scales to produce irregular and self-similar shapes. So…By extension, tube fractals are irregular and self similar geometric patterns that are based on tube-like patterns and motifs.

In the beginning…

Much of the original inspiration for tube fractalism came from the classical “ball and wire” designs popularized here at by .

If his ground-breaking and DD-worthy designs had set the stage,

the 2006 release of his seminal “Wire + Tube Fractal” tutorial

was the decisive event that turned a generation of fractal artists onto designing tube fractals. It wasn’t long before Apophysis enthusiasts starting becoming addicted to this pursuit…

Tubaholics Anonymous

It was on May 4th 2007 when, recognizing the signs of their own tubaholism, and jointly decided to start a support group. Thus was born. Unlike most self-help organizations however, this group does not purport to treat, or in any similar manner curb, a person’s addiction to tube fractalism. On the contrary, the featured artwork and resources that can be found at the Tubaholics Anonymous site have been known to have just the opposite effect.

Today, tA is watched by 112 people and boasts 68 members many of whom have submitted their artwork to our gallery in order to gain increased exposure. We routinely feature tube fractals created not only by our members but also by other deviant artists as well as our friends who upload their images at the Renderosity galleries. Our resource section contains all kinds of scripts, flame-packs, gradient packs and tutorials to help bring out that tubaholic lurking inside many a compulsive fractalist.

In addition to the classic ball and wire designs, tA also promotes and supports the creation of other fractal forms that contain tube-like or wire-like such as
spider-forms

JuliaN rings

We also regularly feature artwork generated by other fractal generating software

What’s new?

Here are some of the neat things in store for tubaholics in 2008.

tA Chat

Originally created around June of last year, the Tubaholics Anonymous chatroom has actually been around almost as long as the Tubaholics Anonymous fan site itself. It was a space created by our Vice President and Chatroom Manager where tubaholics can meet to talk about tubes and other things going on in our fractal community. For anyone interested in joining us there for a chat, here is the link: [link] We'd to organize some kind of chat meet just to get more people acquainted with this resource – but what would you like to chat about? Please send us a note to let us know!

New contests

We’re going to be launching some exciting new contests in 2008 like the “ Pimp our Site ” contest that officially kicked off on Feb 29th and will be running throughout the month of March. Click here: [link] to find out how you can win a 1-year subscription to deviantART!

New Administration

2008 has already seen a change in the tA administration. We lost two members of the original admin team and leaving some pretty big shoes to fill. At the same time, we’re really pleased and proud to welcome as our new gallery submissions director . She is bringing in a strong work ethic and keen organizational skills that, along with the experience that she had gained working as the current gallery manager at iconimagersfractalDDs:, have already made her an incredible asset to our admin team. To our members who may have noticed how quickly their submissions have been entered into our gallery recently, please join me in applauding Kat on a job well done!

Features manager
We’re still looking for someone to manage our devwatch and to perform weekly updates on our features page. In addition to collecting recent tube submissions to , this person will also be required to run a parallel search over at Renderosity.

Resource manager
With the wealth of Apophysis scripts, plugins and tutorials that have recently sprung up, we feel that it’s a full time job just keeping up with these. This is why we’re looking for someone who is willing and able to periodically update our resource page. It would also be great to find someone who is also technically proficient enough to serve as a resource to any of our members who may be experiencing trouble with these resources.

If anyone out there is ready for that either of these positions will bring and would like to volunteer their help we’d LOVE to hear from you!

In the meantime, happy fractaling!