Tricks of the Ultra Fractal Trade

When asked to do this article, I was quite eager to have the chance to share with everyone the wonder that is Ultra Fractal. As I sat down to build it however, it became quite apparent that the task was not going to be an easy one. It's uses in the field of fractal art, and art in general, are incredibly vast.

So, rather than mumble on about specifics, I decided to take a brief look at some of the basic aspects of fractal art, and how they specifically apply to Ultra fractal. With some luck, I'll be able to share something of use between my ramblings.

Lets start the tour shall we?

Exploration
I believe exploration is a fractalist's primary skill and it should be exercised constantly and methodically. With visual cues it can become easier to understand the math behind the madness. The more you explore, the wider your range of knowledge and application will be. A lot of fractal learning is intrinsic. This means that no matter how much you understand the math, you will still have to explore to see it. The beauty of this is that the opposite is also true, in that you do not need to understand the math in order to create beautiful art.

Get to know the standard formulae like the back of your hand:
The formulae found in the standard folder have many of the same functions and features that you will find in other fractal formulae. Mastering these basics will build a strong foundaton of understanding for later works. If you have practiced these, you will understand how a lot of their derivitives operate. Always try a range of values on each and observe how the formula is altered with the changes made.

Give yourself more toys to play with:
Updating your public formula collection will give you access to a lot more formulae. There is a button to hit under the options menu.

Use the search button:
When opening a formula, coloring method or mapping, there is a search button (a magnifying glass and question mark) called "find entries". This is a great tool for finding things fast. It's also useful when looking for specific aspects of a formula, because you have the option to search through formula comments as well. A good example would be starting a new file, hitting the find entries button and typing "slope" in the title area. This will show you all the formulae with "slope" in their title.

When loading formulae, ignore the preview window:
Many formula will not show up correctly in the file load preview window. They will show improper results when default settings are applied or often show up as black screens. Some will not show results until coloring algorithms are applied or under other specific settings. Open them anyway! Never be afraid to go through various combinations of formula and colorings to find ones that work together. Many formulae may look identical to one another but are actually quite different.

Match your coloring algorithm and formula by writer:
Since formulae are written by different people, they may employ different variables. Using a formula and coloring algorithm written by the same person will increase the chance that they will work together. This doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't mix and match. It just means some are incompatable and will result in errors or blank images. Simply match the up by using formula and coloring methods from the same folder name.

Explore explore explore... and take your time to explore some more:
Some formula won't yield interesting results or only have specific uses, while others will continue to surprise you again and again. Always take your time to explore and take notes. Building a strong library will provide the tools; the shapes, colors, and textures you will need for later.

Save anything of interest:
Save anything uninteresting. Heck, save everything your hard drive can handle. Rest assured that one day, that one specific fractal will need that ugly field of thingamajigs you slotted away for the recycling bin.

Seeing spots after zooming?
If you start seeing black spots after zooming in on your formula, theres a good chance you are not rendering enough iterations. Increase the number of iterations under the formula tab.

Still not getting good results? Open up the formula editor:
Often the writer will leave notes specific to the formula you are using, like optimal settings and other details. If you hit a snag, this is a good place to look for more information; especially if default settings don't seem to be working. It's the third button down on the right under the formula tab.

Don't be shy:
Don't be shy about asking other artists what base formula and coloring algorithms they used to reach a particular point. Try to avoid asking for parameters and rather, focus on the techniques used to get to a final piece. Most artists will be happy to share how a piece was done, but not the parameters themselves.

Isolation:
Where exploration ends, isolation begins. Being able to isolate specific elements of a layer for later use is very important. Ultra fractal offers the artist a number of ways of doing this. Get to know them, and you will thank yourself again and again.

Transparent Colors & Gradients:
Every layer has a gradient which can be changed to suit your needs. Each gradient is comprised of a number of control points whose values can be changed to alter the colors of your fractal. Beyond this, you have the option to define points in the opacity section of the gradient. Defining transparent areas under the colors you wish to discard will isolate the elements you need. Remember: ctrl+left click adds a point, and ctrl+delete deletes the currently selected point.

Masking:
Masking is taking the opacity information from one layer and using it on another. For some reason, masking is something people tend to avoid. Don't. I can not stress this enough. There will be many times when you have singled out elements and you wish to add color to them, or texture, or what not. Masking is what you will need. ~Serpinsky wrote an excellent tutorial here: [link]

Clip like a scrapbooker obsessed:
Clippings are mappings you can add to a layer that allow you to, as the name suggests, clip out a portion of that layer. The "Clipping" mapping found in the "standard.uxf" folder allows you to clip out basic shapes like squares and circles, but there are many other types. Explore the mapping directories or try hitting the find entries button to search for others. Search under mappings for "clip" or "scissor" to find many more. There are even clippings shaped like stars and yin-yang. If gradient control or masking won't cut it, grab your scissors.

Some useful clippings include...
"Clipping" found in the "standard.uxf" folder - contains circle and square clipping
"Blob clipping" found in the "dmj.uxf" folder - contains clip areas defined by blobs.
"Deluxe clipping" found in the "dmj3.uxf" folder - contains a variety of clips

Other Transparency Settings:
The outside coloring tab, the inside coloring tab, and each individual mapping you add have individual "Solid Color" settings. This slider can also be set to transparent when needed. Some specific coloring methods have their own transparency control as well. If changes in your gradient window don't seem to be working, this is where to look.

Gradiation and Colorization:
Most of us find the gradient window difficult when we first start out. It isn't until we pick up things like digital art that we start to break down our environment in such a way to reproduce it on screen. Here are some tips that I hope will make the hill a little easier to climb.

Fine lines:
Sometimes it's necessary to define a fine line in your gradient. Clean edges are often required. Control points in a gradient can be shifted using the up and down arrows next to their position value. You can use these to nudge color control points close enough to one another to produce clean edges.

Use gradient coloring methods:
There are a wide variety of gradients to use in ultra fractal. These are very useful for adding color to a piece, for making gradiated masks and much, much more. If you use a gradient coloring method on the "pixel" formula in the "mt.ufm" folder you will be able to use the gradient without it being altered by a formula underneath; much like a fill tool in an image editor.

Some good gradient shapes to get you started:
"Gradient" in the "standard.ucl" folder has linear, radial and conical gradients.
"Polygonal gradient" in the "sam.ucl" folder allows you to make gradients with a varied number of sides.
"Superformula Shaped Gradients" in the rkb.ucl folder allows you to make a myriad of gradiated shapes.

Use reference and a color picker.
There are many places to find good gradients. Don't be afraid to open up an image you like and use color pickers to find out the exact red, green and blue values of the scheme. Some of my favorites include photographs of sunsets, of space, and of gemstones, but there are many more.

Try working in black and white:
Working in black and white until color is needed is very good practice to get into. Seeing the shape and form of a fractal without the influence of color can also be very advantageous. Because you can combine layers using things like hue, color, and other overlay effects, it is quite simple to later duplicate the layer and add in the colors you need.

Experiment with outside color tools:
There are a lot of great online color tools that will generate color schemes based off a base color and other fun things like that. Google "color scheme generator" to find literally thousands. With a bit of practice it can become very simple to incorporate these into your work, since we have access to the base color values to begin with.

Manipulation:
Mappings in ultra fractal are fantastic little effects that allow you to change the topographical shape of your layer. This means you are free to create a layer and go beyond it's initial formula, adding things like waves, spirals, turbulence, and much more.

Some fun mappings include:
Tile mappings: Great for texture building
3d mappings: to paint fractals onto 3d objects
Distortion and Turbulence mappings for adding noise or turbulence to layer
Fractal specific mappings like the droste effect and octagonal limiters.

If you can't find a fractal formula or a coloring to do what you want, there is a pretty good chance you can find a mapping that does. Always remember that the find entries button is your friend.

When exploring new mappings, do so on a formula you recognize easily so that you can see what the mapping does before using it elsewhere.

Don't be afraid to nest mappings on top of one another. You can use multiple mappings on a layer to acheive the results you desire. You could, for instance, map your fractal onto a 3d ball, then tile the balls everywhere, then warp it with turbulence. Remember that mappings calculate in the order of bottom to top.

Finalization:
There a few good habits you can practice that will increase the quality of your final work. Here are a few tips:

Work Big:
Working in large sizes will allow you to see an adequate amount of detail. If you are going to be rendering for print, it is always important to see what a piece looks like at all sizes made available. A common problem occurs when textures are applied. Often, they are applied at only one scale, and look different when the fractal is larger. Sometimes the effect is so pronounced it no longer even resembles the original effect intended. Looking at a piece at various scales will allow you to catch common oversights such as this.

Zoom in:
Always zoom in and peek around. Often elements are aligned perfectly at one size, but slightly off at a larger one. Zooming in will alleviate some of this stress.

Oversize your renders:
When you render your piece, always render it at a much larger size than what you will need. This gives you all the details you need for a crisp image after sizing it down. Many fractal pieces appear pixelated and blocky because they were rendered and displayed at the same size.

Speed up your renders:
You can optimize the speed at which your fractal renders by only using the number of iterations needed for the image. Rendering thousands of extra iterations will only waste time. Always delete layers that are not needed.
Be aware of render times for various formula and avoid over using them. For instance, slope fractals can often be replaced with their non-slope counterparts to increase render speeds on layers they are not needed.

Harp over details:
Check render settings and do test renders. Does it look better with anti aliasing on, or off? Are there artifacts if it isn't set to a linear drawing mode?

Size down in steps:
When sizing down your final image in an image editor, it is best to do so in steps. This is true for most imagery, but the effects of poor resizing can be seen readily in fractal art. Generally speaking, you will want to size down your image in five steps. Because of the nature of resizing algorithms, which average pixels, it is best to use an odd percentage to size down to as well.
Depending on your software, you may be able to choose different types of resizing. Bicubic resizing seems to work the best. This is how many digital artists tackle the problem of aliasing and jagged edges.

Education and Combination:
If you would like to learn more about ultra fractal there are many artists on DA who would be willing to help. A new group dedicated to peers teaching peers fractal art called the ~fractalmentorproject would be a great place to find some friendly advice. It is just picking up speed so keep a close eye on it.

There is a fantastic group *Ultra-Fractal that is dedicated to those who love the software.

The fine folks in the #fantasticallyfractal and #ultrafractal chat rooms would also love to chat with you.

For the do-it yourselfer, there are a number of tutorials at your disposal that can be found here at the ultra-fractal group page: [link]
Many of the tutorials found in this journal go into specific detail regarding the subjects I have touched on here.

Thinking outside the bounds of UF
Because Ultra Fractal is so versatile, it is no longer bound to a single layer mindset. This is important to consider. While there are many tutorials that are ultra fractal specifically, there are many more that are written for other programs. Many Photoshop tutorials for instance, can easily be used within the bounds of Ultra Fractal to achieve precisely the same results.

For example, here is a great Photoshop tutorial by ~nmsmith that taught me how to do jewels. I followed the same steps, just using ultra fractal instead: [link]

And that, my fractal loving friends, concludes the tour. I hope that in my generalizations I was able to share some of the information that
has helped me grow as a fractal artist. Much of what you have read here has been kindly shared with me by other fractal artists along the way, and I thank you all for it. Having the chance to pass it on again has been a sincere pleasure.

Since we all learn differently, I would open the floor to other ultra fractal users to share their tips as well. I would love to hear of any tricks that you know of as well. Many thanks goes to =pantherwitch4982 for editing this and saving folks from my verbosity.

Happy fractal week everyone!
*milleniumsentry