Awesome Fractals

Using CGI, it’s possible to create fractal images that can be zoomed into infinitely. Inspired by the work of Feliks Konczakowski, mathematical artist Henry Segerman created an infinite zoom illusion using a real-world 3D-printed model. He pulled off the effect using a computer-controlled slider, a turntable, and precision editing.

Amsterdam-based visual effects designer Julius Horsthuis is known for his incredible moving fractal art. Fractalicious 9 is a compilation of his more recent work and offers up a variety of mesmerizing visuals based on mathematical equations.

Musician and visual artist VJFader shows off a trippy 3D universe he created using Unreal Engine 5 and Mandelbulbs produced by Machina Fractals: Essence. The otherworldly astronomical forms were generated in real-time, and the lighting changes with the music.

Fractal art can be beautiful, hypnotic, and colorful. But with the proper arrangement of pixels, these mathematical patterns can also be dark and downright unsettling. Motion designer Chris Lavelle’s short fractal animation Creation 1 is especially disturbing, especially for those who suffer from trypophobia.

Fractal images are generally made with math algorithms on a computer. But it turns out that there was a way to create fractal images in the 1930s using multiple cameras and projectors. CodeParade explains how these analog patterns would have worked, and how to simulate them with a webcam and a monitor.

A pendulum with two pivot points is one of the more entertaining mechanisms to watch in action as it descends into chaos. Sam Maksimovich plotted the changes in the two pendulums’ angles and assigned a unique color to each point. As the graph evolved, it turned into a cool piece of fractal art.

Maths Town teamed up with fellow fractal fanatic Yann Lby to create this hypnotic visual made up of colorful wireframes. For math geeks, the pattern starts as a 2D Mandelbrot fractal but uses its iteration data to project a vertical axis. Blow it up full screen dim the lights, get ready to enter a hypnotic trance.

Pouff creates moving images using fractal math, and makes their own music to go with. Their YouTube channel is loaded with colorful and hypnotic visuals, like this clip of intricate, organic looking structures, accented by brilliant backlighting.

If you enjoyed Maths Town’s hypnotic fractal zoom video, here’s another one with a very different aesthetic. Rather than filling our eyeballs with vibrant colors, this one is filled with soothing mathematical structures dipped in shiny gold.

Do you need to chill out? Well if 2 hours of zooming into this nearly infinite fractal art doesn’t help your mind unwind, we don’t know what will. Maths Town says this seemingly endless Mandelbrot pattern zooms in to a depth of 1.2e1077, which is way higher than we can count.

While you think you might eventually get to ground level in Julius Horsthuis‘ short film, it just isn’t going to happen. Instead we’re taken on an endless descent into a trippy virtual city created with fractals textured with maps of a city.

Motion graphic artist and math lover Julius Horsthuis presents yet another unique fractal-generated environment for our eyes to drink in. This time out, we take a trip to a colorful temple on a strange alien planet that looks like it could be a level from a Halo game.

Ideally, you’ll strap on a VR headset for this, but if you don’t have one, you can still appreciate the ethereal fractal journey that Julius Horsthuis has laid before you, accompanied by excerpts from one of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins‘ most profound lectures.