Amazing Julia Fractals Screensaver

A fractal art generator is software that makes it easy to create your own fractals without coding. You might have heard of some already, like Mandelbulb 3D, Apophysis, JWildFire, and others.

This guide will cover:

• The best fractal generators (with images)

• What is a fractal, in both math and nature?

• How to learn to code your own fractals

• Courses and books to learn fractal/generative art

• Fractal images to inspire your creativity

Recommended course:

The most fun and powerful way to create fractals is to code them yourself. If you want to learn how to create generative art, we recommend NYU’s excellent Creative Coding class.

We also highly recommend the book The Nature of Code, an entertaining and exceptionally practical guide to creative coding.

You’ve probably seen desktop wallpaper with spiraling geometric patterns that look almost psychedelic. These patterns that look similar when repeated at different scales are called fractals. Fractals are a branch of mathematics that help us understand biological structures like leaves, astronomical concepts like gas clouds, accurate representations of coastlines, and much more.

For those interested in the field, we recommend the book Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension by Mandelbrot, one of the pioneers and most well-known figures on the topic.

Fractals in Math and Nature

Imagine the coastline of a sea. If you’re miles above in a satellite, it’s structure looks similar to when you’re much closer in a plane. It looks similar on foot, and even retains its overall pattern under a microscope.

At each level of scale, it has the same pattern. This is an example of a fractal: a pattern that looks similar no matter what scale you look at it. The more you zoom in, the more you see the same pattern. The same thing happens when zooming out.

In math and physics, fractal structures have a similar physical appearance at all levels of measurement. That might be the perimeter of a curve, or the flow rate in a porous medium.

Fractal sets have very simple rules that create extremely complex shapes. For example, you take a shape or a number, and apply some change to it. Then you take the result, and apply the same operation.

Although this sounds basic, it can generate truly dramatic and complicated structures.

The Best Fractal Art Generators

We looked at dozens of fractal art generators and compare them below. We try to show a screenshot of the tool in action, so you can get a sense of what it will be like to use. We also try to show an example image generated by each tool, so you can see what the output looks like.

Mandelbulb 3D (MB3D)

Mandelbulb 3D is a free 3D fractal imaging software available for Windows OS. It is a user-friendly application that generates different fractal objects from nonlinear equations. As a 3D rendering application, its features include shadow-and-glow-effects, color, depth-of-field, and specularity.

Apophysis

Apophysis is an open-source fractal generator allows you to edit, create and render fractal flames. With its scripting language, you can directly access different components of the fractal, adjust the coloring and location. You can apply random edits to the images using the software’s mutations window. Apophysis can be used in Macintosh and Windows.

JWildFire

First introduced to the world of digital art nearly 25 years ago, JWildFire is sophisticated fractal-generating software. It has a Java-based scripting interface that allows the user to formulate their own fractal generators. It also has an infinite renderer with lots of parameters you can animate using motion-curves.

JWildFire requires a 64-bit processor and Windows OS with 8 Gigabyte RAM. You can get it on Stream for $11.99.

XenoDream

XenoDream is a unique 3D fractal software that uses holons to create simple to complex fractal images. XenoDream can be used to render fractal animations and stereograms, and to export depth maps for other rendering software. It runs well on Linux, Macintosh, and Windows with 2GB in 64bit. You can buy a copy for $119.

Jux

Developed by XenoDream software, Jux is a free 2D fractal explorer for Mandelbrot and Julia sets. It has excellent heightfield lighting effects and supports full anti-aliasing for rendering large pictures and batch rendering.

FractalNow

FractalNow is a free and open-source fractal-generating software, used for creating geometric pictures of various types. It combines a command line and graphical tool known as QFractalNow to implement advanced algorithms easily and generate the corresponding images. The command-line tool can render fractal animations from scripts without a desktop. FractalNow supports multiple types of coloring like iteration counts and average coloring methods.

Tiera-zon

Tiera-zon is a fractal generator that creates fractals in true color, and it allows the user to blur, emboss and sharpen images. It also supports several enhancement methods including stalks and bubbles.

You can get a copy for $35. To run this software, you need a Windows OS and a 256-color graphics monitor.

Ultra Fractal

Depending on the program version, you can get a copy of Ultra Fractal for $29–$99. It offers an advanced coloring system, lets you create animations, and produces layers within a single fractal image. If you love to create unique and creative fractal art, then Ultra Fractal is a great choice. It runs well on Windows OS too.

Fractal Fr0st

Fractal Fr0st allows you to instantly view and edit fractal flames during rendering in Linux OS. It has a simple GUI and top-level Python scripting.

Fractal Forge

Draw your fractal images on your Windows OS with Fractal Forge. Fractal Forge is one of the fastest applications for generating fractals and also explores Mandelbrot set branches. FRAX

FRAX is an online fractal generator that helps you to create beautiful fractal animations with multi-touch gestures: up to 400 times faster! FRAX is free and works with OS X.

UsefulJS

Built with mandel.js, UsefulJS is an online fractal generator you can use to create multi-threaded fractal types using different formulas. It is free to use and works with most browsers.

Science vs Magic

Science vs Magic fractal software generates different types of base-motif fractals from 5 inputs. With this online fractal generator, users can switch background colors, animate fractals, and randomize rendering. It works with most browsers.

Online Fractal Generator

Online Fractal Generator is native to the web and works on most browsers. You can use it to generate 2D Julia sets and Mandelbrot fractals. You can zoom in, zoom out, rotate and change the fractal resolution.

ChaosPro

ChaosPro is an instant 2D and 3D fractal generator for Windows OS running intel core i7. It is free and allows you to calculate several fractals at the same time in different windows. It also supports an unlimited color range.

Fractal Landscapes

Fractal Landscapes is an online fractal generator that generates random fractal terrains. It does not support special effects like animation. It is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Fractal Map

Fractal Map is free and allows you to generate instant fractal images on your Windows 10 device. Its 8-cores support quick rendering and it also allows you to experiment with cycling animations and color cycling.