Embossed (Julia, Mandelbrot, Newton)
The Embossed fractal formulas are modifications of the classic Mandelbrot, Julia, and Newton fractals that create 3D bevel effects with contour lines. They are available as fractal formulas in Standard.ufm and as a fractal formula plug-in in Standard.ulb.
In plug-in form, Embossed uses a plug-in parameter to select which fractal formula to use, so it is not just limited to Mandelbrot, Julia or Newton fractal types. See Example 1 – Formula plug-ins for more information.
Embossed should be combined with the Emboss coloring algorithm. This coloring algorithm correctly translates the results from the Embossed fractal formulas to colors in the gradient.
For best results, use a black-to-white gradient such as Emboss in Standard.ugr. This will create a grayscale image with shaded contour lines. You can then combine this with other layers to add colors while retaining the 3D effect. For the merge mode of the layer with the Embossed formula, try Soft Light or Hard Light.
The following parameters are provided:
| Fractal Formula | Selects the fractal formula to use for the embossing effect. (Plug-in version of Embossed only.) |
| Emboss Type |
Specifies what kind of information from the fractal calculations is used to create the embossing effect. This changes the shape and place of the contour lines. |
| Light Angle |
This is the angle of the apparent light source, in degrees. The default value 0 corresponds to light from above. Positive values rotate the light source in clockwise direction. |
| Contour Size |
Specifies the relative size of the contour lines. When zooming in, the size in pixels of the contour lines appears to stay the same. |
For the non-plug-in version of the Embossed fractal formulas, the other parameters are described in the topics for the regular (non-Embossed) formulas.
Note: When rendering embossed fractals, use non-adaptive anti-aliasing to ensure that the contour lines are anti-aliased correctly, and make sure the Force Linear drawing method option is checked.
See Also
Slope (Julia, Mandelbrot, Newton)
Standard formulas