How to Create a Fractal Trace

Fractals are fun to work with to create original art. GIMP has a number of fractal tools some of which I have written about including the Fractal Explorer, which allows you to create images from scratch. The Fractal Trace tool is a little different and permits the user to apply a Mandelbrot fractal to an existing image. It is an easy tool to use and fun to play with, but creating something artistic takes a good original image, some patience and some practice. Read on to find out how to use this image-editing tool.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• GIMP running on a Mac or PC
• A digital image for experimentation

1. 
   Select Image

   Start by selecting a suitable image and opening the image in GIMP. I decided to work with an image that was simple and not too complex, so that it would hold together during the process. I always try to select an image that does not stand by itself when creating special effects. This image is a little too fuzzy and too underexposed to stand alone as a good picture.

2. 
   Select Type

   After opening your image, open the Fractal Trace control panel, which is located under FILTERS/IMAGE MAPS. Notice that there are a number of fractal types to choose from and a number of adjustments to select. I am sure a software developer could explain the adjustments in detail, but for our purposes we will just experiment and view the impact in the preview window.

3. 
   Adjust Atributes

   As you adjust the attributes observe the results in the preview window. Experimenting will show that more radical adjustments will simply translate to image noise. If you see a setting you like, click OK and render the image. You can always click UNDO to start over.

4. 
   First Attempt

   Here is my first attempt. The result seems to have the image falling out of the frame, which I don’t like. This is because I had the DEPTH set to 3, which causes the image to be displayed more like a photo object. This is a good way to create photo objects, but I wasn’t really after that effect.

5. 
   Second Attempt

   The second attempt was better or I should say closer to what I was after. I like that the pitcher is now a pattern of pitchers. I was trying to create a repeating effect without completely destroying the image. I want to see the image as a baseball pitcher, but without a lot of clarity to highlight the shortcomings of the source image.

6. 
   Final Image

   After a few tries I got one that I liked. You can clearly see the baseball pitcher, but not enough to know it is blurry and dark. Adjusting the X and Y sliders on the tool controls the repeating diminishing effect. This is another special effect from GIMP that can help you make lemonade from those tart lemons that lurk in your image archive.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment and play; after all, art creation should be fun.
• Remember to save your creations under a new name to protect the integrity of your image archive.

Resources

• GIMP

[caprian]

on 8/12/2009 Usefull tool indeed.
Thx.

[jenicoe2001]

on 7/8/2009 GREAT GREAT article! : ) 5*