Buddhabrot is an extremely powerful fractal exploration plugin for Adobe Photoshop based on the unique Mandelbrot set rendering technique developed by Melinda Green. Instead of plotting pixels based on the number of iterations used, they are colored according to density counts – in other words, how many times a sample hits the same spot. In addition, if each color channel is iterated a different number of times, the rendered image appears to have a multi-colored, nebula-like effect much like modern NASA galaxy renders. The single color channel rendering technique has been termed the Buddhabrot by Lori Gardi due to its similarity to the Hindu God Ganesha, while the multi-channel rendering technique has been termed the Nebulabrot due to its similarity to colorful nebulas.
This Buddhabrot implementation is a sophisticated one capable of plotting various Buddhabrot / Nebulabrot versions of the Mandelbrot, Tricorn, Burning Ship and Diamond fractals along with their inverse counterparts, negative equivalents, and alternate 4D projection planes. Buddhabrot’s coloring algorithms generate vibrant fractal images using traditional Buddhabrot and Nebulabrot rendering techniques with complete control over red, green and blue multipliers and gamma.
Buddhabrot supports independent color channel iteration counts for Nebulabrot fractal types.
The traditional Buddhabrot algorithm traces points that escape but if points that do not escape are traced instead, the Anti-Buddhabrot is produced. Once again, combining this algorithm with many of the other features produces fascinating images.
Buddhabrot features 4D projection technology. Any fractal can be saved for future recall.
Buddhabrot features controls for plotting on various different planes that can result in much higher levels of detail.
Buddhabrot features a unique time-based rendering system. A length of time in days, hours, minutes and seconds can be specified to determine how long Buddhabrot should spend calculating a fractal.
Buddhabrot supports multiple combined fractal rendering, independent color-channel brightness / gamma control, and numerous variable mutation options. Finally, Buddhabrot is capable of generating extremely high resolution fractals, in excess of 900 megapixels.
Buddhabrot can render both Buddhabrot style fractals and the more colorful Nebulabrot fractals.
The Buddhabrot plugin is capable of very complex Buddhabrot shapes making it an ideal solution for creating generative art for various means including graphic design, motion graphics and illustration.
Buddhabrot is 100% multi-threaded capable of using an unlimited number of cores for ultimate speed.
Buddhabrot supports both 8 bits / channel and 16 bits / channel color modes for professional workflows.
Control Groups
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is structured into groups of controls which belong to a logical unit. Individual controls or entire control groups may be enabled or disabled, depending on the settings of other controls.
Rendering
This section contains all the controls related to the fractal’s time-based rendering system. Buddhabrot works on a rendertime system meaning that the filter will continue to sample points as long as you allow it. This can be days, hours, minutes or seconds.
Preview Render: This dropdown specifies how long to render the preview window for using days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Final Render: This dropdown specifies how long to render the final image for using days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Preview: This button will generate a new fractal based on the current settings.
Variables
This section contains all the controls related to the fractal’s iterative count, type, algorithm, 4D projection, plane, coloring system and variable mutation options.
Red, Green, Blue Iterations: These entry boxes specify how many iterations each color channel will compute when in Nebulabrot mode. This produces varying luminance values computed by each color channel that, when combined, create colorful and unique images. Higher iterations produce more richly-detailed images that require longer rendertimes while lower iterations produce more colorful images that contain less detail. Combinations of higher and lower iterations often produce the most striking images.
Fractal Type: This dropdown specifies which fractal to generate. Buddhabrot supports eight unique fractals (variants of the Mandelbrot set), and three multi-combinations of these. When properly combined with the mutation variables, millions of variations are possible. Because each fractal has its own unique properties and will render differently from one another, Buddhabrot provides advanced color control features for tweaking. The inverse fractals, for instance, will render dramatically darker than their normal counterparts so the RGB Multiplier and RGB Gamma can help increase visibility.
Algorithm: The traditional Buddhabrot algorithm traces points that escape but if points that do not escape are traced instead, the Anti-Buddhabrot is produced. Once again, combining this algorithm with many of the other features produces fascinating images.
4D Projection: This dropdown specifies the real and imaginary projection. The Buddhabrot does not have to be limited to points sampled from the Z trajectory. By engaging 4D projection, points from the entire 4D domain can be sampled resulting in much higher levels of detail, especially when dealing with inverse fractals.
Plane: This dropdown specifies the real and imaginary plane. Once again, points need not be limited to just the Z=0 plane and Buddhabrot provides the option to plot onto alternate planes. Rendering with 4D Projection on alternate planes can result in much higher levels of detail.
Coloring: This dropdown specifies what coloring system to use. The traditional Buddhabrot coloring system iterates all three color channels together, while the Nebulabrot allows each color channel to be iterated separately thus producing beautifully colored images. The result is a grayscale vs. multi-color image.
Bailout: This slider specifies the fractal bailout (escape radius).
Red, Green, Blue Multiplier: These sliders control the respective color channel intensities.
RGB Multiplier: This slider controls the global pixel intensity.
RGB Gamma: This slider controls the pixel mid-tone luminance.
2*ZiZr: This slider mutates the ‘2’ in this listed variable.
Zr: This slider mutates this listed variable.
Zi: This slider mutates this listed variable.
Zr Power: This slider mutates this listed variable.
Zi Power: This slider mutates this listed variable.
Save Log: This button will save a log file on final render completion.
View Log: This button will display the current log file contents.
Progress Bar: This bar displays a visual representation of the fractal generation progress.
Zoom: This button allows you to adjust the resolution of the preview window. Fit: This button will fit the largest possible resolution in the preview window. Statistics: This box will display the number of system cores, samples and time used for processing.
Load/Save: These buttons allow you to load and save all currently specified settings.
Ok: This button generates the fractal.
Help: This button displays this help information.
Reset: This button will reset all values to default.
Cancel: This button exits the filter.
Random: This button will set all controls to random values for unique fractals.
Changelog
v1.0 – First release.
v1.1 – 64 bit release.
v1.1 – Fixed when switching from 8 bits / channel to 16 bits / channel required a restart.
v1.1 – Forced 1:1 image aspect ratio no longer necessary.
Known Bugs
v1.0 – When reaching extremely large sample counts, the samples counter may experience overflow errors resulting in incorrect results. This, however, does not affect fractal generation.
v1.1 – Fixed file access crashing bug in Windows 10.
v1.2 – Cleaned up help information.
v1.3 – Fixed incorrect logo display when using larger fonts or DPI.
Feedback
If you have any feedback regarding Buddhabrot, please feel free to let me know
Special Thanks
Martin Vicanek
Paul Bourke
Melinda Green
Lori Gardi
Alex Boswell
Aaron Davidson
Jared Tarbell
Wikipedia
During the research and development stage of Buddhabrot there was a lot of experimentation performed, especially using many of the modified algorithms presented in the Fractal Forums website. The images presented below show some of these results.
Anti-Buddhabrot using hue, salturation and lightness (HSL) color-space.
Buddhabrot using increasing point location.
Buddhabrot using increasing point location.
Buddhabrot using YUV color-space.
Buddhabrot using LAB color-space.
Buddhabrot using LAB to HSL color-space.
Buddhabrot using LAB to HSL color-space.
Buddhabrot using atan xa, ya function.
Buddhabrot using random neighbors point cloud.
Buddhabrot using sin(xa) * cos(ya).
Buddhabrot using spectrum color-space.
Buddhabrot using spectrum HSL color-space.
Buddhabrot using square root xa, ya.
Buddhabrot using tangent ya.
Buddhabrot tricorn fractal using HSL color-space.
Buddhabrot using x0 divided by 1000.
Installing this software is easy and only requires three simple steps:
1 – Download the software by clicking on the Download Demo button located above on the software page. This will prompt you to save a .zip file on your computer.
2 – Extract the contents from the .zip file and place the .8bf file into your host’s plugin folder. For instance, to install for Adobe Photoshop CS6, place the .8bf file into the location shown below. You can make a sub-folder to keep your plugins organized, such as the one below. Please make sure 64 bit plugins such as these are placed in the corresponding 64 bit Adobe Photoshop plugin folder.
If you’re using Photoshop CC (eg. version 2013 – 2019 or later), your Photoshop plug-ins are stored in a folder shared between all Photoshop CC versions shown below.
3 – Launch Adobe Photoshop, open an image and click on Filter > Richard Rosenman > Filter Name. If the filter is grayed out, it may not support your current image color depth.
If you have purchased a commercial license, please review the activation section.
This software is compatible with the following OS:
Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Windows 10 Enterprise 64 bit
Windows 10 Education 64 bit
Windows 8 64 bit
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit
Windows 8 Enterprise 64 bit
Windows 7 Home Basic 64 bit
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit
Windows Vista Business 64 bit
Windows Vista Enterprise 64 bit
Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Windows XP 64 bit
Windows XP Professional 64 bit
This software is compatible with the following hosts:
Any host capable of running Adobe Photoshop 64 bit compliant plugins
Adobe Photoshop (Version CS5 or higher, including CC) 64 bit
Adobe Photoshop Elements (Version 13 or higher, including CC) 64 bit
Adobe Illustrator (Version CS6 or higher, including CC) 64 bit
Computerinsel Photoline 64 (Version 16 or higher) 64 bit
CorelDRAW (Version X6 or higher) 64 bit
Corel Painter (Version 12.1 or higher) 64 bit
Corel Paint Shop Pro (Version X6 or higher) 64 bit
