Fractal Geometry

Fractals are important because

they reveal a new area of
mathematics directly relevant to
the study of nature.
- Ian Stewart

Euclidean Geometry

Triangles
Circles
Squares
Rectangles
Trapezoids
Pentagons
Hexagons
Octagons
Cyclinders

Can nature be described in

terms of Euclidean Geometry?

Try drawing nature using

Euclidean Geometry:
A tree using cylinders???
A mountain range using triangles and
pyramids???
Clouds using circles???
Leaves???
Rocks???
Humans and animals with rectangles
and circles???

Look outside Do you see

any shapes in Euclidean
Geometry?

If so, they were more than

likely man made. For
example

The point is this

Our world is fashioned with rough

edges and non-uniform shapes.

Euclidean geometry describes ideal
shapes which rarely occur in nature.

Why then do we even bother with

Euclidean geometry?

1. Historically
Plato believed he

could explain
nature with five
regular solid forms.
Astronomers
believed that our
orbit around the
sun was circular.

Scientists now

know that Platos

shapes are
particles and
waves.
Astronomers now
know that our orbit
is elliptical not
circular.

2. The mathematics is
relatively easy.
Perimeter
Area
Surface area
Volume
Relationships between two shapes
For example: Square vs. shape of
Mississippi

3. Men and women consider a

house with smooth edges and
uniform shapes more beautiful
than a house with rough edges
is that nature is more
beautiful with rough
Why non-uniform
and
shapes.

edges and non-uniform shapes and man made

objects are less beautiful with rough edges and
non-uniform shapes? And vice versa?

Fractals Defined.
Geometry of irregular shapes which
are characterized by infinite detail,
infinite length, and the absence of
smoothness.

Lets first see what a fractal is not.

A rectangle is not a fractal.

When we look through a microscope
at the rectangle do we see any new
details.

 The teacher may want to put fractal

pictures here.

The Koch snowflake is a Mathematical curve and one of the earliest fractal curves to have been
described. It appeared in a 1904 paper entitled "On a continuous curve without tangents, constructible
from elementary geometry by the Swedish mathematician Helge von Koch. The lesser known Koch curve
is the same as the snowflake, except it starts with a line segment instead of an equilateral triangle.
One can imagine that it was created by starting with a line segment, then recursively altering each line
segment as follows:
Divide the line segment into three segments of equal length.
Draw an equilateral triangle that has the middle segment from step 1 as its base and points
outward.
Remove the line segment that is the base of the triangle from step 2.
The area of the Koch snowflake is ,
where s is the measure of one side of the original triangle,
and so an infinite perimeter encloses a finite area.

 be the number of sides, be the length of a single side, be the length of the perimeter, and
th iteration. Further, denote the area of the initial triangle, and the length of an initial side 1. Then
Let

The capacity dimension is then

the snowflake's area after the

Fractal dimension
D=fractal dimension
Amount of variation in the structure
Measure of roughness or fragmentation of the object
Small d-less jagged
Large d-more jagged

Self similar objects

nsd=1 (Some books write this as ns-d=1)

s=scaling factor
n number of subparts in subdivision
d=ln(n)/ln(1/s)
[d=ln(n)/ln(s) however s is the number of segments versus
how much the main segment was reduced
I.e. line divided into 3 segments. Instead of saying the line
is 1/3, say instead there are 3 sements. Notice that 1/(1/3)
= 3]

If there are different scaling factors

n

Skd=1

K=1

Figuring out scaling factors

I prefer: ns-d=1
Dimension is a ratio Kochs snowflake
:d=ln(n)/ln(s)
of the (new size)/(old
size)
Divide line into n
identical segments

n=s

Divide lines on square

into small squares by
dividing each line into
n identical segments

n=s2 small squares

Divide cube

Get n=s3 small cubes

After division have 4

segments
n=4 (new segments)
s=3 (old segments)
Fractal Dimension
D=ln4/ln3 = 1.262

For your reference: Book

method
n=4
Number of new segments

s=1/3
segments reduced by 1/3

d=ln4/ln(1/(1/3))

Sierpinski gasket Fractal

Dimension
Divide each side by 2
Makes 4 triangles
We keep 3
Therefore n=3
Get 3 new triangles from 1
old triangle

s=2 (2 new segments from

one old segment)

Fractal dimension

D=ln(3)/ln(2) = 1.585

Cube Fractal
Dimension

Apply fractal algorithm

Divide each side by 3
Image from
Angel book
Now push out the middle face of each cube
Now push out the center of the cube

What is the fractal dimension?

Well we have 20 cubes, where we used to have 1

n=20
We have divided each side by 3
s=3
Fractal dimension ln(20)/ln(3) = 2.727

Language Based Models of

generating images
B
Typical Alphabet {A,B,[,]}
Rules
A[B]AA[B]
A=> AA
B=> A[B]AA[B]

Starting Basis=B
Generate words

AA[A[B]AA[B]]AAAA[A[B]AA[B]

Represents sequence of
segments in graph
structure
Branch with brackets
Interesting, but I want a
tree

AA

A
A
A
A

A
A
B

AA

A
B

A
A

Language Based Models of

generating images cond
B
Modify Alphabet {A,B,
[,],(,)}
Rules

A=> AA
B=> A[B]AA(B)
[] = left branch () =
right branchStarting
Basis=B

A[B]AA(B)
AA[A[B]AA(B)]AAAA(A[B]AA(B))B
AA

Generate words

Represents sequence of
segments in graph
structure
Branch with brackets

A
A
A
A

A
A
B

B
AA

A
B

A
A

A
B

Language Based models have

no
inherent geometry
Grammar based model
requires

Grammar
Geometric interpretation

AA

Generating an object from the

A
A
A
A

word is a separate process

examples
Branches on the tree drawn at B
upward angles

upward angles
Choose to draw segments of tree as
AA
successively smaller lengths
The more it branches, the smaller
the last branch is

Draw flowers or leaves at terminal

nodes

A
B

A
A

A
B

Grammar and Geometry

Change branch size according to depth
of graph

Foley/vanDam Computer Graphics-Principles

and Practices, 2nd edition

Particle Systems

System is defined by a collection of particles that

evolve over time

Particles have fluid-like properties

Flowing, billowing, spattering, expanding, imploding, exploding
Basic particle can be any shape
Sphere, box, ellipsoid, etc
Apply probabilistic rules to particles
generate new particles
Change attributes according to age

What color is particle when detected?

What shape is particle when detected?
Transparancy over time?

Particles die (disappear from system)

Movement

Deterministic or stochastic laws of motion

Kinematically
forces such as gravity

Particle Systems modeling

Model

Fire, fog, smoke, fireworks, trees, grass,

waterfall, water spray.

Grass
Model clumps by setting up trajectory paths
for particles

Waterfall
Particles fall from fixed elevation
Deflected by obstacle as splash to ground
Eg. drop, hit rock, finish in pool
Drop, go to bottom of pool, float back up.

Physically based modeling

Non-rigid object
Rope, cloth, soft rubber ball, jello

Describe behavior in terms of external and internal forces

Approximate the object with network of point nodes connected by flexible connection
Example springs with spring constant k
Homogeneous object
All ks equal

Hookes Law

Fs=-k x
x=displacement, Fs = restoring force on spring

Could also model with putty (doesnt spring back)

Could model with elastic material
Minimize strain energy

k
k

k
k

Turtle Graphics

Turtle can

F=Move forward a unit

L=Turn left
R=Turn right

Stipulate turtle directions,

and angle of turns
Equilateral triangle
Eg. angle =120
FRFRFR

What if change angle to

60 degrees

F=> FLFRRFLF
Basis F

Koch Curve (snowflake)

Example taken from Angel

book

Using turtle
graphics for
Use push and pop for side
trees
branches []

F=> F[RF]F[LF]F
Angle =27
Note spaces ONLY for
readability
F[RF]F[LF]F [RF[RF]F[LF]F]
F[RF]F[LF]F [LF[RF]F[LF]F]
F[RF]F[LF]F

What is a Fractal?
A fractal is a
mathematical object that is
both self-similar and
chaotic.
self-similar: As you
magnify, you see the
object over and over
again in its parts.
chaotic: Fractals are
infinitely complex.
Amazingly, these
beautiful objects of breathtaking complexity are

The first fractals were discovered by a french

Mathematician named Gaston Julia who discovered
them decades before the advent of computer
graphics.

Julias work
was
rediscovered
by Benoit
Mandelbrot.
The most
famous of all
fractals is the
Mandelbrot
set.

...And we can continue to

zoom in. As we magnify
the object, we see the
same thing over and over
again.....This is
Self Similarity

These two pictures

are interesting
because they show
the same portion of
the mandelbrot set
colored differently.

The choice of color

scheme really
influences what we
see in the picture.
Is this mathematics
or art?

The Fractal Geometry of Natu

Why is geometry often described as cold and
dry? One reason lies in its inability to describe
the shape of a cloud, a mountain, a coastline,
or a tree. Clouds are not spheres, mountains
are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and
bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in
a straight line...
...Nature exhibits not simply a higher degree
but an altogether different level of complexity.
The number of distinct scales of length of
patterns is for all purposes infinite.
The existence of these patterns challenges us
to study those forms that Euclid leaves aside as
being formless, to investigate the morphology
of the amorphous. Mathematicians have
disdained this challenge, however, and have
increasingly chosen to flee from nature by
devising theories unrelated to anything we can
see or feel.

Aristid Lindenmeyer
Aristid Lindenmeyer
invented L-Systems to
model plant growth.
See the fractal he is
holding?

Fractal Landscapes
In the following slides we will see some

landscapes that are progressively more

complex. These landscapes are NOT
drawings. They are created entirely by a
computer using fractal interpolation.
This is the procedure that is used by
special effects artists to create computer
generated scenes for the big screen.
(Independence Day was full of them.)
Of course, mine are much cruder than
theirs. They were produced in about an
hour on my (ancient) pentium computer at
home by a program called VISTAPRO.

This is the crudest version. Nature

made of triangles.

In this picture, the grid of triangles is a bit finer

The triangles are finer still and the mountains in the di

begin to look a bit better.

The next step. The mountains in the background

look like real mountains.

Now we add some texture to the triangles.

Here we add some crude clouds and improve the lan

Here we add some crude trees, and improve the

landscape and the clouds.

This is the best resolution I got.

Summ
er

Winter---we also
got rid of the

Autum
n

Sprin
g

We can
make
some
artistic
choices
of color
to give
us the
same
landscap
e in
different
seasons..