Project: Fractal Planets

Click to see gallery of full-sized images…

Introduction

After taking some graphics classes during college, I became interested in procedurally generating planets. The most common method I’ve seen utilizes random noise in some form, but after working on my Riemann Sphere project I was curious to see if interesting planets could be made using fractal equations. While some post-processing effects are certainly required increase the feeling of realism, the potential for planet generating is limitless, as vastly different terrains can be generated by varying an equation only slightly. See this video for an example of how “fractal plate tectonics” could work, and my OpenGL project to visualize planets of your own.

Gallery

1-Fold (Perpendicular Burning Ship) Julia Set at (-0.777558, -0.110699) with offset by (0,0.4)

Classic Julia Set at (-0.775617, 0.123567)

Classic Julia Sets at (-0.603132, 0.503073)

1-Fold (Perpendicular Burning Ship) Julia Set at (-0.3802, 0.68724) with offset by (0,0.4)

2-Fold (Burning Ship) Julia Set at (-0.784302, -0.0414726)

Classic Mandelbrot Set centered at (-1.26148, -0.0470563)

2-Fold (Burning Ship) Julia Set at (0.447795, 0.645237)

1-Fold (Perpendicular Burning Ship) Julia Set at (0.00272487, -0.785393) with offset by (0,2)

Increasing Maximum Iteration of Classic Julia Set at (-0.438354, -0.65168)