Image Details
As with other recent entries in the MMM series, this image was created using the nebulabrot rendering technique. The iterating function is
\(z_{k+1} = \left(\left|\Re(z_k)\right| + \left|\Im(z_k)\right|\right)^3 + z_0\).
The function is nearly identical to that used in generating the Burning Ship fractal, with only a slight modification—the exponent has been increased by one.
I have been thinking some about this family of functions recently. The exponent can be chosen arbitrarily, and the results are, in some ways more interesting than those obtained by modifying the exponent in the Mandelbrot function. There is a certain asymmetry that comes about, which I have been planning on playing around with for a while now.
The impetus to finally render this particular image was provided by a Scriptic art challenge. I find it difficult not to see an anthropomorphic figure in the swirling clouds of this nebula—an Angel of Chaos, perhaps.