File:Electricsheep-14525.jpg|Fractal image generated by
Electric Sheep File:FWF Samuel Monnier détail.jpg|A
Fibonacci word fractal File:Mandelbulb072a.JPG|A 3D
Mandelbulb fractal generated using Visions of Chaos File:Lai4d fractal tetrahedron fantasy.jpg|3D fractal fantasy generated using LAI4D File:AmidstFractalArt.png|A piece generated by Mandelbulb3D. Image:Julian fractal.jpg|A piece generated in
Apophysis Fractals of all kinds have been used as the basis for digital art and animation. High resolution color graphics became increasingly available at scientific research labs in the mid-1980s. Scientific forms of art, including fractal art, have developed separately from mainstream culture. Starting with 2-dimensional details of fractals, such as the Mandelbrot Set, fractals have found artistic application in fields as varied as texture generation, plant growth simulation, and landscape generation. Fractals are sometimes combined with
evolutionary algorithms, either by iteratively choosing good-looking specimens in a set of random variations of a fractal artwork and producing new variations, to avoid dealing with cumbersome or unpredictable parameters, or collectively, as in the
Electric Sheep project, where people use
fractal flames rendered with
distributed computing as their
screensaver and "rate" the flame they are viewing, influencing the server, which reduces the traits of the undesirables, and increases those of the desirables to produce a computer-generated, community-created piece of art. Many fractal images are admired because of their perceived
harmony. This is typically achieved by the
patterns which emerge from the
balance of order and
chaos. Similar qualities have been described in
Chinese painting and
miniature trees and rockeries. ==Landscapes==