My week in a nutshell
This week (6/01/2025 - 12/01/2025), I tried to understand fractals better by answering several questions:
- What are fractals?
- What are their properties?
- What is their history?
- In what (digital) applications can fractals be found?
- …
I also took a closer look at some fractals (Mandelbrot & Mandelbulb, Sierpinski triangle, fractal trees & L-systems) and tried to create them in Processing using tutorials.
Terms of the week
- Recursion
- Self-similarity
- Iterative pattern
- Ray Marching
- 3d point cloud
- Fractal dimension
- Chaos Game
Planning
I wanted to do different things, which caused me to get easily distracted. If I was busy looking for information on the key traits of fractals, I would come across things in which fractals had been implemented that inspired me, which made me search further on that. It was a bit of a mess. As a result, I had a lot of tabs open.
After the coach moment, it became clear that I want to do too much in a short time and that I have to make choices, because you can’t combine everything, especially as a beginner. I focused after the coach moment on redefining the research question & deliverables and setting up a schedule so that I can get some more overview. I knew this was going to be challenging and I decided to take the necessary time for this. Although no final new research question & deliverables have been set up yet, I keep in mind in my planning that I will be working towards the final result every day, whatever it will be. I now know more about what I want to focus on without wanting to do everything, although I must admit that I continue to find it difficult. Also, I could already break down certain phases into smaller tasks and I know this will also apply with the other ‘chapters’ once they get closer.
- Should I have done my planning first before doing research?
I don’t think so, because I had already set up a timeline in my pitch and at the beginning it is usually chaos anyway.
Next steps
- 1 or 2 more 2d fractals that have not yet been discussed and try to make them in software other than processing.
- Choose a fractal.
- Learn more about that fractal.
- Transition to 3d.
Goal for next week
Research question & deliverables are defined.