Diamond Fractal Fire interposes recursively generated poetry with similarly recursive fractal imagery. Each text (unique for each mint, but always 20 sentences in length) is generated by a custom context-free grammar algorithm, fed with lists of words selected by the creator. The fractal pattern in each edition is a variation on a Koch snowflake fractal, one of the earliest fractals described by mathematicians. These fractals grow over time at varying rates, and pulse with varying color ranges using Perlin noise, eventually filling the screen.


Push `h` to save high resolution PNG and JPG images of the complete fractal pattern (takes a moment to process)
Push `s` to save PNG and JPG images of the current browser view (with current browser window dimensions and resolution)
Push `v` to begin recording canvas as a video (with current browser window dimensions), then push `v` again to save the video
Push `f` to toggle fullscreen mode
Push `p` to toggle zoom pause
Push `r` to toggle zoom reverse
Push `c` to toggle color shift pause
Push `l` to toggle low resolution mode (improves framerate)


The animation is somewhat computationally expensive, and so it runs best on contemporary laptop and desktop computers. Mobile devices and older computers may experience low frame rates. Captured video quality may vary depending on compute and browser limitations. The animation is responsive (it will adapt to any screen or window size), and resizing your browser window also will restart the animation.

Color floors and variances represent ranges for Hue using a Hue/Saturation/Brightness (HSB) color model. Velocities represent (subtle) zoom speed differences. Noise increment and start values affect the rate and variation of color shifts.

In addition to the author's code, Diamond Fractal Fire relies on the p5.js library.



ABOUT THE CREATOR

Ross Goodwin is an artist, creative technologist, and former White House ghostwriter. He employs machine learning, natural language processing, and other computational tools to realize new forms and interfaces for written language. From word.camera, a camera that expressively narrates its photographs in real time using artificial neural networks, to SUNSPRING (with Oscar Sharp, starring Thomas Middleditch), the world's first film created from an AI-written screenplay; from making London’s Trafalgar Square lions roar poetry (“Please Feed The Lions” with Es Devlin), to writing a novel with a car (1 the Road), Goodwin’s projects and collaborations have earned international attention. Winner of the 2018 IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling as well as Columbia University's Digital Dozen Breakthroughs in Storytelling Award for 2019, he earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from MIT in 2009, and his graduate degree from NYU ITP in May 2016.

rossgoodwin.com