The deeper you go, the deeper you need to go.

March 7, 2011 2:46 PM

Fractal Lab is an interactive WebGL fractal generating app that allows you to virtually explore 3D fractals in a web browser (Chrome or the latest Firefox 4 beta).

(There is a warning about how it's possible that the app can lock up your processor, necessitating a reboot.)

posted by crunchland (20 comments total)

I love the idea. I shudder at the massive number of things that could go wrong by giving a web page unfettered access to my OpenGL driver.

Basically the Linux situation is, at the moment maybe it'll reset your GPU, but in the future it'll get better (as usual for anything in Linux that sucks).

.. is not very comforting.

Ok, security rant over. Why am I so grumpy? Fractals are AWESOME!
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:54 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Here's a video by the creator if you want more info.
posted by crunchland at 3:00 PM on March 7, 2011

Unfortunately, it seems that your browser doesn't yet support WebGL required for Fractal Lab.

Stoopid Netscape 4.
posted by not_on_display at 3:22 PM on March 7, 2011

I'm using the bleeding edge dev channel Chrome, and it tells me I'm not supported.

And there're no helpful links on the site and I am too lazy to try installing Firefox, so I will wail and complain here, and then watch the video.
posted by Blorg at 3:44 PM on March 7, 2011

It works for me. Mandelbulbs are kind of gross looking.
posted by aubilenon at 3:49 PM on March 7, 2011

The thing about Mandelbulbs is, you plant them in the fall, and in the spring you get a fresh crop of Howies.
posted by hippybear at 3:59 PM on March 7, 2011

Bah. I hate seeing all these juicy, delicious looking WebGL demos. I'm running FF4beta under linux which doesn't support WebGL, and apparently has no immediate plans to any time soon.
posted by inedible at 4:18 PM on March 7, 2011

BYW, if you are using Safari, it's supported by the webkit nightly builds. Check here http://khronos.org/webgl/wiki/Getting_a_WebGL_Implementation

Also, groovy.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 4:28 PM on March 7, 2011

Earliest evidence for magic mushroom use in Europe
posted by The Emperor of Ice Cream at 4:31 PM on March 7, 2011

Works better on Macs according to the vid.
posted by Max Power at 4:37 PM on March 7, 2011

I get this:

VALIDATE_STATUS: false
ERROR: 0
#ifdef GL_ES
precision highp float;
#end

...and that just goes on and on. I just now installed the FF4 beta, but I guess my laptop is too underpowered(?) for this.
posted by zardoz at 5:06 PM on March 7, 2011

my.... mind, oh god
(it worked)
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 6:09 PM on March 7, 2011

Worked fine for me in chrome 9 on windows. I thought the control scheme kind of sucked.
posted by delmoi at 6:30 PM on March 7, 2011

And the same result on Chrome. Curse you, crappy work laptop, curse you!
posted by zardoz at 6:53 PM on March 7, 2011

Bah. Looks like it just draws a fractal object at a particular scale and then lets you look at it from all angles. It doesn't actually let you zoom in on an infinitely iterated 3D fractal.

When computers can do a 3D version of XaoS in real time, I'll probably fall in and never find my way back out.
posted by straight at 7:33 PM on March 7, 2011

You can zoom in with shift+arrow keys. It looks like you need to crank up the iterations slider to actually reveal more detail, though... or in my case crash the plugin. Makes a nice CPU/GPU stress test apparently.
posted by arto at 10:39 PM on March 7, 2011

Dammit! Now I want to upgrade my video card so it runs like his does. Sigh.
posted by dopeypanda at 12:11 AM on March 8, 2011

Oh man. With the right color settings, the Mandelbox fractal looks just like the Zion Archive (from here). Or tweak it slightly, and it becomes Coruscant from Star Wars. Really cool!
posted by Rhaomi at 8:17 AM on March 8, 2011

I thought the control scheme kind of sucked.

"So theres this free program that lets you walk around in mind-bending infinitely recursive structures, some of the most fascinating abstract entities ever discovered by man, structures that for most of history only the greatest mathematical minds could only begin to grasp, let alone visualize and explore, but Goddammit the control scheme sucks!"

Fucking people...
posted by DZack at 10:07 AM on March 8, 2011

Half Life 3! Half Life 3! FINALLY! Bring on the combine!
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 1:39 PM on March 8, 2011