Take A Fractalized Trip Inside The Center Of The Earth

The recursive beauty of the Mandelbulb 3D fractal comes center-stage with Julius Horsthuis' awe-inspiring "Geologic Time."

by Emerson Rosenthal

August 20, 2014, 5:25pm

Geologic Time from Julius Horsthuis on Vimeo.

When mathematicians Daniel White and Paul Nylander first turned the 2D Mandelbrot set into the 3D Mandelbulb fractal inside the collaborative Fractal Forums, it took little time for the scientific community to take notice of the first major evolution on the particular collection of objects popularized by Benoît Mandelbrot in the 70's. Considering the forum's subsequent advent of Mandelbulb 3D Fractal Rendering Software (MB3D), and its immediate adoption by the global fractal community, it's no wonder why, within the past five years, patterned 3D geometry has seen something of a CGI renaissance:

Consider Geologic Time, the newest work from Julius Horsthuis, above. With its expansive resolution, lighting and shadow, various textural qualities, and color depth, the complex beauty of the Mandelbulb becomes a thing to behold. A symbolic trip, perhaps, into the cavernous center of the Earth, the one-week old video from the Belgian filmmaker-cum-DIY-CGI expert offers a moving tour inside the Mandelbulb worthy of the Star Gate light tunnel of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Offers Horsthuis, "What I tried to do here is to slow down time so much that the fractal morphs almost unperceivably, while keeping visual detail fresh and clear enough to keep your eyes darting around the (big, 1080p) screen for a while. I believe that this way, we are more focused and this state opens and stimulates the mind in a different way." Featuring a song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time slowed down 400%, it's a stunning tribute to the complicated beauties of mathematics.

Below, some GIFs our favorite moments from Geologic Time: