math art

MathPaint 1.1 released with high-resolution graphics

A new release of MathPaint for Mac OS is now available on the App Store!

MathPaint ad

Version 1.1 includes:

  • A new resolution setting for documents, with options of 72, 144, 300 or 600 pixels per inch
  • Higher resolution setting applied to both image export and printing
  • Improved geometry layer interaction including Edit menu commands for geometry shapes
  • Greatly improved stability
  • Other bug fixes

Users who have MathPaint installed already can update to the new version from the App Store at this link.

The update is also reflected in the fully-functional MathPaint demo, which you can request here.

Read moreMathPaint 1.1 released with high-resolution graphics

Fractal Friday 2021.05.21 – Cubic Mandelbrot Variations

This fractal set made with MathPaint starts with a cubic Mandelbrot layer, warped by a quadratic function and blended with an underlying Perlin noise layer:

The MathPaint Variations window was used to generate randomized variations from this beginning, changing colors as well as parameters and blending:

Read moreFractal Friday 2021.05.21 – Cubic Mandelbrot Variations

Fractal Friday 2020.12.11 – MathPaint Variations

This week’s post demonstrates the generative power of the Variations feature in MathPaint. Starting with a single document, the Variations window generates eight randomly-altered images that you can turn into a new document. The randomizer picks from a wide variety of possible changes, from fractal parameters to coordinate bounds to colors. Enjoy these 20 variations, … Read moreFractal Friday 2020.12.11 – MathPaint Variations

Fractal Friday 2020.12.04 – reflections and symmetries

Today’s fractals are manipulated with reflection or other symmetric effects. The first two use CoreImage filters to reflect parts of the image. The third and fourth images use a color cycle with transparencies in every other color band, with the layer duplicated and rotated. The third image uses a single duplicate rotated 180 degrees, the … Read moreFractal Friday 2020.12.04 – reflections and symmetries

Fractal Friday 2020.11.26: free mobile wallpapers!

This Fractal Friday is the first since the official release of MathPaint 1.0 on the Mac App Store! The fractals here were all made with MathPaint – check out the MathPaint app page for all its amazing features, screenshots, and a free demo.

Mobile Wallpapers: Warped Julia Sets

This week’s fractals are all quadratic (z^2) Julia sets with a real-valued warp function applied. They’re provided in three sizes. If you’re on an iPhone, just click the thumbnail of the size you want to view the full image, which you can tap and hold to save to your Photos. Open in Photos and click the actions icon to set it as a Wallpaper for your phone.

Read moreFractal Friday 2020.11.26: free mobile wallpapers!

MathPaint public beta drops this week! + some fractal wallpapers

MathPaint ad

MathPaint is a new generative graphics app for Mac. With MathPaint you can create amazing art using and mixing different models, from geometry to function plots to fractals to noise. You don’t need to be a programmer or mathematician; it’s built using familiar graphic-design software metaphors (layers, effects, settings), with awesome online help for every control and option.

We’re thrilled to announce a free public beta of MathPaint 1.0 starting in the coming week! Sign up on the MathPaint mailing list and we’ll send you a message when the beta is available:

Sign up: MathPaint News and Tips

Meanwhile, here are a couple of 4k fractal wallpapers I made with MathPaint while testing this week…

Read moreMathPaint public beta drops this week! + some fractal wallpapers

Fractal Friday 2020.10.23 – three warped Julia Sets

Made with MathPaint, here are three Julia Set images warped by an additional real-valued function and with some custom color mapping. The third image, using assigned color bands instead of gradients, also includes some Perlin noise mixed in. Enjoy! Sign up to the MathPaint News and Tips list for information on the upcoming MathPaint release and … Read moreFractal Friday 2020.10.23 – three warped Julia Sets

Fractal Friday 2020.10.16 – Julia Set variations with 5+ colors

Images made with MathPaint, using the Variations feature to generate different possibilities. I made an improvement this week – the variations random-selection code will now also vary the assigned value of colors (as well as altering colors themselves, and fractal parameters like C and breakout value).

Enjoy! You can sign up on the MathPaint mailing list to get Fractal Friday and MathPaint art and announcements in your in-box.

 

Read moreFractal Friday 2020.10.16 – Julia Set variations with 5+ colors

Tiled Polar Variations (23 rapidly-generated images)

Tonight I tested out both the new MathPaint Image Builder Wizard and the Variations window to quickly generate these images. The underlying model is a polar graph with a zoom-repeater applied and a CoreImage twelvefold-tiling feature. The first image was really easy to create playing with the Image Builder – I’m very excited to get it out with the next beta! The variations are created instantly, 8 at a time, in the Variations window – I found about 1 or 2 of each auto-generated batch aesthetically appealing. (I am expecting some day to hook up some machine learning to this feature so you can teach MathPaint about your aesthetic preferences – but for now it’s just cleverly randomized).

Here are all 23 generated images – enjoy!

generative art image

Read moreTiled Polar Variations (23 rapidly-generated images)