rastartWith the Fractal Extruder you can extrude faces in a fractal fashion. You you simply use the default settings and make some changes in the operator. Additionally you can add your own rules based on the Lindenmayer-systems. (L-Systems). This allows definitions of complex shapes through the use of iteration.
There are two ways you can use this addon. That is the simple way without bothering about rules and use the parameters in the operator. Or you can dive into setting up some rules. In this articles, I give you the download links, some rules you can enter, and links to more information about L-systems. Rastart is also planning to make it easier to set L-System rules and store them.
How to use the Fractal Extruder?
The easiest way to start is to make a plane, go in Edit mode. Once in Edit mode you select the face and in TAB Rastart (N-Panel) you press Fractal_extruder. An operator (left bottom) pops up where you can change parameters. The paramaters you can change are: Angle, Length, Scale, Radius Scale, Random Angle, Random Length, and Iterations.
What happens is that a new object will be made which consists of vertices and edges with a skin modifier. Now, if you go to the Fractal Extruder in the N-panel again, you can pick the new object that was just created. Select the plane again, go in Edit mode, and press Fractal_extruder again. Change some parameters and you see that you are adjusting the created fractal object.
Using the L-System Rules
Here two example you can copy and past into the operator. This way you get an impression.
- Axiom; FA
- Rules: A:^SBA B:F[&&SFSF][–SFSF]F
And another example:
- Axiom: FFFF\L
- Rules: L:+RF-LFL-FR+ R:-LF+RFR+FL
On Blenderartists.org, Rastart describes as follows how you use the rules:
Reserved instructions: ‘F’ grow a segment forward ‘S’ overwrite the scale parameter in progression rotation ‘&’ ‘^’ -> +X -X ‘+’ ‘-’ -> +Y -Y ‘|’ -> +180° Y ‘\’ ‘/’ -> +Z -Z (I tried to make it similar to Houdini Lsystem) to insert the rules: use ‘:’ to specify a rule ex. A:FFB use a space to separate rules ex. A:+FB B:-FC use ‘[’ ‘]’ to create a branch ex A:F+[FBA]+[FCA]
An idea to use the Fractal Extruder is with the Tissue Addon. That is, converting the fractal to mesh and then Tesselate with the Tissue addon. That is how the cover has been made.
Diving into L-systems
For more information about how L-systems are working here some sources you can use:
- L-System article on Wiki.
- L-System manual for Houdini.
- And here an explanation by Paul Bourke.
Where to download the Fractal Extruder?
You can download the Fractal Extruder on Blenderartists.org for free. Or we can also support the development of this addon and name a price on Gumroad.
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