Strange Attractor Visualizer
Render Clifford, De Jong and Svensson strange attractors. Tune the parameters, recolour by density, randomize and export high-detail fractal art as PNG.
What is a strange attractor?
Take a point and apply a simple formula to it over and over, feeding each result back in. For most formulas the point flies off or settles down. For a special few it never repeats yet never escapes — it endlessly traces an intricate shape called a strange attractor: the fingerprint of deterministic chaos.
The image is built by plotting hundreds of thousands of iterations and shading each pixel by how often the orbit visits it (log-density colouring), which is what gives the smoky, filamentary glow.
The maps
- Clifford:
x' = sin(a·y) + c·cos(a·x),y' = sin(b·x) + d·cos(b·y)— flowing, ribbon-like. - De Jong: swaps the cosines for differences — sharper, more web-like structures.
- Svensson: a Peter de Jong variant with bolder loops and symmetry.
Sensitivity is the point
Nudge a parameter by 0.01 and the whole figure can reorganise — this is sensitive dependence on initial conditions, the “butterfly effect.” Most parameter sets collapse to a dull dot or a smear; the beautiful ones are rare islands. Hit Randomize a few times — you can tell instantly when you land on a good one.
Make wallpaper from it
Crank the point count for a denser, smoother render, pick a palette, and Download PNG — strange attractors make striking desktop and phone wallpapers, album-art textures or generative-design backgrounds. More points = finer filaments at the cost of a slightly longer render.