SuperFractals is about a new kind of geometry and this book explains clearly and accessibly how it is born from a union of randomness, geometry and computation. Mathematical ideas are explained and illustrated through a profusion of full-colour images. Potential applications are explored: for example, SuperFractals enable a vast improvement in terms of texture and variety than conventional computer graphics methods currently used in games and films; they may lead to insights in economics, science, medical imaging and biology; they will have application for image and signal compression.
SuperFractals, first published in 2006, is the successor to Fractals Everywhere, in which the power and beauty of Iterated Function Systems were introduced and applied to producing startling and original images that reflect complex structures found for example in nature. This provoked the question of whether there is a deeper connection between topology, geometry, IFS and codes on the one hand and biology, DNA and protein development on the other. Now, 20 years later, Barnsley explains how IFS have developed in order to address this issue. Ideas such as fractal tops and superIFS are introduced, and the classical deterministic approach is combined with probabilistic ideas to produce new mathematics and algorithms that open a whole theory that could have applications in computer graphics, bioinformatics, economics, signal processing and beyond. For the first time these ideas are explained in book form, and illustrated with breathtaking pictures.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Part I. Geometries and Transformations: 1. Codes, metrics and topologies; 2. Transformations of points, sets, pictures and measures; 3. Semigroups on sets, measures and pictures; Part II. Iterated Function Systems: 4. IFS acting on measures; 5. More on IFS; Part III. Applications to Graphics: 6. Digital content production; 7. Image compression; 8. Super IFS.
