Texture a fluid using the Mandelbrot texture

You can texture a fluid using the built-in Mandelbrot texture. The Mandelbrot set is a collection of mathematical points in the complex plane and the boundary of which produces an interesting fractal shape. Using this texture type, you can texture your fluid opacity with the Mandelbrot set as well as its different variations such as the Julia set, the Mandelbox set and other hybrid evaluations.

Note: Use this built-in texture to texture opacity rather than color.

For more information about the Mandelbrot texture, see Mandelbrot.

To texture your fluid with a Mandelbrot set (Method 1: using presets):

1. Select Fluids > 3D Container.
2. Click Presets on the right hand side of the fluidShape Attribute Editor.
3. Select among presets such as mandelbox, mandelboxJuliaChecker and mandelbulbSeaFoam.

To texture your fluid with a Mandelbrot set (Method 2):

1. Select Fluids > 3D Container.
2. Under Contents Method of the fluidShape node Attribute Editor, set Density and Velocity to Off(zero).
3. Under Shading > Opacity, set Opacity Input to Constant.
4. Under Textures, enable Texture Opacity. Select Mandelbrot as the Texture Type.
5. Select among five evaluation types for the Mandelbrot Type: Mandelbrot Set, Julia Set, Mandelbox, Box with Julia Set, Box with Mandelbrot Set.
6. Under Shading, decrease Transparency to zero.
7. Under Opacity, adjust the input bias.
8. Under Lighting, enable Self Shadow.
9. Under Container Properties, increase the Base Resolution.
10. Under Output Mesh, lower the Mesh Resolution to 0.5, for example, for a faster render.
11. Under Surface, select Surface Render so that it renders as a surface and not as polygons.
12. Under Textures, increase the number of Lobes to, for example, 7.

    This is now a Mandelbulb.

13. Under Textures, select Shaded Inside as the Mandelbrot Inside Method to make the surface more fine.

To render your fluid

1. Increase the anti-aliasing quality. Click the Render Settings button and select Maya Software as your renderer. Select Contrast sensitive production under Anti-aliasing Quality > Quality in the Maya Software tab.
   Note: Currently, rendering of the Mandelbrot texture is only supported by the Maya Software renderer.

2. To add color to your Mandelbrot, you can tweak the settings under the section Color. For example, you can set Center Gradient as your Color Input and select color ramp values.

3. Click to render your image with the Maya software renderer.

Experiment with different evaluation types, and customize your texture with different effects by adding leaves, checkers, points and circles.