Grid Size

Gridsize is the number of cells in the grid, i.e., 800 x 800 x 800.

To increase the resolution of the Mandelbulb, you will need to increase the grid size. Higher numbers will create more spheres. Be careful when increasing this number, as memory use and render times will increase.

Max. Iterations

Maximum number of iterations to try. If, after this number of iterations, the point is still inside a sphere of radius 2, then it is assumed to be a prisoner point.

Power

In two dimensions, Julia sets and Mandelbrot sets are computed by iterating Z raised to a power of 2, added to C. In three dimensions, raising to a power of 8 gives more interesting results, but there is a control to try changing this if desired.

Sphere Multiplier

This is a multiplier for the radii of the spheres in each cell; larger spheres will blend better, but will make it 'puffy', smaller spheres will show the grid more.

Orbit Threshold

If a point doesn't iterate out farther than this distance, it is assumed to be well inside the Mandelbulb and will not be added for rendering; this clears out a large hollow area in the center of the Mandelbulb, making the geometry a bit lighter.

Chunks

This is the number of chunks to break the Mandelbulb into, so you are not building the entire set in RAM at once. Higher numbers should use less RAM, with a saturation point at around 30.

Threads

The number of threads to spawn when sampling values on the grid.

Julia

A switch to render as a Mandelbulb, or a julia set

C Value

A value for C used to generate a julia set; ignored if julia == off.

That concludes this tutorial. Have a go at increasing the grid size in the .ass file and adding some more interesting lighting effects.