Fractal That! Quilt Design on an iPad/iPhone
Posted by Jennifer Rapacki on Sep 17th 2024
There’s an App for that! Well almost. The Frax app for the iPad/iPhone wasn’t developed for quilt design but can be used for that.
Using Fractals in art is not new. Artist going back to the 9th century and earlier have intuitively used fractal shapes in their art. It was Benoit Mandelbrot working with computers in the 1970s who coined the term “Fractal” and the new science of fractal geometry.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to know what a fractal is nor understand the underlying math—the Frax app does all the work for you. The basic Explore capability allows you to randomly change fractals by animating color, light, motion, and texture. Upgrading, the app, to the pro version, unlocks the Design capability with more exact control options for Spectrum, Colors, Lights, Textures, and Global. You can then just, “play with”, up to 100 different parameters using gestures like drag, pinch, spread, twist, tilt, and tap to manipulate the fractal on the screen.
Once you find a design you like don’t delay in saving, because you may never get back to that same design! Quilts, Cosmic Swirl, and Very Cellular were the result of playing with fractals from the gallery, #176 Paint Can Explosion II and #92 Pinch Me! respectively.
I had one student say “This is more fun than Candy Crush”!
If you would like to learn how to design fabric while you play on your iPhone or iPad, check out my Creative Spark class: Fractal That! Design: From Pixels to Fabric Prints
Watch a brief overview of the course:
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Jennifer Rapacki's journey into the world of technology began amidst the dawn of the PC revolution, where her innate talent for swiftly grasping new computer software and concepts paved the way for a rich and diverse career in Computer Information Systems. With a keen aptitude for navigating MAC, UNIX, and Windows systems, Jennifer's expertise spans both software and hardware domains. Graduating from Purdue University in 1979 with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, she later expanded her academic horizons with an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 1985.
Jennifer just released a new course on Creative Spark—don't miss out: Electric Quilt Software Basics
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