We spotted this excellently simple fractal art display on Reddit the other week and thought it perfectly pitched as a beginner project for someone looking for a geeky desk trinket.
What are fractals?
Fractals are shapes that contain complex detail however closely you look at them, or however far you zoom in. Often, they are self-similar: if you zoom in on the small-scale detail, you find it resembles the overall shape. Some of the most familiar forms that have fractal features are ones found in nature, like fern leaves and frost patterns, and I bet I’m not the only one who calls romanesco “fractal cauliflower”.
They are also beautiful. Fractal art can be created algorithmically by software, with the results usually represented as still digital images or animations. It all kicked off in the mid-1980s, so it’s the kind of thing that’s likely to be right up our street.
Hardware
- Raspberry Pi Zero
- Waveshare 7.5″ E-ink raw display
- Waveshare E-Ink display HAT (lets the display talk to the Raspberry Pi)
- Picture frame (the maker recommends one this size to accommodate the display)
The maker kept the assembly pretty simple, cutting a small hole in the picture frame’s back mount panel to slip the display HAT’s ribbon cable through, with the Raspberry Pi left free-floating behind it. The E-Ink display itself fits snugly inside the frame, with a card mount providing a little breathing space between the display and the glass.
Set-up
Getting the software going looks to be as elegantly easy as the hardware. All the code you need is on GitHub, including a step-by-step guide in the README. It generates part of a Mandelbrot set with dimensions to suit the e-paper screen, then renders it for display.
Obviously, I’m not going to get into what the Mandelbrot set is, but this person in this here video seems to do a great job of explaining.
Meet the maker… kinda
Between the maker’s reddit username (u/wearemessingup) and their GitHub handle (runezor) I can’t begin to hazard a guess at how to properly introduce them. Do go ahead and visit them if you’re on Reddit or GitHub and tell them they’re Fab and we love them.
