I so often see fractals which look ordinary but could be made into dynamite with the right color map. For those of you who use Fractint, making a good one isn't hard...but it helps to have examples. I've tried to provide some tricks and examples in this section.

I'm going to assume you know how to use Fractint and can make and edit a color map (if not, read Linda Allison's lessons first). Together, then, we'll explore which is the "right" map for several Fractint gifs and you'll be able to download a kit containing pars, formulas and maps for all you see here. Everything has been selected so there are a variety of "problem" examples which can be solved by color maps. The kit also contains a few extra maps which I particularly like.

Let's start with the example above which shows the depth that can be achieved with a good colormap......even in the small version on this page you can see how there is a sense of foreground and background. The effect is more intense if you download the full sized image or generate it from the par in the kit. This image uses my favorite gen-2.map which is what I think of as an "all purpose" map and is the one I try first when I think I've arrived at a good fractal.

Suppose I get.......

Hey....not bad!!! Here is a good strong central image and it uses that favorite gen-2.map. I would call this pretty.

Suppose we have a few "types" of maps available and decide to try a "two color" map....my 2shells2.map.... on this same image.....

Now that is much better.....more depth....there is a better focal point in the middle....and all I did was load in a new map and cycle it carefully. OK...how did I know to do this?????....answer....I didn't. But I have a nice variety of "types" of maps....and I try the differnt "types" ......cycling carefully and slowly.....until I get a sense of how the image responds.

The most useful types are....

1. Smoothly graduated map like gen-2.map.
2. Two color map....graduated in only two colors with an abrupt change from one color to the other like 2bluteal.map
3. Map with large areas of black which carve out parts of an image like jewel13.map

If you think that last map is great...let's load it onto a really pretty julia......

Same map....but the result is really lousey, flat as a pancake. This is a dead give-away that the colors are toooooo smooth.....they graduate in little itty bitty steps. We need something where the interval between different colors is shorter....load the gen-2.map and see.....

Oh.....big improvement.........the julia no longer looks flat but the background color is not ideal.

Now let's try a color map with a lot of black .......jewel9.map

Aaaaahhh.....yes!!! The julia pops out against the black background and the colors seem to glow. This is the effect we are looking for.