Jeffrey R. Fetzer

Posts

Musings on math, science, and other explorations.

Fun with Chaos Attractors

The Clifford attractor is a 2D strange attractor defined by the iterative map: $$ \begin{aligned} x_{n+1} &= \sin(a \cdot y_n) + c \cdot \cos(a \cdot x_n) \\ y_{n+1} &= \sin(b \cdot x_n) + d \cdot \cos(b \cdot y_n) \end{aligned} $$With parameters $a = 1.8$, $b = -1.9$, $c = 1.0$, $d = 1.5$, the system traces out intricate fractal structures. The image above was generated from 300 million iterations, rendered as a density histogram with logarithmic scaling to reveal the fine detail in regions where the trajectory lingers. ...

May 30, 2025

Replicating the Chrono Trigger Time Gate in GLSL

The time gates in Chrono Trigger have a distinctive swirling blue portal effect. This shader recreates that look using layered sine waves, procedural hash noise for texture, and a spiral distortion centered slightly off-axis. The color gradient shifts from deep blue at the edges through cyan to near-white at the peaks, with a soft vignette that fades the portal into darkness at the rim. ...

May 30, 2025