Here is a property I think real life fractals would have: at very small scales, the valleys of the fractal approximate the wavelength of light, so on a macroscale some fractals could display structural coloration (like in butterfly wings)

As a vfx artist, I love it when people outside the industry run into the issues we deal with on the daily. The perspective discussion in the beginning is something I have very often with directors and cinematographers, even the most seasoned professionals have a hard time understanding why you can't just slap two pieces of footage together without taking all of that into account. To get this perfect you probably need to take lens distortion into account as well, as the edges of the frame can be slightly stretched compared to the center of the image, so when lining up the whole of the image with a different perspective distance, you're can be a fair percentage off from distortion alone because of a largely imperceptible bend. A rectilinear lens can reduce this effect for all intents and purposes, if it's a good one. The final piece to this puzzle would be to motorize the focus so you don't get that artifact as well, and this could also be shot stop-motion style for a perfectly stable and crisp look. And for the record, I don't think this looks like CG necessarily, you probably could recreate this look in CG, it's just that you wouldn't get this without having this particular photographic reference as a starting point, so it's plausible as CG, but not clearly CG, even the smallest imperfection takes work which is the inverse of what happens in real life photography, so it's actually pretty hard to create a photo that definitely looks CG, it has to be extremely exact, it's an artform in itself.

The continous loss of focus unsettles me on some deep level. Gets my skin crawling to a point where I just want the perpetual loop to end as soon as possible.

It seems like the loss of focus is being used to help hide the loop, which is clever, though it would be really cool to see one that stays in focus too! Phenomenal video

I loved that you showed the problem solving process. I can appreciate the loop more knowing the effort that went into it.

This should become a videography hobby in and of itself. The end product really is stellar and you did a good job overcoming the challenges that can arise from this kind of work that requires precision and accuracy. 😁

Amazing work! It really does look like CGI. I wonder how close you could get a natural fractal to behave like this, like with a fern leaf or broccoli. Less precise than a 3D print I assume, but the detail is better than the print resolution, so it wouldn't look as blurry.

The closeness blurs let on to the reality better than the hand and laser, to be honest. This is such an awesome idea and execution!

The fact that the linear speed has to be exponential while the rotation speed has to be constant, is another clever reminder of the complex relationship between sinusoids and exponentials.

I admire this commitment to doing it all IRL, warts and all. I remember watching a nature documentary about some desert rodents (I forget which type), and they had some really close-up footage of them running in slow motion. It was so slick I just assumed it was CGI. At the end they showed the behind the scenes of how they filmed it by finding a straight part of a path frequented by the rodents and installing a camera track that could follow alongside it - then they would wait and film them as they shot past. I remember thinking how it's a shame that they put all that effort in and in the moment it went unappreciated - but was glad they thought to correct me with the behind the scenes.

The exponential slow down as you zoom makes so much sense, that explains why my 3D fractal zooms always felt like they were timed wrong- thank you!

The laser illuminating the fractal makes it so much cooler.

The subsurface scattering of that laser with the printed material is just luxurious.

You could potentially coat the model to reduce the subsurface scattering that is occurring after zooming in. Also, a point source light could reduce the scale variance in the lighting.

There was a fun juxtaposition between how serious your voice sounds and describing that little clamp as "cute".

I was really excited for this because I recently printed a fractal of the Sierpinski triangle and it's one of my favorite prints. Printing fractals is one of my favorite uses of 3D printing as a beginner.

As ever, your videos are among the most consistently, singularly interesting KZfaq content

1:46 this is the first video i've ever seen that understands that yes, 2d worlds have parallax!! you don't need to have a fog or have objects glow to discern depth in 2 dimensions, you can judge distance by the width of things alone- THANK YOU

This is incredible. Sometimes what can seem like a really basic shot to a complete amateur (like me), can teach you so much about how it was made, and why there’s nothing basic about any part of this shot. There’s so many cool things about this print, and so many problems in creating this, that I would never have appreciated if I just saw the loop alone. It’s analogous to a fractal itself. The more you look, the more you see. It just goes deeper and deeper and deeper.

There are many videos i have watched on youtube, but this is quality. I can tell I"ll be coming back to rewatch this ,thanks for detailing your process, legend!

Beautiful and brilliant, right down to the precise duration of the final laser-lit loop.

The problem with the blurriness at the end of the loop can't be solved only with focusing. The top third of the fractal has one level less detail than the whole thing, and it's well within the resolution limit of the camera to show that difference. If anything, perfect focus would make the transition point more jarring. Printing the fractal with the same smallest level but three times bigger might not get rid of the problem entirely, but it would be three times less noticeable. You would also need a longer rail or a wider angle lens. Of course, I have no idea if that would make the model too complex to print or even if it would still fit in the printer. Remarkable how good it looks despite this, though! Great job!

the ending footage with the laser is super cool and mesmerizing

oh man this is cool, watching the blurry one fade into a sharper one is so satisfying

Learning has never been more accessible, thank you for taking the time to make this amazing video. Quite inspiring!

Wow. I love that you took the time to figure all this out and to share all the details. This really is fascinating. I’ve seen quite a few computer generated fractal zooms, but this is the first real life one I’ve ever seen. Very creative!

Fractals were a thing that brought me to programming, seeing that effect in real-life is super cool! Very nice work! And I don´t know if this thing has an official name, but your structur is basically a reversed Menger Sponge :)

What a madman! It's unfathomable the size of his brain just to get the animation recorded and edited, but to explain the process and all the related concepts? My god

Very nice project! I love the infinite zoom on the picture you made you showed at the begining

8:40 Shoutout to the cutest clamp of all time being how my Vive Basestations are held for VR lol.

ah man the exhibition real life photo zoom is INCREDIBLE.. I am so happy you let me see that, thank you.

There's an awesome work being put on this video. From the perspective explanation to the exponential zoom. I don't get how it only has 200k views.

Fascinating work! If you have a camera with manual focus adjustment you can get a perfect focus for the whole movement like how the movies use a person doing it manually called focus puller.

So cool! I love the fractal in the dark with the laser at the end!

It always amazes me when a person has the patience for such things.

Great walkthrough on how you made it and the end result was awesome!

I need this loop as my new desktop wallpaper!!!

Bro the laser looks so cool I love it omg

The way the structure is, it really seems like you could play with many ways of lighting the piece up. To highlight & contrast the textures of the design.

I must point out that in cinematography terms at least, this is no longer a zoom. It is a push as the camera is moving towards the subject. Very impressive. If you want to do a zoom-only with a single photo, you would need to position the camera very far away (Perhaps you could jerry-rig a 600mm zoom lens for this) so that the difference between the smaller scale version and the larger scale version perspective-wise is negligible, however the way you have done it is wonderfully cinematic.

Amazing work all around. Truly stellar

I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos. Thanks!

This is so cool. Thank you for sharing. Also, your voice is really nice to listen to for a long explanation. Thanks for the narration

Amazing work Henry , thank you for sharing the journey

Dude, this is so freaking cool! Seriously, this is way too rad.

dude. youre a genius Ive tried to do a simple animation loop in my comic "hole" and cant do it properly and its just a 2D drawing!! youve dome it with a 3D PHYSICAL OBJECT!! its amazing!

Beautiful effect! This video plus the 3d print would make for a great museum piece.

You make some of the coolest videos out there, thank you man!

This is some amazing dedication, really great work!

Your videos are always such a delight.

This legit looks so mesmerizing. So cool that you could do this without any of the distortions! 😊👍👍

Never stop doing what you do!

That's awesome! Would love to see a large scale model. A life size one in a park.

Stunning work!

That is so fun! I'm glad you were able to make it work!

the zoom in doesnt account for focus which kind of breaks the illusion, amazing work

Brilliant work Henry!

Great work. I'm nerding out so hard!

i love fractals because it gives a glimpse of what the universe looks like

So, so cool, and so well done!

Good transition match cuts between two objects is hard but fixed with a fade. Good match cuts between takes of the same object is harder. Good match cuts between takes of a physical fractal is pretty amazing.

1:06 I got an existential shiver when you said 2003 was a little over 20 years ago 😅

absolutely mindblowing

I stared intensely at those fractal bits that were demonstrated and when it came back to normal video my vision was going crazy lol. The world is bloopin and warpin everywhere like I'm on something lol

Amazing work, well done!

Great work! Kinda trippy seeing an "real" fractal object in a video

videos like this restore my faith in humanity

That 3D Koch flake is just incredible! :O

Damn cool. So much problem solving going on throughout the video. Kudos to your ingenuity

That's pretty cool, I like it!

That was insane! It was hard for my head to believe it was real

That very last shot is sick

Really cool video. Though I'd still like to see it done with other fractals or maybe a very high res 3d print so the loop looks more seamless

Very nice! Have you ever printed a fractal in resin? I had difficulty using filament so I used resin and i'll tell you what, It really hit the sweet spot. Not only is it easier to set up but its more refined, strong and when used with a transparent resin it looks just like some kind of crazy crystal from a scifi movie. Due to the fractals transparency I am able to appreciate the underlying order and geometric structure of the fractal. And when exposed to a lazer, bad ass. I even attemted to dope the resin with graphene with no success of it being very conductive. Well anyway this is a big inspiration to me.

Thank you! You just gave me a better fractal to make in minecraft instead of a serpinski cube!

The video loop wasn't perfect, but it's still insanely satisfying. I'm not sure whether it's because the camera gets so close it loses a little focus or if the smallest fractals at the top are so small that the 3D printer can't make them look as defined as the larger ones.

really well done! In my computer animations of fractal zooms I avoid focusing on the tip but will 'look at'/focuse on a particular point of an iterations surface and then calculate what that point would be on a matching matching surface of the next iteration but different orientation, doing all the same things you did where speed is proportional to distance from the lookat point. If I had a chance to do a project like this I'd love to use a 6dof programable gimble for the fractal. can you get some linear actuators and build a real life hypercube which can rotate along the 6 4d axis next? ;)

*Absolutely amazing!*

if you used a probe lens so you could get a lot closer and do it with a larger variety of shapes i can imagine this could work really well

There is a study performed of a rain forest square area, where they measured each tree, and found a fractal correlation. Your blood vessels in your body branch fractally, as well as many plants grow in a fractal organization. Great video about all the variable considerations. The Last one I could see was the focal point needs to change per the flow as well, but maybe that would make it too much computer generated like.

Just truly amazing!

Very beautiful and impressive!

the cutest clamp of all times

So glad you did the loop with the laser. I was wondering if that'd be possible!

Wow, this is so incredible

I love how the coastline zoom has smaller and smaller roads and buildings

Brilliant work! Your channel deserves faaar more Subs, Views.

Incredible! 🔥🔥🔥

This is very interesting, thank you for making this video

"And what did you do this weekend?" "Well ..."

Wow this is Awesome ! I Love Your Dedication man!!

I think I can understand why you didn't also go to the effort of creating an automatic focus adjustment as well, but I think just a touch less blurriness would really sell me on the effect

This is so cool, fantastic job

You could also do a stop motion fractal zoom by 3D printing each 'frame' of the zoom animation

fantastic work! nicely done!!!!

6:55 web apps are the worst thing since web coding languages and software licensing. I loved two things about the video - that you brought up Escher's painting and the Droste Effect, so I found an awesome celebratory, interactive university webpage; and that you kept "putting in imperfections".

The issue with this is that you can tell when the loop restarts. But kudos for doing all the work to get it as good as you did.

Ah, the motion control rabbit hole. Surely you considered a follow focus at one point? Also I think having it in reverse, moving out - not in - is an even greater effect.

Awesome video and awesome dude!

Really cool effect! That must have taken a lot of work to get the timing just right.