Sta.sh
Hi all!
This is *Golubaja, founder of
, giving her contribute to the Fractal Week... gnarls! 
I'm quite sure gnarl is my favourite fractal style, I love making gnarls both in Apophysis and in UltraFractal. But first of all...
What is gnarl?
Verb
Infinitive: to gnarl
Third person singular: gnarls
Simple past: gnarled
Past participle: gnarled
1. (transitive) to knot or twist something
2. (intransitive) to snarl or growl; to gnar
Noun
Singular: gnarl
Plural: gnarls
1. a knot in wood; a large or hard knot, or a protuberance with twisted grain, on a tree.
2. something resembling a knot in wood, such as in stone or limbs.
3. (mathematics) The average value of the magnitude squared of the curl of a vector field over a continuous path that is tangent to the vector field at every point. In mathematical notation, gnarl is represented by the lowercase Greek letter ξ.
Translated into Fractal Art, gnarl becomes many things: formulas, coloring algorithms, mappings, variations and variables... Combining shapes, gradients, weights, colors and transparency on gnarls is like opening your eyes on an unexpected, amazing, constantly renewing multiverse.
In a single word: awesomeness.
Learning gnarl style is not so difficult, and making gnarls will give you the strongest emotions and the greatest satisfaction.
Where to start from? Let's have a look!
In Apophysis:
Basic Apo Gnarl - Params 0800001800002C03003C00004D0000650000850300A21E00
B62F00C24F12C56B12CE5F12C65612C62F00BE2709C21209
B60700B60A00BA1609BE1609CE4209E66209F68609F69B1C
EE8A09EE8E25E27E12BE57098D30007D2B09650F09650009
6103005C0700590F094D18095507004007003C0300340700
3004002C04002C03003000002C00002807002404001C0000
5803094000092C03091804090F00091004091C0809280409
3003003400003400003000002800001C0400100000080009
0800090F00091C00002800002C0000300000380400380300
3400003000002800001C0000100000040000000000000000
000000000000000000000400000400000000000000000000
0400000804000C04001804002004
here are some basic gnarl params to play with, copy and paste them directly into Apophysis and have fun! 
Remember: the secret for Apo gnarls is Waves2 plugin and its variables, together with the weight of the related X-form and the values of Xaos. These params make a just two X-forms Apo flame; try and add a Final X-form, play with it and you'll get amazing results! Here are some Apo gnarls with params to tweak:
In Ultra Fractal:Very Basic UF Gnarl - ParamsRR_params_gnarl1_by_golubaja {
::ws11Ogn2tbVzOOKOQ47RKvDIuOKJYzPG2RcZ0ItX2DrmXgI3gh4tBbktTmm5pfLbMGmZPNH2
b0Sp7v6XXucVfd6U0GDd4POfKKywNDs64v9t7TUFdUfvXQVDo7vNfvXO88N6/Qjj+Ov18oOP
JJ6Bj3/w4gD0ZmSXnazSji1yNaIPyhBug+50bo8b4kkq4zncO6OsRm5hste85ghPR16oG6kh
LF1x/l1nos4I5EthbmhTA8W1zGltsa5LmCyy5Tj0pJuo3lsGmwwU1JXTyyIFZlloqborF4kq
SMUfo8oRavoO9aSaJKrqMiK6hrK4P68pOpCqC6SVR/gbzEOJaipaewaevW21F1xHYC6I0d6F
tXf2NGb9GOV1sT1lsLf9yfabXzfq7LjxRT3h6UbvPor4cQ0fK1fdGyDvxGuV5Tl5RLfs+HvD
iPsVU+N7vAJqtevBfA8b1YAjd4mV9L5oFERZo8KcReaeZFpym4B6LJcNsubsZ1mUQQJNfUHg
zW4SWApf4M0dfUgq1cBgm2hwBUaAlZR247u/K46rgrvCu+axVHKPgK2HOJouMgqCIUiH2Dnz
gs3hwbx3
here are some very basic gnarl params, involving just one of the many gnarl formulas that you can find in UF.Try and change the formula parameters to get started, then try and add layers, change formulas, play with gradients... It will be awesome! Here are some UF gnarls with params to tweak:
And now, a collection of the best gnarls ever on dA.
It was very, very hard to choose!
Apophysis
Ultra Fractal
Black & White (almost
)
Gnarbles
:thumb154008598:
Don't forget to join us on #Aposhack!
Wonderful feature! I so love working with gnarls. I think they are all grand.
Thank you so much for including one of my gnarls. I appreciate your support
Thank you again!