Strange Attractor

Strange Attractor draws the glowing trails of a chaotic system around an object: the Lorenz butterfly, the Aizawa attractor or the Thomas attractor. Several strands start almost exactly together, and as bright comet heads race along them, they visibly drift apart: the butterfly effect, made visible.

How it works

A strange attractor is the path a chaotic system traces: it never repeats, yet always stays on the same intricate shape. Here each path is computed once with a precise step-by-step method, and the strands start a thousandth of a unit apart. Every strand's head runs along its path at the same pace, so the heads move together at first and then separate as the tiny difference grows. The fresh end of each trail burns hot, the older end cools to the base colour, and a faint ghost of the whole path stays visible behind. The shape slowly rotates.

Settings

• System: 0 Lorenz, 1 Aizawa, 2 Thomas.
• Strands: one to twelve trajectories.
• Chaos: pushes the system's main parameter; 0.5 is the textbook value.
• Trail Length: how much of the path the bright trail covers.
• Ghost Opacity: how visible the full path is.
• Scale and Particle Size: the size of the shape and of the glowing heads.
• Color (the older trail) and Head Color.

Use it for

Science and maths visuals, data art, generative brand identities, energy and sci-fi scenes. It pairs well with the Fractal Grid or the Hyperbolic Grid.