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Computers & Graphics ] (]]]]) ]]]–]]]
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Chaos and Graphics
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Sphere inversion fractals
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Jos Leys
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Delvauxstraat 34, 2620 Hemiksem, Belgium
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17 Abstract

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19 Three-dimensional fractals consisting of constellations of spheres can be constructed by iterative sphere inversions.

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Three methods are explored in this brief artistic statement.
21 r 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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23 Keywords: ’; ’; ’

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Multiple methods exist to calculate and represent 3-D In the example represented in Figs. 1–3, the inversion 57
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fractals. For example, spectacular, artistic images can be circles are on the vertices of a polygon, so the obvious
obtained using quaternion algebra [1]. In this article, I choice for a 3-D constellation is to arrange a set of 59
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will briefly discuss three relatively simple methods to inversion spheres and initial spheres along the geometry
calculate fractal shapes consisting only of spheres. All of the platonic solids: the tetrahedron, the cube, the 61
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these methods use iterative sphere inversions. octahedron, the dodecahedron and the icosahedron [3].
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A sphere inversion is the 3-D equivalent of a circle These regular polyhedra have edges of equal length, so
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inversion. It is a transformation that maps the outside of that initial spheres can be placed with their center at the
a circle to the inside and vice versa. Circle inversions vertices, and with a radius equal to half the length of the 65
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map circles to circles, and fractal shapes can be obtained edge of the polyhedron, so that the initial spheres will be
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by iterative inversions of a set of well-chosen initial touching. Inversion spheres are placed so that they are
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circles in a set of inversion circles [2]. In Fig. 1, the blue orthogonal to the spheres on one face of the polyhedron.
circles are the inversion circles, and the green circles are One other inversion sphere is placed at the center of the 69
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the initial circles. Figs. 2 and 3 show the result after 1 polyhedron, orthogonal to all initial spheres. With this
and 5 iterations, respectively. Note that the initial circles constellation, the iterative inversions will fill the sphere 71
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do not overlap and, hence, that none of the calculated around the initial spheres with ever smaller spheres, and
circles will overlap. A self-similar fractal pattern of an ideal spherical packing is obtained for all the regular 73
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Appolonian circles is generated. The same principle can polyhedra, except for the icosahedron [4]. Figs. 4 and 5
be applied in three dimensions. A sphere inversion will show the result for the octahedron, and Fig. 6 is from 75
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map a sphere to a sphere. If the initial spheres do not the dodecahedron. More examples are available at the
overlap, then neither will any of the calculated spheres. author’s website [5]. The arrangement can be changed so 77
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A sphere that is orthogonal to an inversion sphere will that the inversion spheres, instead of the initial spheres,
not be affected by the inversion transformation. are placed on the vertices of the polyhedron. Fig. 7 is an 79
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example of this arrangement.
Another method may be considered ‘pseudo-3-D’ as it 81
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uses circle inversions in two dimensions, but represents
E-mail address: jos.leys@pandora.be. the resulting circles as spheres. Well-chosen configura- 83
53 URL: http://users.pandora.be/jos.leys/.
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55 0097-8493/$ - see front matter r 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.cag.2005.03.011
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21 Fig. 1. Circle inversion base configuration. Fig. 3. Circle inversion, five iterations. 77

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Fig. 2. Circle inversion, one iteration. Fig. 4. Octahedron-based packing 1.
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49 tions of initial circles and inversion circles lead to inversion in a well-chosen sphere is performed that maps 105
interesting shapes: Fig. 8 is a torus with an infinite this whole strip into one sphere, a configuration as
51 number of holes. displayed in Fig. 10 is obtained. 107
Yet another method [6], also ‘pseudo-3-D,’ was used All images presented here were made using algorithms
53 to compute the images in Figs. 9 and 10. In this method, written for a software application called Ultrafractal [7]. 109
a combination of inversion, reflection and translation This program is raster based, which presented some
55 transformations are used to produce a strip of touching interesting challenges in rendering a large number of 111
circles (‘strip geometry’) as in Fig. 9. If one additional spheres (nearly two million in some images) in an
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21 Fig. 7. Inversion spheres at vertices of polyhedron. 77

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31 Fig. 5. Octahedron-based packing 2. 87

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49 acceptable timeframe. All of the locations, radii, and 105

base colors of the spheres need to be computed firs. As
51 Ultrafractal allows the use of complex numbers, one can 107
define the spatial position with two complex numbers
53 (xy plane and xz plane), which simplifies some calcula- 109
tions. Due to the arrangement of inversion spheres, it is
55 possible that some spheres are computed multiple times, 111
Fig. 6. Dodecahedron-based packing. and these need to be eliminated, which adds to the
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1 with already computed spheres is drastically reduced.

For final onscreen rendering, all spheres are classified in 27
3 another 2-D grid, in order to reduce the calculation time
of determining the frontmost sphere. The raytracing 29
5 routine used in some of the images was written as part of
the algorithm because the program does not have a 31
7 separate module for this.
In this brief artistic note, I have explored some of the 33
9 possibilities to obtain fractal patterns with just spheres.
Fairly simple algorithms can produce very interesting 35
11 and appealing shapes.
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References
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Fig. 9. Strip geometry. [1] Vickers G. Hypercomplex.Org, http://www.hypercomplex.- 41
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org/index2.htm.
[2] Frame M, Bemis B, Clancy C, Cogevina T. Fractals and 43
19 circle inversions, http://www.math.union.edu/research/cir-

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cleinversions/CircleInversionsIntro.html. 45
21 [3] Bourke P. Properties of 3D regular polyhedra, http://

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astronomy.swin.edu.au/pbourke/polyhedra/platonic/. 47
23 [4] Baram RM, Herrmann HJ. Self-similar space filling
packings in three dimensions. Fractals, 2004; 12(3); http://
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www.ica1.uni-stuttgart.de/hans/p/325.pdf.
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[5] Leys J. Fractals by Jos Leys, http://www.josleys.com.
[6] Oron G, Herrmann HJ. Generalization of space-filling
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bearings to arbitrary loop size, Journal of Physica A:
Mathematical and General 2000; 33:1417–1434; http://
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www.ica1.uni-stuttgart.de/hans/p/269.pdf.
[7] Slijkerman F. Ultrafractal, http://www.ultrafractal.com.
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Fig. 10. Strip geometry transformed to one sphere.

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computation time. This challenge was overcome by

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classifying the computed spheres in an array represent-

ing a 3-D grid, so that the time needed for comparison
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