One thing that’s always fascinated me is fractals and how so many of them echo forms found everywhere in real life so I thought ‘how about making a 3D fractal sculpture?’.
![Fractal 3D Mandelbrot sclpture](https://surefyre.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/fractal-close-1-1024x726.jpg)
The first thing is to find a fractal image I liked the look of so after a little playing around with https://math.hws.edu/eck/js/mandelbrot/MB.html I found a view that I liked and copied the image into Photoshop to create the layers Lightburn needs to create the laser project.
![Initial fractal plot](https://surefyre.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-3-1024x768.png)
As Mandelbrot fractals impart a sense of depth, each layer needs separating by colour, creating 21 or so layers, each of which is exported as a threshold black-and-white PNG. These PNGs are imported into Lightburn, traced and merged with a simple rectangular frame object across the layers.
![Fractal split into layers](https://surefyre.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-4.png)
The layers are then arranged to be cut from the material…
![Laying out the layers to be laser cut](https://surefyre.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image-5.png)
Then it’s just a matter of cutting, cleaning the edges and assembling in the correct order…
Do you have an idea for a layered sculpture or would like one creating for your home or workplace then get in touch and let’s discuss it!