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A 3D fractal sculpture

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
3D Mandelbrot ‘sculpture’

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
The source fractal image

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
The 20+ Lightburn layers

The layers are then arranged to be cut from the material…

Laying out the layers to be laser cut
Individual layers arranged for cutting

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!

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