Fractal Life Engine

See http://flea.sourceforge.net/ - a 3D TurtleGraphics implementation, supporting backends from Tk Canvas to PovRay

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• when you edit a flea script in your least-favorite editor, on the left, each time you save a .flea file, the fleaTk module on the right automatically sketches it. Then you pick a back-end renderer and hit Render. See http://wiki.rubygarden.org/Ruby/page/show/FractalLifeEngine/LampTutorial for the complete cycle

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• an IView viewer showing umbrellas in IV format - probably OpenInventor

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• the filename says "larch.png", but I think this is a furry fir tree. (I know how to recognize trees from a distance!)

While working on Flea, I explained to my woman I was spending all my spare time "writing a program that generates complex photorealistic shapes, like trees, using short primitive rule sets". Not in so few words.

She said, "Can't you just download pictures of trees from the Internet?"

I hope you told her no. Trees you can find, but when you want a particular type and placement, it can get very difficult. Even if all I cared about was having something that looked tree-like, and not the underlying principles, I'd be much happier if I could grow my own.

• yet another stupid tree

• this might have been an attempt at a Hilbert curve

• not only trees can flea