{"id":5896,"date":"2023-10-30T12:16:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T12:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/picockpit.com\/raspberry-pi\/?p=5896"},"modified":"2023-10-30T12:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T12:16:28","slug":"paragon-project-raspberry-pi-fractal-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/picockpit.com\/raspberry-pi\/paragon-project-raspberry-pi-fractal-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Paragon Project: Raspberry Pi Fractal Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Raspberry<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this installment of our Paragon Projects series, we’re covering a project that will bring fractals to life. It’s a picture frame that renders and zooms in on the Mandelbrot set, creating Raspberry Pi fractal art!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mandelbrot set<\/a>, of course, is that famous mathematical set of complex numbers out of which visually stunning fractal patterns emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project was put together and shared by wearemessingup<\/a> Reddit, who goes by the name runezor<\/a> on GitHub. Best of all, they were willing to share all the code and the details on how to create the project yourself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Pi
Credit: wearemessingup<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hardware<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This setup is wonderfully straightforward. You’ll need a Raspberry Pi Zero, a picture frame for 7.5 inch e-Paper, and a Waveshare e-Paper Display HAT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, you’ll also need 7.5 inch e-Paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you’ve got a different size in mind, you shouldn’t have any problem configuring the code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Raspberry
Credit: wearemessingup<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As you can see in the photo, it’s as easy as cutting a hole in the back of the picture frame so that you can connect the e-Paper to the Waveshare HAT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you hook up the Raspberry Pi Zero to the Waveshare HAT, you’re ready to set up the code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The project code is Python. You’ll first need to go to the Waveshare instruction manual for the e-Paper Display HAT<\/a> and enable the SPI interface. Then you’ll need to install the Python function library<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to install three Python packages: Pillow, NumPy, and tqdm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case you didn’t know, Pillow makes it possible for the Python interpreter to process images. NumPy, of course, takes care of numerical computation. And tqdm gives you a progress bar to see how far along a loop is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun fact: tqdm is actually short for the Arabic word “taqaddum”, which means “progress”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Fractal
Credit: wearemessingup<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Then it’s just a matter of getting two Python scripts onto the Pi Zero. You can find them over on the GitHub repository here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My favorite Paragon Projects are those that are just as simple as they are brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want more details, you can head over to the Reddit posts here<\/a> and here<\/a>. Or you can go check out the GitHub repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you’re looking for more Paragon Projects, you can check them out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d love to make it with a stronger Pi and then see if I could get a color screen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you do with this project?<\/p>\n