Tutorial: How To Export A Fractal From Mandelbulb 3D (Update)

This is an updated version of the original tutorial I wrote on “How to export a fractal from Mandelbulb 3d”. With the introduction of BTracer 2, the process has become much more streamlined. You can now export your fractal as a .ply file with vertex colors or still as a .OBJ file.

Programs you need : Mandelbulb 3d v1.99sr12 (or latest version for best results)
Meshlab 2022.02 (latest version for best results) 
Blender 3D (or the 3d software of your choice)

​Step 1: Btracer2 to .PLY or .OBJ 

Create your fractal. If you want to use the vertex colors, color your fractal with the diffuse color sliders and not with a map, or else it won’t work. When you're satisfied, Click on the BTracer2 button.

​Mesh Properties

​1) Import your parameters from the main window, or you can load your saved m3p file. Position your fractal with the green arrow keys until you can see your whole fractal in the preview window. Set preview size to 256³ for the highest resolution preview.

2) Mesh properties settings: 
Volumetric Resolution could be anywhere from about 400x400x400 to 1000x1000x1000 for your average fractal, but keep in mind that the higher the number, the more faces and vertices it will produce. Find a size that works best for your fractal.

Keep Calculate Colors and Close Mesh checked.

Save type: Mesh with vertex colors (.ply).
If you just want a mesh with no vertex colors…
Save type: Mesh with uv coordinates (.obj)

3) Click “Generate Mesh”. This may take a while. When it's finished, it will save to your Mandelbulb 3d Meshes folder by default.

Step 2: Meshlab

Go to Meshlab and follow the cleaning steps for your .PLY file or .OBJ file…

Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Merge Close Vertices. Apply 
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Remove duplicate faces.
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Remove duplicated vertices.
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Remove zero area faces.
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Remove unreferenced vertices.
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Repair non manifold edges. Apply
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Close Holes. Apply
Filters -> Normals, Curvature and Orientation -> Re-Orient All faces Coherently
Some of these cleaning steps may seem redundant or unnecessary for your fractal. Experiment until you find what works best.

*Optional - Your mesh may have turned out to have millions of faces and vertices. To reduce the total number of polygons to make it a little easier to work with, you can then go to...
Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Simplification: Quadric Edge Collapse Decimation. Enter your desired target number of faces. Check the boxes Preserve Normal, Preserve Topology, Optimal Position of Simplified Vertices, Planar Simplification, Post-simplification cleaning, and Uncheck all of the rest. Apply
When doing this, you may lose some of the detail of your fractal because you are changing the overall geometry. Checking “preserve topology” should leave your fractal unchanged for the most part.

​Filters -> Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction -> Repair non manifold edges. Apply
If your mesh looks a bit jagged or rough, you can smooth it out, but you may lose some of the fine details. Go to...
Filters -> Smoothing, Fairing, and Deformation -> HP Laplacian Smooth. Apply

When you are satisfied with your mesh, go to File ->Export Mesh As and choose your desired format.

Step 3: Blender
NOTE: 
You can't export directly as a point cloud anymore but if you preferred the point cloud workflow that you were able to do with the previous version of the Bulbtracer, here is a link to a tutorial by Michael A. Prostka that goes over that in detail: 

​When exporting the vertex colors, the color data may not be the best quality. You can always make further adjustments by baking the vertex colors to a map and play with the colors in Photoshop or “re-color” your mesh in the 3d program of your choice. Here, I am using Blender for example:

​Now you can let your imagination take over!

​And there you have it. A special thanks to Michael A. Prostka, Andreas Maschke, and the rest of the Mandelbulb 3D community for their support and inspiration!
Copyright © 2022, Written by Tiffany McFarlane.