CreatE Fractals in JavaScript

What Are Fractals?

Fractals are self-similar patterns — meaning if you zoom in on a fractal, you will keep seeing similar shapes repeating infinitely.

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Key Characteristics of Fractals

• Self-similarity: Smaller parts look like the whole
• Infinite complexity: The more you zoom in, the more detail you see
• Created using recursion: Repeating a process over and over
• Often found in nature: Trees, snowflakes, coastlines, lightning, clouds

Examples in Nature

• Tree branches splitting into smaller branches
• Romanesco broccoli spirals
• Snowflakes
• River networks

Creating Fractals in JavaScript

To create fractals, we use recursion and a drawing tool — usually HTML Canvas.

Steps to Build a Fractal in JavaScript

1. Create an HTML <canvas>
2. Access the canvas drawing context in JS
3. Write a recursive function
4. Draw smaller shapes on each recursive call
5. Stop recursion at a depth limit

Example: Fractal Tree Using Canvas

✅ HTML

<canvas id="canvas" width="600" height="500"></canvas>

✅ JavaScript

const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");

function drawTree(x, y, length, angle, branchWidth) {
  ctx.lineWidth = branchWidth;
  ctx.beginPath();
  ctx.moveTo(x, y);

  const x2 = x + length * Math.cos(angle);
  const y2 = y + length * Math.sin(angle);

  ctx.lineTo(x2, y2);
  ctx.stroke();

  if (length < 10) return; // stop recursion

  // branches
  drawTree(x2, y2, length * 0.75, angle + 0.5, branchWidth * 0.7);
  drawTree(x2, y2, length * 0.75, angle - 0.5, branchWidth * 0.7);
}

// draw
ctx.strokeStyle = "brown";
drawTree(300, 500, 100, -Math.PI / 2, 10);

Result:

Other Fractals You Can Build 🌀

Fractal	Technique
Mandelbrot set	Complex numbers + iteration
Koch snowflake	Triangles + recursion
Sierpinski triangle	Triangles subdividing
Fractal clouds	Noise algorithms

Tips for Building Your Own

• Use recursion
• Add randomness for natural effects
• Control complexity with depth limits
• Experiment with angles, colors, and shrink ratios

Final Thought

Fractals are not just math — they’re art, nature, and computer graphics blended together. With JavaScript and a little recursion, you can generate infinite beauty from simple rules.