My view on what is a fractal. Our Creator didn't use a fractalprogram to create clouds, trees, flowers, snowflakes...
You can also draw a fractal with a pencil, you can create a fractal with a lot materials.
3D [link] or 2D [link] .
Benoit Mandelbrot, the inventor of what we know as fractals, meant by fractals:
A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"[1] a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured." (Wikipedia)
Let's restrict fractals to the products of fractalprograms...
Are all products of a fractalprogram fractal ?
Several say: yes. Several say: no.
Is layering a fractalproperty ?
It is in my opinion only the possibility in some fractalprograms to create a nice image with several fractals, but the result is not ONE fractal, but several fractals, blended into one. FractalArt.
Why is this possibility not in all fractalprograms ? Sterlingware is an excellent fractalprogram, but there is no layering function. Stephen Ferguson is very capable of adding this function.
Fractal Explorer has a layering function, but I can insert any image in the fractal with that. Of course: also another fractal, but it still will be a blend of two fractals.
Bringitin is a program to convert any image to a coloralgoritm you can use in Ultra Fractal. In that way you also can insert any image in the fractal. Even in a one layered fractal.
Where do you draw the line ?
You don't need a fractalprogram to create a fractal and not all the products of a fractalprogram are fractals.
There are heated discussions about this. I don't see why. It is not a matter of who is right. We want to have fun with it. Right ?
Affection
Hello!! 
Devious Comments
For me a lot of fun does lie with making a whole piece of artwork within the layers of Ultra Fractal; its just a challenge I love to meet if its at all possible, and I call this fractal art.
What you do with FE or Sterlingware, though, knocks the socks of any picture I feel capable of producing in UF. Why? Because there is a totally ethereal, heavenly ethos about most of your productions; they "speak" to the spiritual realm besides the emotions, and of course our physical perception of them. You have that program down to a fine art - you've worked at it long and hard, and know it well. You therefore know just how to go about your next piece of fractal art.
We all have to work at the program of our desiring to begin to produce anything aesthetically pleasing, or meaningful in any sense.
The interesting thing is, though, that you mention...
"Benoit Mandelbrot, the inventor of what we know as fractals, meant by fractals:
A fractal is generally "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"[1] a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975..."
And YET... One can continually zoom in on these ever decreasing "copies" and find even more within them, and never seem to get to the very beginning of them. Now that truly puzzles my non-mathematic mind, and would end up giving me migraine should I study it too hard, lol!!!
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Anna
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It made me very sad to notice all the bad feelings because of the definition of fractals. It is such a wonderful gift to play with.
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Anna
My Photography Account *Annaphotix
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As long as a picture fulfills the fractal definition in for example "All About Fractals : The History of Fractals Pt.1" [link] it's a fractal regardless how many layers there are. Layers are often added for the sake of coloring, for using different filters, on the same fractal, and sometimes for mixing different fractals which are not related (for example Sierpinski Gaskets as textures in a Mandelbrot and Julia image). Thee are also a "puristic" usage of layering, for example for the sake of mixing the different related subsets in motives of higher degree parameter spaces (cubics, quartics, pentics, etc). This is very often the case in my images. The "technology" for doing so is especially described in article "19a) Dual critical points manual" [link] in my chaotic series [link] and the following.
However there are obviously possibilities to produce non fractal images using fractal software, both Apo and UF, both layered and non layered. How to do this in Apo I have no idea about since I have very little experience of that software. In UF one can take special non-fractals as starting point, the Julia set for z -> z^2 for example. I've done this myself
The above are my reflections. I am uncertain if it was proper answer to your question, but yet
Keep up the good work Titia
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Regards,
Ingvar
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I can't walk..., but I can FLY
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Very interesting point of view. I must agree with it.. thought never thought about it this way!
Thanks for sharing Titia!
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Change my name I remain the same.
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Moloko
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I've only just realized how beautiful fractals (fractal-like patterns) are! (With joining dA mostly!)
I love the patterns...
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There is a great danger if we start categorizing everything very strictly, that sort of thing kills creativity...especially when dealing with art.
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