Wow! The demo video[1] is really impressive. How are those effects created, I wonder? Do the fractals get their own depth maps? How do you arrive at algorithms

Wow! The demo video[1] is really impressive. How are those effects created, I wonder? Do the fractals get their own depth maps? How do you arrive at algorithms that look so darn beautiful, especially those metal and plastic shaders? Is there prior art for this? [1]: http://fract.al http://fract.al