dirkdeftly

10th February 2003 03:40 UTC

Star Wars automata
Remember a while back I posted a "Brian's Brain" automata preset? Well this is the second automata I mentioned in that post: Star Wars. This thing took me weeks and weeks to figure out, but I've finally done it. If I were 21, and I didn't vomit at the very thought of alcohol, I'd help myself to a beer right now :D

I'm too damn excited to start working on changing it right now, so here's a "prototype" - just a moving particle + the star wars algorithm.

<edit> Messing around with it, it looks like that's going to be about all I can do with this. Oh well :) </edit>

anubis2003

10th February 2003 03:50 UTC

Very nice Atero. Seemed to create a couple of penises though.:igor: Makes a lot of worms and blobs.
Is it considered a true automata since it needs a moving particle to keep it changing?

Raz

10th February 2003 07:46 UTC

very very nice, good work :up:

Phaze1987

10th February 2003 09:27 UTC

Nice...i like the way it moves without any DM or movement :) I had no idea you can something like this using a CF and color clips :rolleyes: Good work indeed :)

PS> Try adding more moving particles.It will be MORE dynamic...Also it really needs the clear every frame option from Main at the beggining(the image of the previous preset stayed on my computer).

dirkdeftly

10th February 2003 16:43 UTC

yeah, i'm gonna fix all that when i release it.

btw for anyone trying to say "make it more alive!" first go bash your head into a brick wall then go look up information on cellular automata, since i've got better things to do than tell you guys why that's just not the way it is...

btw there seems to be a bug having to do with state 2 cells (state 1 being alive, 2 being old, 3 being dying, and 0 being dead). i THINK that's the one that's glitchy, but don't quote me on it. it seems that any dead cell with 2 neighbors that was alive last generation becomes a state 2 cell. very odd...

anubis2003

10th February 2003 20:45 UTC

Atero, is it a true automata since it relies on the moving particle to continue to change?

dirkdeftly

10th February 2003 20:57 UTC

all you have to do is delete the particle and yes, it is :)
in fact, you could argue that it is with the particle as well. you'd just have to write a bunch more rules for it that say "the (star wars) rule applies except when the cell is invaded by the space taken by the particle, in which case cells are an obligatory state 1" - then define the space taken by the particle for generation N given a uniform random position defined for every generation where a given sound source reaches a given sound level. however, the edges (for any automata in avs) need further redefenition, because of the way convolution filter works...

Limpet

10th February 2003 21:44 UTC

I like this one more than brian's brain, its not as cluttered. But after a while little clumps that just stay in one place form up mostly on the edges then sometimes in in areas close to the edges.

dirkdeftly

10th February 2003 22:12 UTC

yeah. that's the way the rule works. see above post.

Limpet

10th February 2003 22:14 UTC

ok. I guess i need to read up on this stuff.

anubis2003

10th February 2003 22:53 UTC

Isn't it a rule that automata have to be based purely on a beginning state of rules and conditions with no outside influences(i.e. moving partice)? This is what I've heard that automata are.

Nic01

10th February 2003 23:03 UTC

Automatas basically is just a rule with a carryout. Outside influences are allowed, but it's no fun that way - Keeping something alive without any outside influences is both challenging, and, if you're the type, fun.

The simplest one known is the 1-d automata (This one being elementary one), with 256 possible rules, and 2 possible states, either alive or dead.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CellularAutomaton.html for those who wants to know more, I'm bad at explaining =P

P.S. : Can someone with a lot of time to spare code a few presets in form of SSC+rule? (n=bla in first frame, 0 in 2nd or others to save some power) I think it'd be interesting to see some of the guns over AVS =)

dirkdeftly

11th February 2003 19:47 UTC

You could do an 8x8 universe in superscope, but somehow I really don't think that'd be the least bit interesting :)

fsk

12th February 2003 17:12 UTC

This rocks!!!
If you were here and 21 and... I would buy you that beer:)

dirkdeftly

12th February 2003 18:59 UTC

No, if I were there and 18, right? :)

fsk

12th February 2003 19:22 UTC

Gues what, if you were here and I gave you alcohol to drink,it would be ok no mater how old you are. Here you just cant buy it yourself till you are 18. Until reacently you could do that to.

Jaak

12th February 2003 20:44 UTC

Heh, we got here some freeky laws too:

If ur over 18 u may drinc alcohol but ur not allowed to buy it urself (heh, u just have to wait until ur 21).
Where's the point, heh, stupid laws...

Limpet

13th February 2003 01:17 UTC

Isn't like that in mexico?
(Topic change) Also, I read up on that automata stuff and other things and found that I couldn't figure out how to put f(whatever goes here)=(stuff that goes here) into avs. Probably lack of education, so i'll ask you educated math gods ;) , how do you convert it so that it fits into avs?

Nic01

13th February 2003 01:31 UTC

Using convo, you make a little environment with it (The 3x3 square surrounding the middle for Moore, the 4 pixels touching the middle directly for von Neumann (sp?)). Color clip to adjust for n neighborhood survival and birth according to % of color.

How exactly do you use the color clips? Hopefully your logic is good enough to figure it out. Otherwise don't even think of trying.

P.S. : I'm may not be math god, but I still know how it works :)

dirkdeftly

13th February 2003 02:32 UTC

grrr...i still can't figure out how to fix this tiny bug: every state 3 (dying) cell with 2 state 1 (alive) neighbors becomes state 2 (old) in the next frame. it's bugging the hell outta me...i'm not sure what kinds of repurcussions it has on the rule itself, but i know it ain't good :(

Phaze1987

13th February 2003 21:30 UTC

Could someone explain the convolution filter a little for me please ? I`ve played with it but i didnt understood anything except i can give blur to a preset...

anubis2003

13th February 2003 22:07 UTC

First off, it steps through pixel by pixel. This pixel is set to the center pixel. It then alters the color of the other pixels in the "neighborhood" to a mix between their current color and the center pixels color based on the number in their square and the inversed scaling number. I'm not sure exactly, but it would be something like the average color of (R,G,B) and ((R + <number in square> * <R of center square> / <scaling number) / 2,(G + <number in square> * <G of center square> / <scaling number) / 2,(B + <number in square> * <B of center square> / <scaling number) / 2)).

Limpet

13th February 2003 22:43 UTC

Ok thanks, i'll work on that.

Phaze1987

14th February 2003 08:32 UTC

So each horizontal line represents a color filter right ? I think i understood.Thanks anubis :)

dirkdeftly

14th February 2003 18:51 UTC

no. the center of the matrix represents the point at hand. you take the color values from the relative pixels and multiply them by the numbers in the matrix and add that all together, then add the bias, then divide by the scaling amount. this final number is assigned to the given pixel. so for the "fastest possible blur":
0 1 0 bias 0
1 0 1 scale 4
0 1 0
you take the color values from the pixels directly above, below, to the left and to the right of the given pixel, add them up and divide it by 4 and color the given pixel accordingly. this gives you a slightly blurry picture. when the process is repeated several times you get an entropic effect: the colors spread and even out over time.

anubis2003

14th February 2003 20:58 UTC

Phaze, I'm not sure how you came up to those conclusions from what I said. "rows" aren't anything in this - the matrix makes up a small "neighborhood" of numbers used to represent the pixels surrounding the point being considered. If you know some C++ or similar language, PM me and I will send you something that may help explain it better.

Back on topic, Atero, have you tried making any automata based on larger neighborhoods? I've seen a couple of these online, and they create some interesting effects.

Jaak

14th February 2003 21:33 UTC

could you PM it to me too (c++ and pascal only)?

dirkdeftly

15th February 2003 04:56 UTC

they do, but not for long (as far as i've seen)...

does anybody have any idea how to fix this bug???