Live colors: Visualizing celluar automata

Abstract

We present a computer generated artwork called Live Colors implemented by using two dimensional Cellular Automata. Each cell of the automata encodes a color. The main goal of this artwork is to generate color patterns starting from the initial images. This paper discusses the concepts, design, and implementation of the system. The basic idea of color pattern generation rules is growing regions around each cell. Three automata are presented. The rules of each automaton consist of two steps. Given each given cell, the first step chooses a neighbor cell for region growing, that is, a neighbor that would belong to the same region as the given cell. The second step determines the color of the given cell out of the color of the chosen neighbor. The first and second automata tend to generate soft regions and boundaries. The third automaton tends to generate sharp regions and boundaries. The images generated by the cell transition rules create various colors and patterns difficult to imagine when mixing colors and drawing patterns by hands. Our automata are examples of cellular automata cleverly designed for growing color regions in the style of colorfield painting and hard-edge painting.