Abstract
The article describes some of the author’s own image-generating computer programs that he describes as “gnarly”. He began writing a simple spirograph program based off simple sine wave function called Spiro. Later transitioned into writing with C and better programs using more nonlinear feedback. Where Spiro is based on a simple sine wave function, Vine uses a nested sine function: the sine of the sine. The need for a more complicated computational approach lead to iteration and parallelism. Julgnarl uses Iteration and Calife uses parallelism. Calife shows one-dimensional cellular automata: spaces in which virtual computers are lined up like beads on a wire, all of them computing in parallel. The two methods combined created fractal shapes and pieces of shapes that resemble shapes as a whole. The programs use methods of artificial life to create and evolve new shapes on its own.
Preservation Process
Archived from http://switch.sjsu.edu/archive/nextswitch/switch_engine/front/front.php%3Fartc=213.html. Documentation of the preservation processes used for this collection is available at https://github.com/NickSzydlowski/switch. Metadata for this item was created and augmented by Brandon Ly, Spring 2022, Art 104
Original Article URL
http://switch.sjsu.edu/archive/switch/alife/rucker/rrintro.html
Recommended Citation
Rucker, Rudy
(1996)
"The Quest for the Gnarl,"
SWITCH: Vol. 3:
No.
1, Article 11.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/switch/vol3/iss1/11
Included in
Art Practice Commons, Databases and Information Systems Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces Commons, Other Computer Sciences Commons, Theory and Algorithms Commons