hydrogen
Have you ever wanted to explore an alternate landscape? Hydrogen might bring you there. It works by generating images from a world kernel, described in a file like this:
200 200
{Add/1.0 Subtract/1.0 Multiply/1.2 Divide/1.2}{Cos/1.0 Sin/1.0}{TwoSin/1.2 FourSin/1.2 HydroBoost/1.0 Juxtapose/1.0}{Power/1.0 Root/1.0}{3.141:pi/1.0 1.81:e/1.0 15.7:nu/1.0}
{0.0 1.0 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.0}{0.1 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.2 0.1}{0.1 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.2 0.1}{0.5 0.75 1.0 0.2 0.2 0.1}{1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0}
x/1.0 y/1.0
{1 1 1 2}{1 1 1 2}{1 1 1 2}
This file can link in custom image operators (e.g. “FourSin”, “HydroBoost”, “Juxtapose”) that you write. Modifying this file, for example assigning different probabilities to each operator, yields new worlds.
A prototype interface for hydrogen was written a long time ago. It lets you continuously scroll through these images, marking ones of interest. I liken it — the ability to generate surprising vistas by charting a unique course — to a first step in bringing “hiking” into a computer.
Hydrogen has been written about in a few proposals. Please contact xcolwell for more information.