Julien Sprott has taken a different approach to automatic
generation of interesting computer images. He selects
a category, iterated function systems (IFS) for instance.
Each image (the attractor of the IFS) is determied uniquely by fixing the
parameters for that IFS. Each function
is determined by six values, so the collection of all two-function IFSs is described
by a 12-dimensional parameter space. Most points in the parameter space give rise
to uninteresting attractors, so a purely random search would be boring. Sprott's approach
to this problem is to test a collection of attractors for their interest level, and
compare this with some computable number attached to the IFS, the dimension for
instance. Having determined a range of dimensions giving interesting attractors,
Sprott's program searches randomly through parameter space, but generates only the
attractors of those IFSs with dimensions in this range. More details can be found at
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/fractals.html |