GoL animations for a short film featuring John Conway

[WCavendish]

Hello,

I'm a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who, for the past few months, has been working with John Conway to develop a short film about some of his work. The film centers on Conway's thoughts about agency and determinism as they relate to the Game of Life and his "Free Will Theorem" with Simon Kochen.

We plan to animate Conway's musings with a mixture of stop-motion and sequences from the Game of Life, so I'm looking for people in the GoL community who might be interested in advising us on visually compelling ways to realize the GoL segments of our storyboard. As an example, we have a short "chase sequence" in which one life-form (say an "ecologist" moving at speed c/2) chases down another life-form (say a "brain" trying to escape at c/3) and destroys it. I'm sure there are a number of beautiful/dramatic ways to build this, and we'd love the advice of some master GoL artists to help explore the options.

If this sounds interesting to you, please let me know.

[Redstoneboi]

LifeViewer is the best I can give you:

Code: Select all

#C[[ THEME 3 Y 10 ZOOM 1 GPS 30
#C T 100 Y -50 ANGLE 90 ZOOM 8 LAYERS 2
#C T 200 X 10 Y -70 GPS 10 LAYERS 4 DEPTH 0.50 THEME 2
#C T 250 GPS 20 X 0 Y -60 LAYERS 7 DEPTH 0.25 THEME 5 ANGLE 45 ZOOM 4
#C ]]
x = 18, y = 59, rule = B3/S23
2b3o9b3o$bobob2o5b2obobo$bobobo7bobobo$2bob2ob2ob2ob2obo$6bobobobo$4bo
bobobobobo$3b2obobobobob2o$3b3o2bobo2b3o$3b2o2bo3bo2b2o$2bo4b2ob2o4bo$
2bo13bo22$3o11b3o$o2bo10bo2bo$o6b3o4bo$o5bo2bo4bo$bobo2b2obo5bobo4$6bo
8bo$6bobo5b3o$14bob2o$7bo2bo4b3o$8b3o4b2o$9bo10$3bo$3bo$3b3o$5bo!

[dani]

Welcome! Although I'm not exactly a master at CGOL, I also think LifeViewer is a good idea. I'm excited for the film, I hope it include Climb to a Prime, my second favourite Conway thingy.

[WCavendish]

Thanks for your responses. Lifeviewer is indeed a very nice way of displaying an animation. I really like what you've done Redstoneboi with the timing, zoom and colors!

To clarify, however, we're not looking for ways of displaying a GoL animation (we have a plan for that), but rather for inventive suggestions about what configurations we should use to realize a given sequence. In the "chase scene" that I mentioned, for example, is the "ecologist vs. brain" is most interesting set-up or are there cooler examples that we should consider? We have a number of other qualitatively described scenes (e.g. "spaceship emerges from explosion") that have preliminary realizations in GoL that we'd like to upgrade.

We're looking for one or several advisors who can help with this. Please reach out if you're interested, or if you know anyone who might be.

[Macbi]

Looks like an interesting project! I'd never thought before about the fact that Conway's Life and Free Will Theorem were connected by ideas about determinism.

Are you looking for someone to email back-and-forth with? It might be easier to just post all of your questions here. But maybe you don't want to give away too many details about the project before it's finished?

I have a couple of thoughts about the chase scene. You might want to think about the speed of the ships involved. For example a c/2 ship will catch up with a c/3 ship at a relative speed of c/6, whereas a c/6 ship will only catch up with a c/7 ship very slowly:

Code: Select all

x = 62, y = 18, rule = B3/S23
16bo$o14b2o$b2o4bobo5b2obo$5bo4bo2b3o3bo3bo$o2b3o5bobo6bo2bo3b2o24b2ob
o2b2o$5bobobo3bo6b2obo3b2o25b2o2bo2bo$b2o7bobo10bo3b2o29bobo$o6bo14b2o
35bo$6bobo12bo31bo$6bobo12bo31b3o$o6bo14b2o32bo$b2o7bobo10bo3b2o26bo$
5bobobo3bo6b2obo3b2o24b2o$o2b3o5bobo6bo2bo3b2o$5bo4bo2b3o3bo3bo$b2o4bo
bo5b2obo$o14b2o$16bo!

Of course the time taken will also depend on how far apart the ships start and how quickly you iterate through the generations. We should be able to find a pair of speeds that works well with how long you want the chase scene to last and how zoomed-in you want the view to be.

The other question is what you want to happen when the two ships meet. Most collisions will result in a big explosion like the one that happens in the pattern above. But it's also possible for one of the ships to be destroyed while the other survives, or even for one to bounce off the other:

Code: Select all

x = 65, y = 100, rule = B3/S23
33bo$31b2ob2o$31b2ob2o$34b2o$30bob2o$29bo2bo$29bo2bo$16b2o12b2o$16b2o
4$31b3o2$31bobo$8b2o22bo$8b2o21bo$29b2obo$29bo2bo$28b2obobo$49b3o$48bo
3bo$34b6o8bo4bo$2o21b2o9b2ob4o7bobo2bo$2o17bo2b2obo9bo5bo6bobob2o8bo$
9bo9b2o4bo8b2o3b2o4bo2bob2o10bo$9bo8bo2bo3bobo17bo2b2o12bo$9bo9b2o7bo
3bo13b3o11b2o$7b2o15bo2bo4bo2bo23b3o$6b3o14bo8b3o25b2o$7b2o15bo$32bo$
31bobo12bo$31bobo12bo$32bo13bo15bo$9bo51bobo$8bo35bo15bo2bo$9bo33bobo$
44bo$61bo2bo$59b3ob2o$58bo2b2o$58bo2bo$59bobo$16bobo7b3o$17bo5b3o$23b
3o$24bo2$37bo$37bo19b2o$37bo19b2o$35b2o$34b3o$35b2o4$49b2o$37bo11b2o$
36bo$37bo36$9b2o$10b2o$9bo!

So you have lots of choices depending on what would fit the narrative.

[dvgrn]

I have a couple of thoughts about the chase scene. You might want to think about the speed of the ships involved. For example a c/2 ship will catch up with a c/3 ship at a relative speed of c/6, whereas a c/6 ship will only catch up with a c/7 ship very slowly...

Adding some waypoints so the spaceships don't just chase each other out of the view:

Code: Select all

x = 62, y = 18, rule = B3/S23
16bo$o14b2o$b2o4bobo5b2obo$5bo4bo2b3o3bo3bo$o2b3o5bobo6bo2bo3b2o24b2ob
o2b2o$5bobobo3bo6b2obo3b2o25b2o2bo2bo$b2o7bobo10bo3b2o29bobo$o6bo14b2o
35bo$6bobo12bo31bo$6bobo12bo31b3o$o6bo14b2o32bo$b2o7bobo10bo3b2o26bo$
5bobobo3bo6b2obo3b2o24b2o$o2b3o5bobo6bo2bo3b2o$5bo4bo2b3o3bo3bo$b2o4bo
bo5b2obo$o14b2o$16bo!
#C [[ PAUSE 2 GPS 50 AUTOSTART T 1 ZOOM 6 X 0 Y 0 T 800 ZOOM 2 X 75 Y 0 T 900 ZOOM 4 X 142 Y 0 T 1110 PAUSE 2 LOOP 1111 ]]

The other question is what you want to happen when the two ships meet. Most collisions will result in a big explosion like the one that happens in the pattern above. But it's also possible for one of the ships to be destroyed while the other survives, or even for one to bounce off the other...

Or the collision could build a completely different spaceship, or maybe just an interesting oscillator:

Code: Select all

x = 131, y = 105, rule = B3/S23
bo$2bo$3o2$97bobo$97b2o6bobo$98bo6b2o$106bo3$101bobo$101b2o$81bo20bo$
81bobo$81b2o46bo$128bo$6bo121b3o$4bobo$5b2o52bobo$51bobo6b2o$52b2o6bo$
52bo3$55bobo$56b2o$56bo20bo$75bobo$76b2o2$124bo$124bobo$124b2o46$129bo
$128b2o$128bobo8$56b3o$58bo$57bo2$bo$b2o$obo8$100b3o$100bo$101bo!
#C [[ THEME 4 GPS 50 THUMBNAIL THUMBSIZE 2 PAUSE 2 T 500 ZOOM 24 X 3 Y 6 T 600 ANGLE 180 LOOP 700 AUTOSTART ]]

@WCavendish, if you'd care to post a longer list of the subjects of animation sequences on your storyboard with some description of the context (the larger point you want to illustrate, etc.) then I think a lot more ideas will probably show up out of the woodwork. There's no shortage of possibilities for interesting animated Life patterns!

[Redstoneboi]

Suggestions:
Explore Golly’s pattern collection (Golly/Patterns/Life/)
a few big ones include
Guns/2c5-spaceship-gun-p690.rle
Guns/7-in-a-row-Cordership-V-gun.rle
(Just a quick note: this pattern is a pack of greyships [moving stuff with patterns inside] and some other old discoveries, it may be messy)
Miscellaneous/Cambrian-Explosion.rle

And maybe try Golly/Patterns/Hashlife
hexadecimal.mc.gz
high-bandwidth-telegraph.mc.gz

just scroll through the supplied patterns and record the good stuff.

the small ones though, that’d be in these categories:
methuselahs, oscillators, puffers, rakes, spaceships, still lifes, and syntheses.

I hope this helped, if it didn’t i’d like to know what you want to see.

[Saka]

Please remember to add in the sweet elementary knightship Sir Robin!

Code: Select all

#N Sir Robin
#O Adam P. Goucher, Tom Rokicki; 2018
#C The first elementary knightship to be found in Conway's Game of Life.
#C http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Sir_Robin
x = 31, y = 79, rule = B3/S23
4b2o$4bo2bo$4bo3bo$6b3o$2b2o6b4o$2bob2o4b4o$bo4bo6b3o$2b4o4b2o3bo$o9b
2o$bo3bo$6b3o2b2o2bo$2b2o7bo4bo$13bob2o$10b2o6bo$11b2ob3obo$10b2o3bo2b
o$10bobo2b2o$10bo2bobobo$10b3o6bo$11bobobo3bo$14b2obobo$11bo6b3o2$11bo
9bo$11bo3bo6bo$12bo5b5o$12b3o$16b2o$13b3o2bo$11bob3obo$10bo3bo2bo$11bo
4b2ob3o$13b4obo4b2o$13bob4o4b2o$19bo$20bo2b2o$20b2o$21b5o$25b2o$19b3o
6bo$20bobo3bobo$19bo3bo3bo$19bo3b2o$18bo6bob3o$19b2o3bo3b2o$20b4o2bo2b
o$22b2o3bo$21bo$21b2obo$20bo$19b5o$19bo4bo$18b3ob3o$18bob5o$18bo$20bo$
16bo4b4o$20b4ob2o$17b3o4bo$24bobo$28bo$24bo2b2o$25b3o$22b2o$21b3o5bo$
24b2o2bobo$21bo2b3obobo$22b2obo2bo$24bobo2b2o$26b2o$22b3o4bo$22b3o4bo$
23b2o3b3o$24b2ob2o$25b2o$25bo2$24b2o$26bo!

[Naszvadi]

Hello,

I'm a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who, for the past few months, has been working with John Conway to develop a short film about some of his work. Marketing bla-bla-bla bla-bla-bla yaga-daga-yaga
If this sounds interesting to you, please let me know.

How can we check that the above is true?

...fea-Turing John H. Conway

[Macbi]

Hello,

I'm a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who, for the past few months, has been working with John Conway to develop a short film about some of his work. Marketing bla-bla-bla bla-bla-bla yaga-daga-yaga
If this sounds interesting to you, please let me know.

How can we check that the above is true?

What's the worst that can happen? We accidentally discuss Life with someone not making a documentary?

[Gamedziner]

One of the most surprising discoveries was the c/10 spaceship Copperhead, which was the discoverer's (zdr's) first post.

Code: Select all

x = 8, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
b2o2b2o$3b2o$3b2o$obo2bobo$o6bo2$o6bo$b2o2b2o$2b4o2$3b2o$3b2o!

[WCavendish]

Looks like an interesting project! I'd never thought before about the fact that Conway's Life and Free Will Theorem were connected by ideas about determinism.

Are you looking for someone to email back-and-forth with? It might be easier to just post all of your questions here. But maybe you don't want to give away too many details about the project before it's finished?

Thanks! Yes, ideally we'd like someone to email back and forth with. If you're interested send me a direct message and we can go from there. It might be fun to try to get community input on how to refine the sequences once we have preliminary versions, but I'd like to start out with a smaller group.

Hello,

I'm a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who, for the past few months, has been working with John Conway to develop a short film about some of his work. Marketing bla-bla-bla bla-bla-bla yaga-daga-yaga
If this sounds interesting to you, please let me know.

How can we check that the above is true?

What's the worst that can happen? We accidentally discuss Life with someone not making a documentary?

If you can figure out a good way of grifting people that involves posing online as a math documentarian, please let me know

[googleplex]

Maybe some of the larger engineered patterns like the waterbear?

[Hunting]

Cooler examples that we should consider

Hey! There are lots of cooler pattern(or "scene") in GoL. Here is a well known interesting scene:

Code: Select all

x = 274, y = 283, rule = B3/S23
2o$2o39$35b3o$35bo$36bo38$85b3o$85bo$86bo38$118b3o$118bo$119bo38$146b
2o$145b2o$147bo38$203b2o$202b2o$204bo38$237b3o$237bo$238bo38$271b3o$
271bo$272bo!

For some intro, the above pattern is called "Slow-slavo", contains lots of glider colliding a block or somthing, creating other spaceship.

[Redstoneboi]

Cooler examples that we should consider

Hey! There are lots of cooler pattern(or "scene") in GoL. Here is a well known interesting scene:

Code: Select all

x = 274, y = 283, rule = B3/S23
2o$2o39$35b3o$35bo$36bo38$85b3o$85bo$86bo38$118b3o$118bo$119bo38$146b
2o$145b2o$147bo38$203b2o$202b2o$204bo38$237b3o$237bo$238bo38$271b3o$
271bo$272bo!

For some intro, the above pattern is called "Slow-slavo", contains lots of glider colliding a block or somthing, creating other spaceship.

Actually, slow salvoes contain any number of gliders, going in the same direction, spaced far enough apart to not interact with the reactions the previous glider causes.

Most of them, including the above, are "p2" slow salvoes, which means every glider is timed mod 2, because of certain objects being timed mod 2.

The specific slow salvo shown above is one that produces a "middleweight spaceship", a spaceship moving orthogonally.

[Hunting]

Cooler examples that we should consider

Hey! There are lots of cooler pattern(or "scene") in GoL. Here is a well known interesting scene:

Code: Select all

x = 274, y = 283, rule = B3/S23
2o$2o39$35b3o$35bo$36bo38$85b3o$85bo$86bo38$118b3o$118bo$119bo38$146b
2o$145b2o$147bo38$203b2o$202b2o$204bo38$237b3o$237bo$238bo38$271b3o$
271bo$272bo!

For some intro, the above pattern is called "Slow-slavo", contains lots of glider colliding a block or somthing, creating other spaceship.

Actually, slow salvoes contain any number of gliders, going in the same direction, spaced far enough apart to not interact with the reactions the previous glider causes.

Most of them, including the above, are "p2" slow salvoes, which means every glider is timed mod 2, because of certain objects being timed mod 2.

The specific slow salvo shown above is one that produces a "middleweight spaceship", a spaceship moving orthogonally.

I know. I haven't completed that reply but accidently submited it, then my network crashed for a while so I cannot edit it.