Pattern viewer for forum threads

[yujh]

Build 430
Enhancements since the last released build:

• new Theme for PCA rules which has a different colour for each of the 4 sub-pixels

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#CXRLE Gen=-1000
x = 16, y = 16, rule = PCA_1:T96
16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O$16O!
[[ AUTOSTART ]]

I'm trying to find the colours, but I'm too lazy to do it myself. What are the clours of each state in lv?

Edit: OK< I found it in help, but why not support copying???

[muzik]

Random half-awake thought: would it be possible to have aliases and/or themes be able to be stored on a local/external repository rather than built-in?

[rowett]

Using the state picker will shift the state numbers displayed to include the picked state, but this is not reflected by the slider.

Fixed, thanks!

[rowett]

It doesn't seem possible to specify state colors using @NAMES specified state names:

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x = 11, y = 11, rule = WireWorld
3.5C$2.C2.C2.C$.C3.C3.C$C2.3CAB2.C$C2.C3.B2.C$4C3.4C$C2.C3.C2.C$C2.5C
2.C$.C3.C3.C$2.C2.C2.C$3.5C!
[[ COLOR "copper wire" 0 255 0 ]]

Added for some rule families. Note state names with spaces will need to be in double quotes as in your example above.

[rowett]

I'm trying to find the colours, but I'm too lazy to do it myself. What are the clours of each state in lv?

Edit: OK< I found it in help, but why not support copying???

Pressing Ctrl-C on the relevant Help page will copy the contents to the clipboard.

[rowett]

Random half-awake thought: would it be possible to have aliases and/or themes be able to be stored on a local/external repository rather than built-in?

I prefer them built in since having them external creates a dependency.

[rowett]

LifeViewer appears to have two distinct types of MarkOff cell in [R]History - one that can be drawn with, and a "hidden" second version which cannot. The former corresponds to Mark1, and the hidden to Mark2. Births into the Mark2 version will always result in Mark2 cells being born, which is inconsistent with Golly's implementation. Is this intended?

Yes this minor inconsistency is due to a significant performance optimization.

The default [R]Super color is slightly different from the default [R]History color.

True.

The names of states in [R]Super appear to be different from those in [R]History.

Yes, you should check with dvgrn since he defined them.

[R]Super's default colors also differ significantly from the ones specified in Golly - specifically states 1 and 2, which were made to look as close to the Blues theme as possible for the original ruletable (whose specification carried on into Golly).

I think they're the same as Golly.

And is there any reason why [R]Super doesn't support Themes, for the colors of the first two states?

I think I answered this before: it's planned but I haven't yet had the time to come up with a performant design.

[muzik]

[R]Super's default colors also differ significantly from the ones specified in Golly - specifically states 1 and 2, which were made to look as close to the Blues theme as possible for the original ruletable (whose specification carried on into Golly).

I think they're the same as Golly.

Just checked, Golly uses cyan for alive and blue for historical dead for Super, but LifeViewer currently uses History's colors (or something close) for Super. I recall LifeViewer using cyan and blue beforehand so perhaps this was a recent unintentional change (possibly for the same reason that History's colors changed although havent confirmed).

[muzik]

How is the state used for the 2-state fill decided? Usually it seems to be state 0 and 1 but I've seen other states being used sometimes, but am unable to figure out how to reproduce such cases. It doesn't seem to be based on the state currently selected for drawing (although that's probably what I'd recommend).

[muzik]

Defining the current generation in the RLE doesn't seem to affect the behaviour of alternating rules. Not sure if it should or not - I can see it doing so being useful for showcasing alternating rule patterns in specific states if needed.

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#CXRLE Gen=0
x = 3, y = 16, rule = Phoenix
A.A2$A.A3$A.A4$A.A5$A.A$A.A!

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#CXRLE Gen=1
x = 3, y = 16, rule = Phoenix
A.A2$A.A3$A.A4$A.A5$A.A$A.A!

And another observation, similar to my previous observation regarding it: generations defined via the RLE also don't apply in the T menu specifically for Margolus rules.

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#CXRLE Gen=-930
x = 3, y = 16, rule = Phoenix
A.A2$A.A3$A.A4$A.A5$A.A$A.A!

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#CXRLE Gen=-930
x = 3, y = 16, rule = MargSingRot
A.A2$A.A3$A.A4$A.A5$A.A$A.A!

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#CXRLE Gen=-930
x = 3, y = 16, rule = PCA_4
A.A2$A.A3$A.A4$A.A5$A.A$A.A!

[muzik]

Also, given the filled out envelope shape and the shape of the pattern at each quarter of the period, I think Identify should be showing this as having a mod a quarter of its period, but it does not:

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x = 8, y = 15, rule = RotationsIII
4bo$o2bo$5bo$2bo2$2bo2$4bo7$7bo!
[[ STOP 96007 ]]

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x = 8, y = 15, rule = RotationsIII
4bo$o2bo$5bo$2bo2$2bo2$4bo7$7bo!
[[ STOP 192014 ]]

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x = 8, y = 15, rule = RotationsIII
4bo$o2bo$5bo$2bo2$2bo2$4bo7$7bo!
[[ STOP 288021 ]]

(Is there a way to have LifeViewer run at max speed much like it does with Identify up to a stopping point to make examples like these less time-consuming?)

[muzik]

Could buttons for copying custom neighbourhoods, rule definitions and the like be added inside the viewer instead of requiring keybinds?

[rowett]

Playing a LifeHistory pattern, drawing in a grey cell and resetting doesn't clear the added cell.

This should be fixed now.

[muzik]

Old weird minor thing I discovered but haven't got around to reporting until now: for certain Help sections, certain buttons (specifically shortcut buttons that take you to the bottom-most section) can put you in positions which are inaccessible by scrolling.

You should probably be able to scroll down until the last header is at the top rather than only until the bottom line of text is at the bottom.

[muzik]

[R]Super's default colors also differ significantly from the ones specified in Golly - specifically states 1 and 2, which were made to look as close to the Blues theme as possible for the original ruletable (whose specification carried on into Golly).

I think they're the same as Golly.

Just checked, Golly uses cyan for alive and blue for historical dead for Super, but LifeViewer currently uses History's colors (or something close) for Super. I recall LifeViewer using cyan and blue beforehand so perhaps this was a recent unintentional change (possibly for the same reason that History's colors changed although havent confirmed).

Seems I had RuleLoader active instead of the Super algorithm. Super indeed does seem to echo History for those states.

[rowett]

It seems the blue box behaviour is back in the latest build.

Questions:

1. Does this only happen on mobile Safari (i.e. on an iPad or iPhone)?
2. Does it happen only on conwaylife Forum or other places (specifically including this place) when clicking PopUp?
3. Does it only happen when the blue box appears?
4. Does it happen at full battery or only on low battery?

Note: The blue box should be irrelevant. It's just mobile Safari's way of saying "this is the element with focus". I can ask it not to draw it but that's just cosmetic.

[muzik]

It seems the blue box behaviour is back in the latest build.

Questions:

1. Does this only happen on mobile Safari (i.e. on an iPad or iPhone)?
2. Does it happen only on conwaylife Forum or other places (specifically including this place) when clicking PopUp?
3. Does it only happen when the blue box appears?
4. Does it happen at full battery or only on low battery?

Note: The blue box should be irrelevant. It's just mobile Safari's way of saying "this is the element with focus". I can ask it not to draw it but that's just cosmetic.

[*]I don't have Safari installed on any other devices nor do I have any other browsers installed on the device where the issue is present so I can't be sure, but I've failed to reproduce it on both desktop (Chrome, Firefox) and Android.
[*]Happens on the forum, wiki, catagolue and your site
[*]Mostly yes, the only cases where it happens and the box didn't show up was around the time of your first attempted fix, but I can't confirm if it was the same issue (it seemed to persist until the page was refreshed)
[*]Battery level is irrelevant

[rowett]

...
[*]Battery level is irrelevant

Please switch on timing (Settings->Advanced->Frame Times) and let me know what the reported fps are both when it's working fine and when it's throttled.

[muzik]

For the following pattern running at default specifications:

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x = 3, y = 4, rule = B3aijr4ciq7c/S2-i3-a4i5q
o$2o$b2o$2o!

A near constant 60 normally, and roughly 35 when throttled.

[rowett]

A near constant 60 normally, and roughly 35 when throttled.

And what is the load % for both cases please (e.g. 60fps 21%)

[muzik]

Roughly 30-40 when normal, and roughly 25-35 with the blue box of death.

[muzik]

The new command (and by extension, the button) doesn't seem to function as expected for negative generations and reversible rules:

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x = 10, y = 10, rule = PCA_4
2ob2o2b3o$o3b6o$o2b2o$b2o6bo$bobo2bob2o$ob4ob3o$b2ob2o3bo$4bo$ob4o$2ob
2obobo!
[[ REVERSESTART STARTFROM -1 ]]

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x = 10, y = 10, rule = PCA_4
2ob2o2b3o$o3b6o$o2b2o$b2o6bo$bobo2bob2o$ob4ob3o$b2ob2o3bo$4bo$ob4o$2ob
2obobo!
[[ REVERSESTART STARTFROM 10 ]]

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = MargSingRot
2ob2o2b3o$o3b6o$o2b2o$b2o6bo$bobo2bob2o$ob4ob3o$b2ob2o3bo$4bo$ob4o$2ob
2obobo!
[[ REVERSESTART STARTFROM -1 ]]

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = MargSingRot
2ob2o2b3o$o3b6o$o2b2o$b2o6bo$bobo2bob2o$ob4ob3o$b2ob2o3bo$4bo$ob4o$2ob
2obobo!
[[ REVERSESTART STARTFROM 10 ]]

I've also noticed that the reverse playback button is hidden by the error screen which makes it inconsistent with all other playback-related buttons.

[rowett]

The new command (and by extension, the button) doesn't seem to function as expected for negative generations and reversible rules:

The [[ STARTFROM ]] command wants the number of generations which are played in the current direction. So to get to T=-10 you'd specify [[ STARTFROM 10 REVERSESTART ]].

[muzik]

The [[ STARTFROM ]] command wants the number of generations which are played in the current direction.

For the button under the Pattern menu, shouldn't the popup say "Enter number of generations" rather than "Enter generation"?

[bubblegum]

Clicking the LifeViewer in this post tends to give entertaining results. For me, it's settled down into a consistent pattern of jumping up to the top of the page while displaying a small viewer window with the background of the post behind it, which when moused over cuts to a LifeViewer with an empty pattern, a second layer of buttons and step 16.