EXPLOR ala Boxes

This is the sixth in series of works where we pay homage to Ken Knowlton, scientist and computer graphic pioneer and artist who passed on June 16, 2022. Ken Knowlton developed the famous EXPLOR language, (Explicit 2-D Patterns, Local Operations, and Randomness) while at Bell Labs. He published a paper describing it in 1975 entitled: MINI-EXPLOR, A FORTRAN-Coded Version of the EXPLOR Language for Mini (and larger) Computers. (https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/988049.988052)

I continue to explore the capabilities of EXPLOR. After using it for awhile I realize that it is truly a return to the past where the medium, the language and the machine, were truly primitive. But hey, back then you worked with what you had. That’s what it was like being a pioneer.

For this piece I used an EXPLOR block as a tile. My Boxes algorithm (used in my 2 previous offerings) rotates and translates a tile relative to the distance that tile is to the center of a tessellation, two versions: either more or less. While I cannot rotate a block in EXPLOR I can translate it. In place of rotation I use a relative distance computation to control both displacement and the percentage rule in EXPLOR’s COMBN function causing the tile to translate and seemingly fragment relative to its position in the array.

I am amazed by the quality and richness of the images that are generated by this piece especially employing EXPLOR’s limited four color palette. I hope you enjoy them as well.

We continue to honor the passing of Ken Knowlton with this NFT series. Here is an opportunity to collect an example image from the famous program he authored now updated by Scussel and Kolomyjec. A true piece of Computer Graphic Art history with a modern twist.

(c)2022 Dr. Bill Kolomyjec and Christoper Scussel. All rights reserved.