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Cyclic Automaton applied to FRCTL's test image: Every cell waits for a neighbour one step ahead of it and then follows. Out of that one rule the frame grinds itself down into great cycling domains with waves rippling out through them.

Print & screen effect

Cyclic Automaton

Every cell waits for a neighbour one step ahead of it and then follows. Out of that one rule the frame grinds itself down into great cycling domains with waves rippling out through them.

Runs live on video, images, a camera or generated art. Stack it with any other effect, and route LFOs, envelopes or any of ten audio bands to its controls so it moves with the music.

Try Cyclic Automaton freeAll effects

Controls

Scale
Size of one cell. Smaller cells make finer, more numerous spirals.
States
How many steps there are in the cycle. Few states churn and resolve fast; many states hold the noise phase longer and settle into larger, cleaner domains.
Threshold
How many neighbours must already be one step ahead before a cell follows. One lets wavefronts sweep freely, which is what grinds the opening noise down into the domains a spiral can wind out of; higher holds out and breaks the board into shards.
Seed
How hard the picture is written into the board, and how many defects are scattered in as it runs. A spiral winds itself around a defect, so this is the spiral count as much as it is the noise floor.
Tint
Where the cycle starts on the colour wheel.
Spread
How far round the wheel a full cycle travels. Narrow keeps the spirals to one colour family; wide runs them through the whole spectrum.
Blend
Weight of the automaton over the picture underneath.
Speed
Rate of the effect motion. Centre is the authored speed, hard left a tenth of it.