Sol Emergent Design Page

Richard W. DeVaul, Research Assistant, Aesthetics and Computation Group.

Overview

This is a page of links to Sol art and design.

Some of these links take you to applets, some to pages of images or MPEG movies created through Sol software. There are known compatibility problems with browsers and Sol applets. See below for details.

Genetic Programming for Procedural Image Filters
This is a series of experiments in genetic programming and procedural image filtering in Sol. Genetic filtering (and run-time code generation in general) is one of Sol's strong points compared to Java and the C/C++ world.
- Cool images created using a genetic programming system for image filters.
- More "naturalistic" source images and a specific goal for the evolved filters.
- Filtering in an interpolated image space (multiple source images).
- More sophisticated image-space sampling.
- A refinement of ps7 (above), some really cool sequences (get out your MPEG player).
ImagePaint. This is a simple image painting system written in Sol. It showcases the ability to integrate conventional AWT widgets and event handling into a Sol application. This applet should run under Netscape 4.05+, HotJava and appletviewer.
The SolLogo applet. This is the first graphical design piece I wrote in Sol.
Quantum mechanics simulations:
- SchrodingerOne3Applet This is a quantum mechanics simulation written in Sol. It visualizes the behavior (in an abstract way) of a quantum-mechanical particle in a 1D potential well.
- SchrodingerOne2Applet This is another quantum mechanics simulation very similar to SchrodingerOne3Applet; In this simulation, there is no potential well and the particle starts out moving from left to right through the lattice.
- SchrodingerOneApplet Yet another quantum mechanics simulation very similar to SchrodingerOne3Applet; In this simulation, there is no potential well and the particle starts out as a wave front moving in both directions.
Growth. This piece uses a simple fractal generator and repetition to create interesting compositions.
Orbit. Orbit uses a slightly hacked gravitational model to produce beautiful, slightly Spirograph-esque trajectories.
Orbit Two.Orbit Two uses the same gravitational model as Orbit, but with true multi-body interaction and a different rendering mode.
Ripple Sort Ripple Sort is a demonstration of a parallel sorting algorithm, which produces beautiful "woven" patterns.
Orbit 3D Orbit 3D is a variation on Orbit Two using 3D trajectories and the new Sol 3D graphics system. Note:Uses Java 1.1 event model, see Browser Compatibility Issues below.
Tracing Ripple Sort This is a version of Ripple Sort which uses a new state-evolution visualization tool to provide insight into the operation of the ripple-sort algorithm implementation. Note: Uses Java 1.1 event model, see Browser Compatibility Issues below.
Orbit 3D Color A color version of Orbit3D. This applet uses new fast depth-sorting capibilities and multi-threaded user interaction in the Sol 3D graphics system, which allows the model to be rendered in color and rotated interactively. Note:Uses Java 1.1 event model, see Browser Compatibility Issues below.

Browser Compatibility Issues

General Information

My goal is to get Sol applets running on all major Java-enabled browsers. However, Sol is a work in progress and the examples on this page were written at different times and with different versions of the compiler and libraries.

All Sol applets should work with Sun's HotJava 1.1.4 or JDK 1.1 appletviewer, but support for Netscape and IE varies. If you have trouble viewing a Sol applet with another browser, try using HotJava or the Sun JDK 1.1 appletviewer. If you are using a browser which is known to work but are still having problems, make sure that Java is enabled in your preferences settings.

HotJava

Right now Sun's HotJava browser is the best browser for viewing Sol applets. This is not the spiffiest, most feature-laden of browsers but it has a Java implementation which is both correct and (relatively) fast. All Sol applets should work with HotJava version 1.1.4 and newer.

Appletviewer

You can use Sun's JDK 1.1 appletviewer to view a Sol applet by specifying the full URL on the command line when you run the program. For example, if appletviewer is in your path, you could type
appletviewer http://www.media.mit.edu/~rich/research/sol/SolDesign/OrbitApplet.html
at a prompt to run the Orbit applet.

Netscape

All of the Sol applets available through this page should work with the latest versions of Netscape Navigator and Communicator. Recent Sol applets are known to work with Navigator and Communicator 4.05 and newer. If you have trouble viewing an applet with Netscape, make sure that Java is enabled in your preferences. If you are still having problems, dump your cache (both disk and memory), quit the program, and restart. If that doesn't fix the problem, try using HotJava or appletviewer.

Internet Explorer

The core language implementation is broken under IE right now. Some early Sol applets may still work under IE, but I haven't tested that. I don't yet know what is causing the problems, but there seem to be substantial differences in the Micro$oft Java VM. I will try to fix the problem over the next few weeks.

Other Browsers

In theory, any Java 1.02 compatible browser which supports the use of JAR archives should work. If you get a Sol applet working with a browser not mentioned here, drop me a line at rich@media.mit.edu and let me know.

Recent Improvements

October 12, 1998

Sol was recently renovated to use only Java 1.0 event handling and AWT calls for the core library. This has made it much more browser-friendly, but for some reason things aren't working under IE. I'm not sure whether this is my fault or Micro$oft's, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Once I'm done writing my thesis proposal this week I'll try to sort things out.

August 22, 1998

The applets now load faster and more reliably due to a judicious use of JAR archiving (It will still take several minutes to load a Sol applet over a 28.8 modem). If you were unable to view an applet before because of a slow network connection or other loading problems (missing files, etc.) please try again.

last updated Wed Nov 11 03:30:10 EST 1998

rich@media.mit.edu