Karl Sims

If you are a nerd then you most likely have heard of Karl Sims. If you haven’t heard of him give his page a browse as there is some good stuff there.

I have admired and respected him since his work in Genetic Images back in 1993 that inspired all three of my attempts at Genetic Art so far. I still have a few more ideas on new Genetic Art methods to experiment with and share when I get some spare time.

I noticed his latest work as I was browsing Reaction Diffusion videos on YouTube.

Check these two RD samples Karl put up on YouTube.

The most impressive aspect of those is the shading that gives them the 3D look. (Aussies can confirm the almost exact reflectance of the second example to Vegemite). Remember that the output of these Reaction Diffusion equations is strictly 2D. The bulging 3D look is based on calculating the slope between neighbouring pixels. Or at least that is how I do it in Visions Of Chaos, but Karl’s versions seem so much more 3Dish than mine. See his images here that are awesome.

As always he inspires me (and I am sure many others) to do better.

Jason.