About Anything

Series 09-01-02

After thinking about it a bit, I decided to move control of the amplitude of the control gene effects into the control gene itself. Since the amplitude of the changes made to the component genes is a property of the expression process, this seems to make the most sense. As part of the control gene, it will be subject to mutation, and mating when I introduce those processes.

Different control genes now may have different amplitude effects. Nothing else is changed: I create a single genotype (which I was calling a chromosome tree), with three chromosomes. Each chromosome consists of one control gene and four component genes. All codons are randomly set within their ranges for each drawing. The amplitude determines how much the control gene can modify the original codon value each time it uses the component gene to express a shape.

Shapes remain restricted to rectangles and ellipses. Colors are restricted to grays. This series can be seen by following the link on my Experiments with Evolutionary Art page.

Image from Series 08-12-31

In the first series, I combined control genes, component genes, mutation and mating. I used two basic shapes — circles and ellipses — and restricted the pallet to grays. In addition, each image starts from the same three genes used to create the same three chromosomes. All variation occurs during mutation and mating.

In the second series, I’ve simplified the process, but added more initial variability. I create a single chromosome tree, with three chromosomes. Each chromosome consists of one control gene and four componenent genes. All codons are randomly set within their ranges for each drawing. The magnitude of the effect of the control gene can be changed by selecting different links on the series page.

Of course, this parameter should be part of the control gene itself, subject to mutation and mating. That will be  done in one of the next series.