glider in 3D U-Skate world

[Tim Hutton]

Video here:
http://plus.google.com/110214848059767137292/posts/apCvE92x125

It seems stable but I've only run it in a 64x64x64 volume, and not
done any tests on it.

It's not really a surprise that 3D gliders exist but as far as I know
this is the first one we've found. In shape it is just the standard 2D
U-skater but stabilised with 3 blobs. I'm sure there are lots of other
3D gliders around too, given the variety we see in the 2D world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5oKgVZ6bTk

--
Tim Hutton - http://www.sq3.org.uk - http://profiles.google.com/tim.hutton/

[Dan Wills]

Flipping amazing work Tim! nice one :D

Massive respekt! Pushin' the 3d boundaries!
Dan

[Robert Munafo]

On 10/3/12, Tim Hutton <tim.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Video here:
> http://plus.google.com/110214848059767137292/posts/apCvE92x125

Congratulations Tim!

I had a very strong suspicion that there would be stable moving
patterns at the Uskate parameter values in 3D, because stable gliders
exist both in 1D and in 2D at those parameters (see
http://mrob.com/sci/talks/sl23-fig2.png for pictures of each).

Ready is wonderful. Your extensive effort on that program has paid off
with several new discoveries.

> It seems stable but I've only run it in a 64x64x64 volume, and not
> done any tests on it.

I noticed your glider starts out "diving" at a significant rate, then
levels out by the end of the movie. I suspect this is a grid effect
that would vanish with a more precise (but much slower) simulation.

> It's not really a surprise that 3D gliders exist but as far as I know
> this is the first one we've found.

It has been done with 3 chemicals:
C. P. Schenk, A. W. Liehr, M. Bode, and H.-G. Purwins,
"Quasi-Particles in a Three-Dimensional Three-Component
Reaction-Diffusion System", 1999.
http://www.uni-muenster.de/Physik.AP/Purwins/RD/Literatur/hlrs1999.pdf

... but this is the first I know of using just 2 chemicals.

> In shape it is just the standard 2D
> U-skater but stabilised with 3 blobs. I'm sure there are lots of other
> 3D gliders around too, given the variety we see in the 2D world:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5oKgVZ6bTk

I suspect the most common type of movement for 3D gliders will be
along a helical path. We should also get the things we see in 2D:
still-lifes, rotators, things that move in a straight line without
rotating (like your glider) and things that move in a circular path.

--
Robert Munafo -- mrob.com
Follow me at: gplus.to/mrob - fb.com/mrob27 - twitter.com/mrob_27 -
mrob27.wordpress.com - youtube.com/user/mrob143 - rilybot.blogspot.com

[Tim Hutton]

On 3 October 2012 23:41, Robert Munafo <mro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/3/12, Tim Hutton <tim.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Video here:
>> http://plus.google.com/110214848059767137292/posts/apCvE92x125
>
> Congratulations Tim!
>
> I had a very strong suspicion that there would be stable moving
> patterns at the Uskate parameter values in 3D, because stable gliders
> exist both in 1D and in 2D at those parameters (see
> http://mrob.com/sci/talks/sl23-fig2.png for pictures of each).
>
> Ready is wonderful. Your extensive effort on that program has paid off
> with several new discoveries.
>
>> It seems stable but I've only run it in a 64x64x64 volume, and not
>> done any tests on it.
>
> I noticed your glider starts out "diving" at a significant rate, then
> levels out by the end of the movie. I suspect this is a grid effect
> that would vanish with a more precise (but much slower) simulation.
>
>> It's not really a surprise that 3D gliders exist but as far as I know
>> this is the first one we've found.
>
> It has been done with 3 chemicals:
> C. P. Schenk, A. W. Liehr, M. Bode, and H.-G. Purwins,
> "Quasi-Particles in a Three-Dimensional Three-Component
> Reaction-Diffusion System", 1999.
> http://www.uni-muenster.de/Physik.AP/Purwins/RD/Literatur/hlrs1999.pdf
>
> ... but this is the first I know of using just 2 chemicals.

Thanks, I will read up on that.

This video claims to have one in SmoothLife, which I presume is a
single chemical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RsEyu8Ol-Q
But it might have wacky rules, I don't know anything about it.

>
>> In shape it is just the standard 2D
>> U-skater but stabilised with 3 blobs. I'm sure there are lots of other
>> 3D gliders around too, given the variety we see in the 2D world:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5oKgVZ6bTk
>
> I suspect the most common type of movement for 3D gliders will be
> along a helical path. We should also get the things we see in 2D:
> still-lifes, rotators, things that move in a straight line without
> rotating (like your glider) and things that move in a circular path.
>
> --
> Robert Munafo -- mrob.com
> Follow me at: gplus.to/mrob - fb.com/mrob27 - twitter.com/mrob_27 -
> mrob27.wordpress.com - youtube.com/user/mrob143 - rilybot.blogspot.com

[Robert Munafo]

I have run the "Hutton-and-helix-gliders.vti" settings for about
20,000,000 timesteps now. It's pretty interesting: they bounce off
each other once or twice, then bind (the two objects are "stuck
together" but none of the spots or worms get annihilated, kind of like
two molecules bound by van der Waals force). This bound object is a
spinning glider made up of 7 spots and two worms (the two original
gliders are easily recognized). It tumbles end-over-end while drifting
roughly along the axis of rotation (in the left-handed direction).

Meanwhile, I posted a video of a failed glider attempt and the
resulting can-of-worms, which is pretty interesting demonstration of
instability and the typical "field of chaos" patterns that you get in
these settings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fp6v0m801g

I'll eventually want accelerated time-lapse; for now I'm checking
every few hours and changing the setting when it seems like a good
time to do so. Maybe I can make myself useful and work out a way to
make it accept an expression for the timesteps per render parameter.

On 10/3/12, Tim Hutton <tim.h...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Video here:
> http://plus.google.com/110214848059767137292/posts/apCvE92x125
>
> It seems stable but I've only run it in a 64x64x64 volume, and not
> done any tests on it.
>
> It's not really a surprise that 3D gliders exist but as far as I know
> this is the first one we've found. In shape it is just the standard 2D
> U-skater but stabilised with 3 blobs. I'm sure there are lots of other
> 3D gliders around too, given the variety we see in the 2D world:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5oKgVZ6bTk

--

[Andrew Trevorrow]

Tim:

> http://plus.google.com/110214848059767137292/posts/apCvE92x125

Wow -- very nice!

(I also like the example of Larger-than-Life you recently added.)

Andrew

[Tim Hutton]

On 3 October 2012 23:41, Robert Munafo <mro...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> It's not really a surprise that 3D gliders exist but as far as I know
>> this is the first one we've found.
>
> It has been done with 3 chemicals:
> C. P. Schenk, A. W. Liehr, M. Bode, and H.-G. Purwins,
> "Quasi-Particles in a Three-Dimensional Three-Component
> Reaction-Diffusion System", 1999.
> http://www.uni-muenster.de/Physik.AP/Purwins/RD/Literatur/hlrs1999.pdf

That is a really nice system! Thanks Robert. Ready was born for this.

Here's a video of the 2D version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJB1Jsk_oTE
A bit like how the gliders in the U-Skate world tend to steer to avoid
each other, but less of a tendency to get stuck together.

I've commited 2D and 3D versions, which share the same formula. In
purwins_acorn_surfaces I'm showing all three chemicals. (Blended in
Gimp, since Ready can't yet produce these sorts of images.)

[Dan Wills]

Wow that looks awesome! Can't wait to play with it. Nice work Tim and Robert (and Purwin et al) :)
Dan