Draw Patterns

The draw pattern popover contains over 50 different shapes. It is displayed when clicking the pattern view button in the right corner of the tool section at the bottom of the window. An important distinction we want to make here is that between pens and patterns. There are 3 pens and their behavior when drawing with them either in the application's draw mode or in live draw is to continuously fill cells with the current color. The patterns on the other hand are more akin to a stamp, meaning that patterns don't smear but imprint once.

 

The behavior of these draw patterns varies quite a bit. A still life doesn't do anything unless approached and just stays as is whereever it is. Oscillators flip back and forth between different states. Spaceships and gliders move - hence the name. Methuselahs have a long but finite lifetime. At the very bottom of the scroll view we find one very peculiar item - the so-called Glider Gun (above). You can see it in action in the document titled Sophia - with Stars and everything. The glider gun toggles between states and shoots off gliders in the process.

 

Summary

We are making good headway - if you are reading this front to end that is - and already covered quite a bit of territory. As you can see by now, Quincy is a bit more involved than one might think initially, but that is to be expected with this many moving parts. The next point of discussion are our application preferences.