Display Options

The display options view is shown by clicking the 3rd tab in Quincy's tab view in the right section of the window. It contains options for some visual aspects and effects when running a composition.

 

Display Grid

Taking it from the top the first item here determines whether or not Quincy displays grid points over the black background. This can be helpful when drawing.

NOTE: There is a color preference for the grid which can be set in Preferences.

 

Wrapped Mode

Wrapped Mode is a setting concerning the Life world. Imagining the Life world as a tiny rectangular section of an infinitely large super grid is the normal state. A glider that moves across the grid will at some point exit it and we'll never see it again. The Wrapped setting on the other hand is like wrapping a piece of paper around a cylinder. Now that same glider re-enters on the left side of the grid after exiting on the right side. In most cases the Wrapped scenario is preferrable for our purposes of music creation.

 

Round

Round, the option right after Wrapped Mode, very simply displays all cells as colored circles instead of squares.

 

Color Mash

Color Mash is a visual effect in Quincy that bleeds the colors of neighbor cells into each other. Above you can see what that looks like in combination with a generations setting of 3.

 

Stars

The final option in this tab is called Stars. When engaged it displays a simulated starfield befind the world's cells.

 

Summary

While these display options affect only the visual aspect of how Quincy renders worlds they can have an impact on performance. Something to keep in mind.

Next we'll head over to draw shapes.