The Cell Picker - Lincoln-Cybernetics/Cellular-Explorer GitHub Wiki

The Cell picker is used to select and customize cells for use in Cell Editing. It can be accessed from the "Windows" menu in the Master Control Panel.

The cell picker has two halves, the left half sets the primary cell selection. The primary cell selection is the default selection for editing, in draw mode it is placed into the automaton by left-clicking, and in unmodified fills, it is the cell that fills the automaton. The right half sets the secondary cell selection. The secondary cell is used in drawing by right clicking, and it is the alternate cell whenever the "check" option is used. Both halves have the same cells and options available.

The following is a list of the controls that can be found in the Cell picker window. Not all of them will be visible at once, as they only appear for cells that have the option or setting they control.

*At the top of each half of the cell picker is the cell selector, which is always visible. It is a drop down option that selects what type of cell will be used. (see Cells)

*If the MBOT or EVBOT cell types are selected, the next control to appear will be the pre-set selector. This allows the selection of pre-created rules (B/S type) for the MBOT and EVBOT cells.

*The Ageing and Fade controls come next, there is an option for many cell types to age( change their state over time as long as they are in the on state), and an option for the Fade rule (after the cell reaches the age set on the slider, it automatically turns off). The ageing must be active for the Fade rule to work, so if the "Ages" checkbox is de-selected, the "Fades" checkbox will also de-select. Not all cells that have an ageing option have the fade rule option.

*The Maturity setting is next. Cells with this setting don't have to calculate a new state each generation. By setting the Maturity option, it tells the cell how long to wait between calculating states. Note that cells with the "Ages" option active will age as long as their state is on, regardless of the maturity setting.

*If the cell is an MBOT, EVBOT, or Wolfram type, the next items to appear will be rule settings. For MBOT and EVBOT types, this takes the form of the Born on and Survives on numbers with checkboxes. Any number with a checkbox selected will create the on state in the cell. For Wolfram cells, the checkboxes appear under strings of zeroes and ones representing the neighborhood states the cell may encounter. By selecting the checkboxes, the cell is instructed to enter the "on" state when the indicated neighborhood state is present. Selecting the checkboxes for any of these cells will immediately alter the rule indicator above the checkboxes to display the currently selected rule.

*The next items that may appear are the orientation selection buttons, these are labeled "|", "/", "--", and "", and correspond with the orientation the cell assumes on the grid. For a Wolfram cell, the "--" choice means that its neighbors are the cells immediately to its left and right. For a symmetry cell, "/" means that it looks for symmetry along an axis that runs from its lower-left to its upper right. The Symmetry cell also has two special orientation settings "Any", and "All". "Any" means that the cell searches each of the axes, and if symmetry exists for any of them, the cell will turn on. "All" means that the cell will turn on only if symmetry occurs on all four of the axes.

*The Direction selection buttons work like the orientation buttons, except each button refers to a single direction. For example, if a Conveyor cell is set with the "Right" direction, it will take the state of the neighbor immediately to its left, and move it to the right.

*The Mirror options come next. By selecting the Mirror Cell option, a cell bases its state not on its immediate neighbors, but on some other point in the automaton. When the "Mirror Cell" option is checked, two buttons appear. After pressing either of these buttons, select a cell in the automaton by clicking on it. If the button pressed was the "Set Mirror" button, all the cells placed into the automaton with the Mirror option activated will reference the neighborhood of the cell you selected instead of their own. If the button was the "Set Reference" button, as cells with the Mirror option are placed, they will reference cells relative to the position of the cell you selected. For example, if you pressed "Set Reference", and selected the cell at coordinates (20,20), the first Mirror Cell you place into the automaton will reference the location (20,20) for its neighborhood. Then if you place another Mirror Cell one cell to the right of the first (+ 1 on the x-axis), that cell will reference the location (21,20). Place one directly below the first cell that was placed (y-axis +1), and it will reference the location(20,21).

*The next control that may appear is the Expansion Factor control. Most cells reference their immediate neighbors when determining their states. The Expansion Factor setting allows them to use wider neighborhoods. The default setting is 1, which means that the cell looks at its immediate neighbors, as the factor increases to 2, the cell looks at cells that are two cells away from its self, up to a maximum setting of 8.

*Finally, some cells can take multiple types of input. Cellular explorer currently has three input modes for cells to use. In Void mode, the cell ignores all input. In Binary mode, the cell only looks to see if its neighbors are in a positive state (anything greater than zero is considered to be binary on), or not (zero and negative states are treated as binary off). In integer mode, the cell evaluates its neighbors states as integers, for the purposes of calculating its own state.