processing    june, 2004   j.tarbell

250 x 250 pixels 100 cities 500 x 500 pixels 100 cities 1,000 x 1,000 pixels 200 cities

The Sand Traveler is a rendering of 1,000 traveling particles, each in pursuit of another. Over time, patterns of travel are exposed as sweeping paths of color. The Sand Traveler uses a pursuit algorithm similar to the City Traveler. The significant difference is the way that pixels are laid down between the travelers. Three variations follow:

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The first variation is the purist approach to visualizing the travelers. Between particles in pursuit, an even distribution of color is drawn. This produces smooth bands with smaller, more dense regions drawn as almost solid fills.

250 x 250 pixels 100 cities 500 x 500 pixels 100 cities 1,000 x 1,000 pixels 200 cities

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The next variation uses the classic Sand Stroke (see Sand Stroke ) as a way to print the connections between particles. This produces a more irregular effect, even allowing the connections to change color over time.

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One final variation simply rotates the sand stroke 90 degrees, painting color perpendicular to the actual point-to-point connection. This is by far the most irregular of all the Sand Traveler variations, producing structures that almost seem nervously alive.