[Oops, your browser will not display java applets.]

This applet allows the user to draw an image of their choice, and then have the computer attempt to find oval-shaped "blobs" of concentrated dots on the image. An explanation of the controls is as follows:

• Click on the image itself: draw image dots (one dot at a time)
• SPRINKLE DOTS: place 100 image dots uniformly at random
• CLEAR DOTS: erase all dots (start fresh)
• FIND ONE: perform a Monte Carlo search for a single blob, erasing any previously-found blobs
• FIND ANOTHER: perform a search for a single blob, disjoint from any previously-found blobs, without erasing the previously-found blobs
• CLEAR SEARCH: erase any previous searches
• DUMP DATA: dump the current image data to the Java virtual console (for testing purposes)
• RESTORE DATA: read in a particular test image of 1561 dots, which consists of a vertical-oriented blob near the lower-left, a horizontal-oriented blof near the upper-right, plus random background. (If you click FIND ANOTHER twice, the computer will probably find the two blobs. This remains true even if you SPRINKLE DOTS many times first.)

Note that the algorithm does not "cheat" by making use of the order in which the dots were created, or which dots were created by the user and which ones at random. Rather, it makes use of the final image array and nothing more.

This applet is similar to the previous version, but it allows for non-circular blobs, does more efficient searching, and works more smoothly in a number of ways. I still plan to improve and expand the Monte Carlo algorithms in the months ahead, including searching for faces rather than just blobs. I also plan to allow for importing external images (e.g. photographs) rather than just drawing them.