This is my "roundblobs" Java applet (January 18, 2008). An explanation
is below.
This applet allows the user to draw an image of their choice, and then
have the computer attempt to find "blobs" of concentrated dots on the
image. (The applet will later be expanded to find faces rather than
just blobs, hence its name ... but I started small.) 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)
- SEARCH ONCE: perform a Monte Carlo search for a blob,
erasing any previous searches
- SEARCH AGAIN: perform a search for a blob, without
erasing previous searches
- 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
1009 dots, which consists of a 9-dot blob (just left of the SEARCH AGAIN
text) plus 1000 dots placed at random. (The existence of the blob is
not immediately apparent to the human eye, but the computer usually
finds it quickly.)
For now the Monte Carlo algorithm is very basic, but I plan to improve
and expand it significantly in the months ahead. I also plan to allow
for importing external images (e.g. photographs) rather than just
drawing them.
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.
[Jeffrey Rosenthal /
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