…is a program to create modern art by a special algorithm. The program does not bother you with the mathematics on which it is based. Rather, it generates variations of a random or a loaded (previously saved) picture. You select one of these variations, and Qbist uses it as a starting point for new variations, you select one of these etc. When you have reached a picture you like, you can save it as a “picture equation” for later reuse. Or, for final output, you can convert it to a TIFF file, which can be read by most graphics applications. The size of the TIFF can be chosen quite high, but beware of the calculation time.
A color mode of thousands or millions of colors is strongly recommended. (Exported TIFFs will have a color resolution of 24 bits, anyway.) The speed of a Power Mac will be _very_ helpful, too. Note that the screen update happens asynchronously, so that you can select menu entries at any time you like – rather than have to wait until the redraw is ready. On 68K-Macs, however, there may be quite a delay until a menu drops down. Just keep the mouse button pressed!
Qbist 1.0 is free. However, it is not public domain and I retain the copyright. You may not charge to redistribute this program except for normal download fees. You may not distribute Qbist with a commercial package without written permission from the author.
If you’re interested in the source code and in how Qbist works internally, you may want to read my article in the German computer magazine c’t, issue 10/95, p. 326. (Back issues available at c’t Kopierservice, Helstorfer Str. 7, D-30625 Hannover.)
