Yoni Maltsman

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jon Jacobsen (Harvey Mudd College - Department of Mathematics)

Second Reader: Dr. Calden Wloka (Harvey Mudd College - Department of Computer Science)

Contact: jmaltsman at hmc dot edu

A Visual Tour of Dynamical Systems on Color Space

(Abstract) We can think of a pixel in an image as a ball in 3D space, where its x, y and z coordinates correspond to its level of red, green and blue, respectively. Just like a ball’s motion is guided by physical rules like gravity, we can construct rules to guide a pixel’s motion through color space. We can develop striking visuals by applying these rules, called dynamical systems, onto images using animation engines. This project explores a number of these systems while exposing the underlying symmetrical structure of color space. We also build and demonstrate a visual DJ board for manipulating these systems.

The following are selected examples of images transformed with the dynamical systems studied in this thesis.  If you'd like to get your hands dirty with c++,  mess around with the code and develop your own visuals, follow the instructions in the github repo.  Check out more videos and images in the gallery.