The classic TV test pattern allows television cameras and receivers to be adjusted to show colour accurately. I've been using these colour bars to calibrate the Colour Economy - I have a lot of new features currently being implemented and it is very useful to have a standard image to work from.

This is a render that I prepared for a presentation I am giving at this year's FlashBelt (flashbelt.com).

Here, we see a clear example of what I call 'bridging behaviour'. Though individual traders are limited as to how far they can 'see', colour groups often form 'trade routes' allowing them to trade over much longer distances. This is not specifically programmed behaviour, and indeed was somewhat surprising to see.

ABOUT THE COLOUR ECONOMY:

What if pixels were free? What if they could trade their computer-given red, green, and blue values in pursuit of a profit?

The Colour Economy imagines an artificial economy of pixels, in which individual 'traders' exchange colour.

The Colour Economy is a project by Jer Thorp (blprnt.com) and was built with Processing v. 0135.

From the Canadian Design Resource (canadiandesignresource.ca/):

"The flag was first used by Metis fighters in 1816. It is the oldest Canadian patriotic flag indigenous to Canada. As a symbol of nationhood, the Metis flag predates Canada’s Maple Leaf flag by about 150 years.

Both flags use a horizontal figure eight, or infinity symbol. This represents the coming together of two distinct and vibrant cultures, European and indigenous, to produce a distinctly new culture, the Metis. It symbolizes the creation of a new society with roots in both Aboriginal and European cultures and traditions. The sky blue background emphasizes the infinity symbol and suggests that the Metis people will exist forever."

ABOUT THE COLOUR ECONOMY:

What if pixels were free? What if they could trade their computer-given red, green, and blue values in pursuit of a profit?

The Colour Economy imagines an artificial economy of pixels, in which individual 'traders' exchange colour.

The Colour Economy is a project by Jer Thorp (blprnt.com) and was built with Processing v. 0135.

I have set up a routine to generate batches of renders from Flickr overnight, so that I don't have to manually control the production of each movie.

This one was a happy accident - it zoomed in much further than usual. The advantage is that you get to see the trading in much more detail. Here, the 'vision' of the traders is set quite high, so they are able to easily find trading partners. As a result, we get a lot of activity, with each trader changing colour and size frequently.

Height of the particles indicates the amount of cash that they currently have - you will see their height decrease as they buy colour and increase as they sell it.

ABOUT THE COLOUR ECONOMY:

What if pixels were free? What if they could trade their computer-given red, green, and blue values in pursuit of a profit?

The Colour Economy imagines an artificial economy of pixels, in which individual 'traders' exchange colour.

The Colour Economy is a project by Jer Thorp (blprnt.com) and was built with Processing v. 0135.

This is a quick export from the Colour Economy interface as it sits right now. This demonstrates the Flickr import - right now the images are coming from the group 'catchy colors' (flickr.com/groups/catchy/).

You'll notice, compared to the other videos, that there are now more traders involved (900 in this render - though I've tested renders with up to 10,000)

ABOUT THE COLOUR ECONOMY:

What if pixels were free? What if they could trade their computer-given red, green, and blue values in pursuit of a profit?

The Colour Economy imagines an artificial economy of pixels, in which individual 'traders' exchange colour.

The Colour Economy is a project by Jer Thorp (blprnt.com) and was built with Processing v. 0135.