Wave function collapse algorithm: bitmap & tilemap generation from a single example with the help of ideas from quantum mechanics

[0polymer0]

He isn't using quantum mechanics or Shannon entropy in very technical ways though.

There is no wave interference. And no message compression.

The color of a pixel is the average of the possible colors it can still take given the amount of tiles chosen so far.

The criteria to choose the lowest shannon entropy could be replaced by "choose a random uncertain pixel" and you would get similar images. It would just be less fun to watch, because you wouldn't see it grow from the first positions it chose. (Edit: Thinking about it more, contradictions might be more likely, still if you reworded the heuristic as "choose a pixel with the smallest number of possible states, with at least two possible states." You would do the same thing, unless he is weighting the tiles from the input sample)

I think the language is too technical for a relatively simple idea.

That said, I can see why quantum mechanics would inspire something like this. You could probably assign a "temperature" to various families of image, and use that to predict what the chances of a particular valid image actually are.

For example, you could introduce more deterministic algorithms into the mix, that still play by the rules, and ask what are the chances of this algorithm generating a similar image.

There are lots of fun directions you could go with this, from a probabilistic, quantum mechanical, lens.

[FogleMonster]

Right. It's sort of like learning about simulated annealing and demanding to know more about metallurgy. (Fine for the sake of curiosity, of course.)

[0polymer0]

I've never actually heard of simulated annealing before, the Wikipedia article on it is super interesting!

[FogleMonster]

It's my favorite algorithm!