Answer: Pixel Puzzle #343

The hidden picture is a pixel creature!

Here’s what the colours make.

The picture as Python

Here is the same picture stored as numbers in a Python list. The program reads each number and prints a symbol for it, so you can see the picture appear in the Python shell.

picture = [
    "0000000000000000",
    "0010000000000100",
    "0000010000100000",
    "0111010110101110",
    "0011010000101100",
    "0011112002111100",
    "0011103003011100",
    "0011111001111100",
    "0111111441111110",
    "0014141111414100",
    "0011111001111100",
    "0001101001011000",
    "0011400000041100",
    "0014110000114100",
    "0011000000001100",
    "0000000000000000",
]
symbols = " #@*o"

for row in picture:
    line = ""
    for number in row:
        line = line + symbols[int(number)]
    print(line)

When you run it, it prints:

  #          #
     #    #
 ### # ## # ###
  ## #    # ##
  ####@  @####
  ### *  * ###
  #####  #####
 ######oo######
  #o#o####o#o#
  #####  #####
   ## #  # ##
  ##o      o##
  #o##    ##o#
  ##        ##

Squashing the picture smaller

Computers often save space with a trick called run-length encoding. Instead of storing every pixel, they count how many of the same colour are in a row. Here’s this picture written that way:

Show the run-length code

Row 1: 16 × white
Row 2: 2 × white, 1 × orange, 10 × white, 1 × orange, 2 × white
Row 3: 5 × white, 1 × orange, 4 × white, 1 × orange, 5 × white
Row 4: 1 × white, 3 × orange, 1 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × white, 2 × orange, 1 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × white, 3 × orange, 1 × white
Row 5: 2 × white, 2 × orange, 1 × white, 1 × orange, 4 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × white, 2 × orange, 2 × white
Row 6: 2 × white, 4 × orange, 1 × white, 2 × white, 1 × white, 4 × orange, 2 × white
Row 7: 2 × white, 3 × orange, 1 × white, 1 × navy, 2 × white, 1 × navy, 1 × white, 3 × orange, 2 × white
Row 8: 2 × white, 5 × orange, 2 × white, 5 × orange, 2 × white
Row 9: 1 × white, 6 × orange, 2 × blue, 6 × orange, 1 × white
Row 10: 2 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × blue, 1 × orange, 1 × blue, 4 × orange, 1 × blue, 1 × orange, 1 × blue, 1 × orange, 2 × white
Row 11: 2 × white, 5 × orange, 2 × white, 5 × orange, 2 × white
Row 12: 3 × white, 2 × orange, 1 × white, 1 × orange, 2 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × white, 2 × orange, 3 × white
Row 13: 2 × white, 2 × orange, 1 × blue, 6 × white, 1 × blue, 2 × orange, 2 × white
Row 14: 2 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × blue, 2 × orange, 4 × white, 2 × orange, 1 × blue, 1 × orange, 2 × white
Row 15: 2 × white, 2 × orange, 8 × white, 2 × orange, 2 × white
Row 16: 16 × white

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