Thanks, I know I need a lot of 'fill in the blanks here'... I'll paste 
in relevant code I have and would appreciate any filling in for help..
(I borrowed the core of this code from Steve Scott's primer pdf on 
MASON, his turtle/llama2d program.

I've got the 3 main files - virus.java, virusController.java, 
virusView.java

public class Virus implements Steppable {
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1;

     private static ec.util.MersenneTwisterFast rnum = new 
ec.util.MersenneTwisterFast();

     private static int MAX_X = VirusController.gridWidth;
     private static int MAX_Y = VirusController.gridLength;

     private int xPos = 0;
     private int yPos = 0;

     private Color myColor;

     public int getxPos() {
         return xPos;
     }

. . .

     public void draw(Object object, Graphics2D graphics, DrawInfo2D 
info) {
         Virus obj = (Virus) object;
         myColor = new 
Color(rnum.nextFloat(),rnum.nextFloat(),rnum.nextFloat());
         paint = myColor;
         super.draw(obj, graphics, info)          ???

     }

     public void step(SimState state) {
         // get the VirusController state to access simulation variables
         VirusController vc = (VirusController) state;

         // calculate new location
         move();

         myColor = new 
Color(rnum.nextFloat(),rnum.nextFloat(),rnum.nextFloat());

         draw(this, ?, ?);    ???

         // update new location in sim space
         vc.virusGrid.setObjectLocation(this, this.getxPos(), 
this.getyPos());
     }

}


package field_guide.virus;
import field_guide.llamas2D.Llama;
import sim.engine.SimState;
import sim.field.grid.Grid2D;
import sim.field.grid.IntGrid2D;
import sim.field.grid.SparseGrid2D;
import sim.util.IntBag;

public class VirusController extends SimState {
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1;

     public VirusController(long seed) {
         super(seed);
     }

     // declare the landscape grid

     public static int gridWidth = 100;
     public static int gridLength = 100;
     public static int MAX_GRID_VALUE = 100;

     // public static Random rnum = new Random();  // default Java random 
number generator
     private ec.util.MersenneTwisterFast rnum = new 
ec.util.MersenneTwisterFast();

     // declare the virus grid
     public SparseGrid2D virusGrid = new 
SparseGrid2D(gridWidth,gridLength);


     // decclare array of Virus objects

     private int populationSize = 100;
     private Virus[] population = new Virus[populationSize];



     public void start() {
         super.start();

         // set up patch landscape with radomlyseed resource values

         seedGrid();
         smoothGrid(4);

         // set up a grid for the turtles

         virusGrid= new SparseGrid2D(gridWidth, gridLength);

         for(int i = 0; i < populationSize; i++) {

             population[i] = new Virus();
             virusGrid.setObjectLocation((Object) population[i],
                 population[i].getxPos(),
                 population[i].getyPos());

                 // put turtles on the Scheduler

                        schedule.scheduleRepeating(population[i]);
         }
     }

}



package field_guide.virus;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Image;

import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

import sim.display.Console;
import sim.display.Controller;
import sim.display.Display2D;
import sim.display.GUIState;
import sim.engine.SimState;
import sim.portrayal.grid.FastValueGridPortrayal2D;
import sim.portrayal.grid.SparseGridPortrayal2D;
import sim.portrayal.simple.MovablePortrayal2D;
import field_guide.virus.VirusController;

public class VirusView extends GUIState {

     public Display2D display;
     public JFrame displayFrame;

     public VirusView() {
         super(new VirusController(System.currentTimeMillis()));
     }

     public VirusView(SimState state) {
         super(state);
     }

     public static String getName() { return "Virus sim in MASON"; }

     SparseGridPortrayal2D virusPortrayal = new SparseGridPortrayal2D();


     // declare the portrayals we will use

     // Initialize the portrayals
     public void setupPortrayals() {
         VirusController vc = (VirusController) state;

         // display llamas as little green ovals rather than ImageIcon
         virusPortrayal.setField(vc.virusGrid);
         virusPortrayal.setPortrayalForAll(
             new MovablePortrayal2D(
                 new 
sim.portrayal.simple.OvalPortrayal2D(Color.orange)));


         display.reset();  // reschedule the displayer
         display.repaint();  // redraw the display

     }

     public void start() {
         super.start();
         setupPortrayals();
         display.reset(); // reschedule displaer
         display.repaint(); // redraw display
     }

     public void init(Controller c) {
         super.init(c);

         // Create a new 3D display
         display = new Display2D(600, 600, this);
                 // make a display frame
         displayFrame = display.createFrame();
         c.registerFrame(displayFrame);  // register frame to appear in 
the Display list
         displayFrame.setVisible(true);

         // attach the resource and turtle portrayals
         display.attach(elevationPortrayal, "Elevation");
         display.attach(virusPortrayal, "Virus");

         // specify the backdrop color
         display.setBackdrop(Color.gray);

     }

     public static void main(String[] args) {
         VirusView virusview = new VirusView();
         Console c = new Console(virusview);
         c.setVisible(true);
     }

}


On 2015-05-06 16:08, Sean Luke wrote:
> On May 6, 2015, at 1:55 PM, Randolph Latimer <[log in to unmask]> 
> wrote:
> 
>> I'd like to have a 'color' field in an agent class, and have the color
>> field and agent color change at each step of the simulation.
>> Thanks,
>> Randy Latimer
> 
> Sure, see pages 211 and 212 of the MASON manual here:
> 
> 	https://cs.gmu.edu/~eclab/projects/mason/manual.pdf
> 
> Sean