For many experiments with automata, it is sufficient to generate random bitplanes, or to fill the bitplanes with such simple designs as lines or squares. Chaotic evolution determines which automata are the most suited for this treatment, but the Zhabotinsky reactions, for example, evolve around a deterministic nucleus which occasionally needs to be explicitly inserted into the bitplanes.
Beyond that, there are automata such as Life and WireWorld, whose initial configurations need to be laid out very carefully and explicitly. These requirements are met, for (2,1) Moore automata, by the module CAMEML, composed of facilities for editing bitplanes, with emphasis on plane 0.