Meanders

Description:

Meanders is a generative system driven by the interaction of growing agents. The agents are defined by their initial position, a velocity vector (ordered or random), and a constraint boundary (usually a circle), moreover they are able to avoid proximity events with other agents (and their own body too) by means of their bow sensor. However while the bodies fill the available space, an agent may experiencing a kind of 'blind alley' condition, that would mean the dead of that agent. But in that case an unexpected (emergent?) feature of the software creates a sort of extra propulsion, that allows the agent to quick escape from that deadly situation, crossing the surrounding walls of bodies. The software is a Processing applet with an OBJ exporter I am working on, that can archive each mesh separately with material, normals, uv texture info and mtllib support.
Below some renders and applet's video and images.

Videos:

Images:

prj_img_meander07.jpg
1 / Horizontal velocity vectors from x = 0
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2 / Two repulsive points at north/south
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3 / Four orthogonal sets of agents collide and bounce
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4 / Two repulsive points at east/west
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5 / Two agents emitter at north/south
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6 / Two agents emitter at 2/3 of radius
prj_img_meander13.jpg
7 / Two parallel sets of agents in opposite directions
prj_img_meander09.jpg
8 / Four attractors at north/east/south/west
prj_img_meander01.jpg
9 / A central agents emitter
prj_img_meander06.jpg
10 / Agents with multiple of 30 degrees preferred directions
prj_img_meander_det03.jpg
11 / Detail from system 8
prj_img_meander_det02.jpg
12 / Detail from system 10
prj_img_meander_det01.jpg
13 / Detail from system 1
Meander-0182.png
14 / Start. Proximity events: orange lines, proximity sensor circles: blue.
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15 / The proximity events sensors in action. Generated geometry is partially represented without smoothing.
Meander-0186.png
16 / Mesh points inside sensor's circle, are considered for collision avoidance.
Meander-0561.png
17 / In the exported model each trail is substituted by complete geometry.
Meander-0804.png
18 / Overcrowded areas result in a more convoluted path.