New version of the models (August 2016):Flock of birds:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6114pZ3kPTgRXRnWWJ5YmZBTG8/view?usp=sharing(It is installed in a new folder: BIRDS. It can completely erase, without regret, the old BIRDS450 folder).
Monarch butterflies:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6114pZ3kPTgcDFyS2hiU2dhdEU/view?usp=sharingA NEW model: Colorful butterflies.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6114pZ3kPTgR0drMC1PNFZqYmM/view?usp=sharingThe
swarm of wasps did not present any major problems and has remained the same as before.
P.S.
I forgot an important indication:
These models are published in the "Aircraft" section of the forum because concern "flying" models, however, use the Bullet Phisics, typical of the vehicles, and then appear in the menu Anteworld, including land-based vehicles.
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Original Post:It's all because of KW71 !!! :-) :-) :-)
About a couple of months ago, in his post, he has published a beautiful movie about the flocks of birds that fill the skies of the evening and draw fantastic effects.
It seemed to perceive an implicit invitation to try to reproduce the same effect in the Anteworld sky ... but I immediately thought that the difficulties were too large and that perhaps only the developers could solve it.
Set a large number of birds, each with its own characteristics in JsbSim or Bullet Phisics, all of which must be calculated aerodynamic component and determined (and drawn) the flight path, I figured it would be too burdensome for any computer.
And then draw a large number of instances of the same model would require a wait of several minutes before starting the simulation!
Encoding instead, in C language, the dark clouds of birds, such as Anteworld clouds were created (... using the dynamic particle?), It could play a similar effect to that of the flocks.
Then...
I had an idea that could afford to build like something , only using conventional tools provided by Outerra and controlled by the usually file in Javascript.
Nothing great ... just a little trick ... and nothing secret!
But I think it's more fun to propose a little game ...
Anyone who can identify the operating principle of the model just snooping in his command file?
However, to get to fly the higher number of birds at the same time, I had to reduce as much as possible the amount of calculations and the complexity of the rendering.
* I drew a highly stylized bird with the minimum number of vertices.
* I gave up to manage the movement of the wings and I set as fixed.
* I gave up the calculations that would determine the "real emergent behavior" of a real flock because they are too heavy (compared with the position and the attitude of all the other birds, or with those closest, to determine the position and attitude of each element).
* I tried to find a method for calculating the positions and velocities based solely on the previous position and the distance from the center of the movement.
A system that would take the flock compact and simultaneously allow a certain freedom of motion enough to be aesthetically similar to reality.
The "aesthetic" outcome is still far from reality (which remains unsurpassed), but I considered this model "publishable" for "numerical" results achieved.
I was able to fly 9000 birds at the same time, by calculating, for each, the coordinates of position, speed and rotation of the three-dimensional space, and ... without reducing exaggerated FPS ... and making them look "individual objects" (which instead "individual" they are not ).
A nice result of this study was the consideration that, using the same method and with small variations in the coefficients of the algorithm of movement, it is possible to simulate the groups of living beings that move in a pseudo-random as the shoals of fish or the insect swarms.
So I also built a swarm of butterflies:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6114pZ3kPTgcDFyS2hiU2dhdEU/view?usp=sharingand a swarm of wasps:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6114pZ3kPTgQkV1SGZfRnFiWHM/view?usp=sharingThey can serve to animate some corner of Anteworld ...
To download the Flock of Birds:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6114pZ3kPTgSnNfekQ4VHdTNTQ/view?usp=sharingNote: The basic flock is composed of 9000 elements.
There is also a 4500 version elements for computers under-performing and a version from 18000 items to just try for the most powerful computer (it is clearly exaggerated).
A little video:
(I used the magnificent scenery Talkeetna of Acetone, giving me a little freedom: perhaps in Alaska have never reached monarch butterflies... But we Anteworld ....)
