Synapse Drip · generative art
Murmuration with Nebula
Each of the 1,272 boids steers by three rules: it moves away from any neighbour that is too close (strength 0.55), turns toward the average heading of those within 0.083 of the picture's height (1.43), and drifts toward their centre (0.37). In three dimensions they are also drawn to a roost that wanders across the sky and pushed round it in a swirl (1.60), each looking at only a few dozen neighbours, so the flock stretches and folds like starlings at dusk. Beneath it, a Nebula shows through.
Hearted by 1 person in the Gallery.
Good to know
- Reynolds's flocking method was used in the feature film Batman Returns in 1992, for the swarms of bats and the marching penguins, and in 1998 he received an Academy Scientific and Technical Award for his pioneering work in computer animation.
The mathematics
- The roost moves on a slow looping path, each boid is pulled toward it with a force that grows with distance, and a second force pushes it sideways round the roost at right angles to the line to it; where the two balance the flock curls into a vortex.
Made with Nebula and stars, Flocks.
Piece 6292711019f3247b