Technique · Fields
Network
Constellation and plexus graphs: glowing nodes joined by fine lines, with depth of field, haze and glow blobs.
Network is a field drawn for every pixel by the graphics chip. Every piece on Synapse Drip is made from a recipe that layers techniques like this one, and you can change any of it in the Studio.
Good to know
- In 1998 Duncan Watts and Steven Strogatz showed that a few long links turn a large, clustered network into a small world in which everyone is only a few steps apart.
- The human brain has about 86 billion neurons, each linked to thousands of others.
- An airline map is a network with hubs: a few places connect to many, which keeps the whole system within a few hops.
- A graph made by joining points that lie within a set distance of each other is called a random geometric graph; it models radio networks, sensor fields and the spread of infection.
- Plexus is Latin for braided; it is also the anatomical name for a network of nerves or vessels.
The mathematics
- In a random geometric graph the expected number of links per point is the point density times the area of the link circle, pi times r squared.
- Looking only at the 3 by 3 cells around each point makes the cost grow with the number of points, not with its square; here each point reaches 1.00 cells.
In art
- Constellation maps are among the oldest data graphics: people have joined stars with imaginary lines for thousands of years.
- Depth of field, blurring whatever is far from the focus, is borrowed from photography to make flat points feel like a space.
More ways to use it
Related techniques
Nebula and stars · Liquid · Droplets · Terrain and maps · Neuron · Order to chaos · Fractal tree · Radiolarian shell