What am I looking at?

This is a visualization of flocking behaviour, an emergent property seen in many real-world species, from flocks of birds to schools of fish. This demonstration employs several computational boids (an abbreviation of "bird-oids") to simulate this behavior.

The boids follow three basic rules:

1. Alignment: Each boid attempts to align its direction with those of nearby boids.
2. Cohesion: Each boid is drawn towards the average position of its nearby peers, resulting in a tendency to stick together as a group.
3. Separation: Each boid tries to maintain a safe distance from its peers, avoiding overcrowding and collision.

From tightly clustered swarms to loose, flowing formations, this demonstration offers a glimpse into the complex dynamics that arise from simple rules. It's a striking example of how complex and coordinated group behavior can emerge from the interaction of individuals following simple, local rules.

You can manipulate the balance of these rules using the sliders at the bottom of the screen. Each slider represents the relative influence of one of the rules. By adjusting these, you can observe how different emphasis on alignment, cohesion, and separation changes the behavior of the flock.

Click options above to experiment with the parameters for the simulation