This article presents an approach for generating steering behaviors of groups of characters based on the space colonization algorithm that has been used in the past for generating leaf venation patterns and tree structures. In this article, the underlying idea of the space colonization algorithm is adapted to control the motion of virtual characters, providing robust and realistic group behaviors by adjusting just a few parameters. The main contributions of this work are the robustness, flexibility, and simplicity of the proposed approach to control groups of characters in an interactive way, providing path planning and a series of group behaviors, such as group formation, alignment among others. We also introduce a possible extension of this model to provide collision avoidance among agents, mainly focused on crowd simulation. In addition, an interactive tool is provided to allow an easy manner for controlling the motion of virtual characters.
This paper describes a model for generating steering behaviors of groups of characters based on the biologically-motivated space colonization algorithm. This algorithm has been used in the past for generating leaf venation patterns and tree structures, simulating the competition for space between growing veins or branches. Adapted to character animation, this model is responsible for the motion control of characters providing robust and realistic group behaviors by adjusting just a few parameters. The main contributions are related with the robustness, flexibility and simplicity to control groups of characters.
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