This is the second attempt at creating some interesting visuals using Craig Reynold’s flocking algorithms. Each streak in the system tries to behave like like a bird in a flock, or a fish in a school. They want to stay in a group, keep a certain distance from each other, and wander a bit randomly. The pictures show how changing a few parameters can create some pretty drastic results.



Try it out for yourself here. You also don’t need Java to run it. The controls to change parameters are Q & W to increase and decrease cohesion respectively, A & S to increase and decrease seperation, Z & X to increase and decrease alignment, = key to add a new flock of streaks, and click to add a single flock. By default the flocks will follow your cursor.