Algodoo

This scene was inspired by the flocking birds simulation called BOIDS (Google it if interested). I originally wanted to simulate the behavior of a large flock of birds, but I soon realized that the script would be too large and complex for any number of birds greater than just a few, so I limited this scene to only three birds. They do abide by three of the basic rules of flocking birds, which are: 1. Stay as close to the other birds as possible. 2. Don't get so close that you bump into other birds. 3. Fly at the same velocity as the other birds. As for the velocity, I wrote a little script that gives the birds a little bump in velocity at random intervals. I didn't want them to get going too fast.

The camera follows the birds, and in doing so, they fly along a long background scene. Unfortunately, they occasionally drift off the scenery, so you may need to grab the scenery with the "Move Tool" and shove it up or down a little bit to get things looking proper again.

I tried to make the birds look and act as natural as possible, so let me know what you think about it. There are no User controls (except for the wing flap rate adjustment). Just press PLAY and enjoy!

EDIT: If you want to access the Thyme scripts that control the birds movement and wing flapping, then zoom out before starting the scene, and you will see a yellow box above the birds and the scenery.

Aug 17, 2013 - VERSION 2 UPDATE: Updated Thyme script and forward thrust algorithm so that the birds fly correctly with the latest version of Algodoo. I also changed the "Flap Rate" adjustment so that now the Density slider for the yellow script box (hidden above the moving scenery) controls the birds wing flapping rate.