Darwinbots Forum
Bots and Simulations => Bot Tavern => Topic started by: Griz on November 01, 2005, 06:46:52 PM
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Holy Public Subroutines, Botman !!! ...
my Alcheminima_U2Ag bot has evolved into something shiney!!!
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what is that thing?
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what is that thing?
oops!
posted to the wrong group!
this was supposed to go to one of Num's secret R&D groups ...
the one that has been working on the NextGen of DB ...
[span style=\'font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\']3DBots!!![/span]
this is a screen shot of Bot's 'blobbing' ....
ie ... 'fusing' together to form ....
uh .... well ....
I've said too much already.
damn!
sorry Nums ... my bad. :redface:
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Hehe.
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I've been wondering if you're going to develop a 3D version sometime. Hope you will. :)
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I'm actually building the C++ version so that upgrading to 3D will be almost trivial.
So its' definately in the works me thinks ;)
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" ... upgrading to 3D will be almost trivial."
LOL :D
I'm gonna write that down Nums ....
we will see. ;)
it would be cool tho ...
I can't help but think about it even when running DB in 2D.
version 3.6 of POVray ...
includes a particle system ...
and one can make some pretty cool 3D animations of particles
interacting with the environment and other objects.
and the source code for POVray is available as well ... C or C++ ... can't recall.
so all the math for the interactions and forces between particles ...
three dimensional interactions ... would be in there.
that may be of interest.
I'm just now beginning to play with that particle system ...
sparked by doing some DB anims. 2D and 3D.
that's what the pic I posted reminded me of ...
DarwinBots Blobbing together.
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still playing around with 'blobbing' bots together in 3D ...
something I discovered while trying to do something else ...
that's what's fun about exploring ...
the little bumps in the road one stumbles upon. ;)
working up a small anim based on something like this ...
"if you come to a fork in the road ... take it."
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I'm actually building the C++ version so that upgrading to 3D will be almost trivial.
So its' definately in the works me thinks ;)
Really? Cool! I thought that whould be very complicated. A lot more calculations with an extra dimension, but maybe not. :D
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There are 2 ways to go 3d.
One is to just draw 3d bots but keep the whole thing on a 2d plane.
The other is true 3d which would involve quite a bit more programming to caclulate collisions in the extra dimension.
I have been learning to use DirectX over the last few months so it is quite possible that even the VB version could go pseudo 3d (2d calcs but 3d bots) with no loss in performance if you have a decent graphics card.
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yeah ... a couple more calculations. ;)
remember ... the number of possible interactions with a 'neighbor'
will increase exponentially ... from (n+1)^2 to (n+1)^3 ...
as will the factors contributing to acceleration and velocity.
but hey!
it would be sooooooo slick!!!
still think the concentration should go towards building
a prog that actually functions as an Evo/ALife sim first ...
get the basics in place before doing the cosmetics ...
but you know how it is ...
we all want 'flash' stuff that looks cool ...
even if it doesn't actually do anything ..
got to be 'stylin' ;)
"seek ye the gnarl!'
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hey nums why have you told griz so much?
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There are 2 ways to go 3d.
One is to just draw 3d bots but keep the whole thing on a 2d plane.
The other is true 3d which would involve quite a bit more programming to caclulate collisions in the extra dimension.
I have been learning to use DirectX over the last few months so it is quite possible that even the VB version could go pseudo 3d (2d calcs but 3d bots) with no loss in performance if you have a decent graphics card.
yeah ...
seems like the next logical step to dress it up ... make it a bit more appealing graphics-wise.
now I'm into graphics for sure ...
love all the 3D stuff ...
but ...
first and foremost ...
'tis supposed to be about exploring evolution/alife, eh?
so the graphics can become a distraction.
examples:
I used to run a couple of old sims on Amiga systems ...
one was Silent Service ... being a submariner myself ...
and another Earl Weaver Baseball ...
as I grew up playing that game.
And then there was Frontier.
these were excellent strategy games ...
the graphics sufficient but not overwelming ...
it was the 'game' behind the 'scenes' that was of importance.
well ...
since those daze ...
there have been many very 'flash' sub/baseball/space sims put out ...
and although the graphics are awesome and very realistic ...
the 'game' behind them sucks!!!!
not one of them has come close to what those old games were.
it's all about the 'bells and whistles' and appearance ...
lookin' good ... but without depth.
imo. ime.
your mileage may vary. ;)
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hey nums why have you told griz so much?
Num's ain't told me zilche ...
he just does his own thing.
but I have my own imagination and resources ...
and years of experience playing with ideas of cellular automata ...
alife, genetic algorithms and 3D graphics ...
in addition to thinking in/visuallizing 3D space on a 2D screen. ;)
DB, as it is ...
might turn out to be of use for what I envision.
or not.
we will see.
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Since I'm using vectors now for collision detection, etc., most of the extra dimensions are handled almost on their own.
Of course, any 3D version field would probably need to be fairly small compared to a 2D counterpart. Adding extra dimensions makes for lots of extra RAM used ;)
The most difficult problem would probably be sysvars, since you'd need to make quite a few 3D counterparts to existing controls.
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Since I'm using vectors now for collision detection, etc., most of the extra dimensions are handled almost on their own.
ah. so even now this is being used?
just with the z axis element pinned to zero/dimensioned to 1?
in the C++ version, I mean.
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Yeah.
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Well by then everyone will have about 1000RAM running a mutiprossesor mashine 64bit. so I am not worred too much.
What I am worred about is not getting the above before sto comes out, and hopefully they will let me play normaly on sto(star trek online), crossing fingers.
Makes me wonder: what 'usefull updates' can I write for a game like that? :evil:
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been having fun playing with some 3D bots 'blobbing' ...
and came up with this little animation.
actually ... they ended up not being as little as I would like so ...
can't really upload them here.
have stashed them at the Wiki:
the full size 400 x 400 is here ... weighing in at 2.6MB:
http://www.darwinbots.com/WikiManual/index...e=Image:BB1.gif (http://www.darwinbots.com/WikiManual/index.php?title=Image:BB1.gif)
and here is a smaller 200 x 200 which is slightly more managable at 569KB.
http://www.darwinbots.com/WikiManual/index...age:BB1_200.gif (http://www.darwinbots.com/WikiManual/index.php?title=Image:BB1_200.gif)
hey ...
most of you hosers probable got high speed connections and flash 4 processer computers anyway ...
which means it probably takes me 20 to 30 times as long to upload it as it does you to see it.
I like it anyway ...
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Very trippy ;)