Project title: Dark Side of the Moon

https://editor.p5js.org/Xiaozao/sketches/eqtX3a2Cv

This week’s assignment is inspired by the surface of the moon. It is covered with craters large and small, and the sand is being blown among the surface.

I wanted to create a more dynamic movement of the boids, that’s why I applied a sine value to the separate, align, and cohere functions and made the distance limitation change over time.

flock(boids) {
    time_off += 0.01;
    let sin_value = sin(time_off);
    let separate_control = map(sin_value, -1, 1, 1, 50);
    let align_control = map(sin_value, -1, 1, 30, 0);
    let cohere_control = map(sin_value, -1, 1, 50, 500);
    
    let sep = this.separate(boids, separate_control); // Separation
    let ali = this.align(boids, align_control); // Alignment
    let coh = this.cohere(boids, cohere_control); // Cohesion

To create the craters on the moon’s surface, I placed several “obstacles” around the canvas, and made the boids near the obstacles flee from them. I adjusted the parameters to make some of the boids go across the obstacles while the others bounce back. This creates a more natural feeling.

// main
for (let i = 0; i < obstacles.length; i ++) {
    let obstacle = obstacles[i];
    // circle(obstacle.x, obstacle.y, 10);
    flock.avoid(obstacle);
  }


// flock class
avoid(obstacle) {
    for (let boid of this.boids) {
      let d = p5.Vector.dist(boid.position, obstacle);
      if (d > 0 && d < 100) {
        boid.avoid(obstacle); 
      }
    }
  }


// boid class
avoid(obstacle) {
    let desired = p5.Vector.sub(this.position, obstacle);
    desired.setMag(this.maxspeed);
    
    
    // Steering = Desired minus velocity
    let steer = p5.Vector.sub(desired, this.velocity);
    steer.mult(0.02); // Limit to maximum steering force
  this.applyForce(steer);
    
  }

Finally, I set the blend mode to “add” which makes the patterns more aesthetic.

Possible improvements:

Maybe I can draw lines between each pair of boids that are close enough to each other, or try other kinds of blend modes.