PySwarm Users Guide (Main Page)

This section of the Wiki describes how to use PySwarm.

PySwarm V0 5 Tutorial 1

Note: If you have not installed all the necessary components to run PySwarm, or you need to check to see if you have the latest versions, click here.

Getting Started - PySwarm Basics

If you have ever watched animals flocking or swarming, and observed the amazing complexity that emerges from group behavior, it is easy to assume there is something incredibly complex at work there. However, as Craig Reynolds described in 1987 [1], complex group behavior does not require complex processes. In fact, he showed that a few simple rules applied iteratively to each BOID within a group are all that is needed to simulate complex and realistic behavior. No random variations are required. A slight modification to the rules that govern the BOIDs’ behavior and completely different patterns can emerge from the group. PySwarm brings Reynolds and others’ research of over the past 25 years on this subject to Carrara animators. To read more about how PySwarm works and about the rules currently available, click on the links below.

• PySwarm's Rule-Based Behavior
• PySwarm's Current Set of Rules

Creating Your First PySwarm Animation

If you are new to PySwarm and using the PySwarm Interface Application (PIA), the following wiki page will step you through the basics of creating your first animation - click here.

PySwarm Details

Now that you have created your first