I started with a description of the algorithm found on Wikipedia, worked it out in Processing (with 2D, 3D, and isometric views added as a bonus), and then ported it to C++ using openFrameworks for the basic display action.

Presumably it could be used as the start of a game-like concept, if so inclined.

- Processing (source + Win/Mac executables)
- C++/oF (source + Windows executable)

Cylinders shaped with randomized 3D cubic Bezier splines and sine waves. Later it would be nice to develop on the tentacle movement a good deal more with kinematics and possibly springs… And I agree, Robert Hodgins’ work is the shit (like here, for example).

Coded in Java with the Processing library.

I’ve been getting comfortable with Processing over the last few days by experimenting with what else but … particles. The three-dimensional patterns that emerge by moving the sliders to change the internal parameters can be quite complex and unexpected, and sometimes strange attractor-like.

The algorithm governing the particle motion is very straightforward. New particles are created with a starting orientation which rotates linearly on 2 axes over time. On each frame, a given amount of x, y, and z rotation is added to each particle and then the particle is translated according to its orientation by a steadily increasing distance.

Click on the buttons in the bottom right corner to change the order that the x, y, and z rotations are applied (which creates very different results from each other). The 3 sliders on top-left control the amount of rotation added per frame; the two sliders in the middle control the rate of ‘spin’ for the initial orientation of new particles; and the slider on the right controls the ‘speed’ that particles move away from the point of origin.

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