This sketch is created with an older version of Processing,
and doesn't work on browsers anymore.
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// Flow Field Following
// Daniel Shiffman <http://www.shiffman.net>
// The Nature of Code, Spring 2009
class FlowField {
// A flow field is a two dimensional array of PVectors
PVector[][] field;
float[][] fieldV;
int cols, rows; // Columns and Rows
int resolution; // How large is each "cell" of the flow field
FlowField(int r) {
resolution = r;
// Determine the number of columns and rows based on sketch's width and height
cols = width/resolution;
rows = height/resolution;
field = new PVector[cols][rows];
fieldV = new float[cols][rows];
init();
}
void init() {
// Reseed noise so we get a new flow field every time
noiseSeed((int)random(10000));
float xoff = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < cols; i++) {
float yoff = 0;
for (int j = 0; j < rows; j++) {
// Use perlin noise to get an angle between 0 and 2 PI
float theta = map(noise(xoff,yoff),0,1,0,TWO_PI);
// Polar to cartesian coordinate transformation to get x and y components of the vector
field[i][j] = new PVector(cos(theta),sin(theta));
fieldV[i][j] =0.1;
yoff += 0.1;
}
xoff += 0.1;
}
}
// Draw every vector
void display() {
for (int i = 0; i < cols; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < rows; j++) {
drawVector(field[i][j],i*resolution,j*resolution,resolution-2);
}
}
}
// Renders a vector object 'v' as an arrow and a location 'x,y'
void drawVector(PVector v, float x, float y, float scayl) {
pushMatrix();
float arrowsize = 4;
// Translate to location to render vector
translate(x,y);
stroke(100);
// Call vector heading function to get direction (note that pointing up is a heading of 0) and rotate
rotate(v.heading2D());
// Calculate length of vector & scale it to be bigger or smaller if necessary
float len = v.mag()*scayl;
// Draw three lines to make an arrow (draw pointing up since we've rotate to the proper direction)
line(0,0,len,0);
line(len,0,len-arrowsize,+arrowsize/2);
line(len,0,len-arrowsize,-arrowsize/2);
popMatrix();
}
PVector lookup(PVector lookup) {
int i = (int) constrain(lookup.x/resolution,0,cols-1);
int j = (int) constrain(lookup.y/resolution,0,rows-1);
return field[i][j].get();
}
float lookupV(PVector lookup) {
int i = (int) constrain(lookup.x/resolution,0,cols-1);
int j = (int) constrain(lookup.y/resolution,0,rows-1);
return fieldV[i][j];
}
void setField(PVector _Pos,float _angle, float _strength) {
for (int i = 0; i < cols; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < rows; j++) {
field[i][j].add( new PVector(cos(_angle),sin(_angle)));
fieldV[i][j] = _strength;
}
}
// int i = (int) constrain( _Pos.x/resolution,0,cols-1);
// int j = (int) constrain( _Pos.y/resolution,0,rows-1);
// field[i][j] = new PVector(cos(_angle),sin(_angle));
}
}