Artificial landscape generation through ant colony behaviour
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2025
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Esta dissertação apresenta um algoritmo inovador de Geração Procedimental de Conteúdos baseado no comportamento de formigas, permitindo a criação de novas paisagens virtuais, bem como modificações realistas de paisagens existentes. Para tal, adapta as capacidades de determinação de percursos das formigas com base em feromonas e o seu comportamento de recolha de alimentos, em combinação com perceção de altitude. As formigas navegam no seu ambiente identificando pontos de interesse, tais como fontes de alimento e a sua colónia, deixando rastos de feromonas à medida que se deslocam. Estes rastos servem como sinais que atraem outras formigas, orientando os seus caminhos e permitindo uma interação coletiva. Neste processo, podem influenciar e modificar o terreno, criando caminhos ou padrões que refletem a sua atividade. O projeto foi desenvolvido com recurso ao motor de jogo Unity, tirando partido das suas funcionalidades relacionadas com terrenos. O sistema concebido suporta a criação e armazenamento de variáveis parametrizáveis que permitem a personalização do comportamento das formigas, a inicialização do terreno e algumas outras configurações relacionadas com a visualização. Um conjunto limitado de resultados demonstra a capacidade do algoritmo para se adaptar e transformar vários tipos de paisagens. De um modo geral, este projeto pretende servir de base a uma convergência de ideias ainda não explorada: unificar os conceitos de simulação de animais e criação de paisagens virtuais interessantes e dinâmicas.
This dissertation presents an innovative Procedural Content Generation algorithm that creates new virtual landscapes, inspired by ant behaviour, as well as realistic modifications to existing landscapes. It does so by adapting ants’ pheromone-based pathfinding capabilities and food collection behaviour combined with height perception. Ants navigate their environment by identifying points of interest, such as food sources and their colony, leaving pheromone trails as they move. These trails serve as signals that attract other ants, guiding their paths and enabling collective interaction. In this process, they can influence and modify the terrain, creating paths or patterns reflective of their activity. The project was built with the Unity game engine, taking advantage of its terrain generating and visualization tools. The system developed supports the creation and storage of parameterisable variables that allow the customization of the ants’ behaviours, the inception of the terrain and some other display related settings. A select set of curated results demonstrates the algorithm’s capacity to adapt to and transform various types of landscapes. Overall, this project’s intent is to serve as the basis of a yet unexplored convergence of ideas: to unify the concepts of animal simulations and creation of interesting and dynamic virtual landscapes.
This dissertation presents an innovative Procedural Content Generation algorithm that creates new virtual landscapes, inspired by ant behaviour, as well as realistic modifications to existing landscapes. It does so by adapting ants’ pheromone-based pathfinding capabilities and food collection behaviour combined with height perception. Ants navigate their environment by identifying points of interest, such as food sources and their colony, leaving pheromone trails as they move. These trails serve as signals that attract other ants, guiding their paths and enabling collective interaction. In this process, they can influence and modify the terrain, creating paths or patterns reflective of their activity. The project was built with the Unity game engine, taking advantage of its terrain generating and visualization tools. The system developed supports the creation and storage of parameterisable variables that allow the customization of the ants’ behaviours, the inception of the terrain and some other display related settings. A select set of curated results demonstrates the algorithm’s capacity to adapt to and transform various types of landscapes. Overall, this project’s intent is to serve as the basis of a yet unexplored convergence of ideas: to unify the concepts of animal simulations and creation of interesting and dynamic virtual landscapes.
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MESTRADO EM ENGENHARIA INFORMÁTICA E SISTEMAS DE INFORMAÇÃO, INFORMÁTICA, GERAÇÃO PROCEDIMENTAL DE CONTEÚDOS, DESENVOLVIMENTO DE VIDEOJOGOS, SIMULAÇÃO POR COMPUTADOR, COMPUTER SCIENCE, PROCEDURAL CONTENT GENERATION, VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT, COMPUTER SIMULATION