Boids are birdlike objects - Flocking behavior for birds - Schools of Fish


  1. Birds and simulated flocking: From Boids to herds, flocks, schools, stampedes, Middle Earth battles, etc.

  2. Boids are birdlike objects that were developed in the 1980s to model flocking behavior.
    1. Watch this Quicktime movie (40 seconds) Stanley and Stella: Breaking the Ice - 1987 short film that used flocking and boids simulation model concepts.
    2. Here is a 1986 Quicktime movie of a simulated boid flock with the boids avoiding obstacles (1986). (The boid aboids the collision). Notice the flocking behavior where the flock separates and then joins again after the obstacle is passed.
    3. "The aggregate motion of a flock of birds, a herd of land animals, or a school of fish is a beautiful and familiar part of the natural world." Here are some wonderful images, but a very advanced article about the theory behind the boids and flocking models.

  3. NetLogo Flocking model - you can run this in your web browser. You will also find it in the Models library when you install the free NetLogo educational software.
  4. Here are just a few of the similar models (to birds flocking, fish schooling, and herds migrating or grazing) from NetLogo:
    1. Ant Lines,
    2. Ants foraging for food,
    3. Fireflies synchonizing their flashing to light up the night, and
    4. Moths circling a light.

  5. Behavioral Animation is used to simulate birds flocking. Behavioral animation has been used in such movies at Batman Returns, The Lion King, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

  6. Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams by Mitch Resnick. Look at the Google Preview, as quite a few pages of the book are provided for free preview. The book does have a section on flocking behavior. Here is an excerpt from the Introduction.