Flock
What is flocking? Flocking is an emergent behavior and is the resultant of the following forces:
cohesion – finds average position of neighbors and tries to move to that position separation – object keeps a certain distance between itself and its neighbor alignment – finds average direction in which all neighbors are moving and tries to move in that direction
Each NPC has a “visibility cone” and this is used to compute it’s neighbors. The neighbors contribute towards the forces mentioned above.
Tuners:
The angle and length of each NPC’s “visibility cone”.
Weight of cohesion, separation, and alignment (how much each sub-behavior of flock affects the overall flocking behavior).
Note
Flocking behavior is NOT a standalone behavior. It needs to be combined with other steering behaviors such as seek, pursue, flee, evade etc. to function.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkfnlqH06IY
Using PandAI’s flocking system:
// To create the flock
flockObject = Flock(unsigned int flock_id, double vcone_angle,
double vcone_radius, unsigned int cohesion_wt,
unsigned int separation_wt, unsigned int alignment_wt)
“flock_id” is a value identifying the flock.
“vcone_angle” is the visibility angle of the character (represented by a cone around it)
“vcone_radius” is the length of the visibility cone.
“cohesion_wt”, “separation_wt” and “alignment_wt” is the amount of separation force that contributes to the overall flocking behavior.
Some standard values to start you off with:
Type vcone_angle vcone_radius separation_wt cohesion_wt alignment_wt
Normal Pack 270 10 2 4 1
Loose Pack 180 10 2 4 5
Tight Pack 45 5 2 4 5
You could try experimenting with your own values to customize your flock.
To add your AI Character to the above created flock
flockObject.addAiChar(aiChar) # aiChar is an AICharacter object.
After all the AI Characters are added to the flock, add the flock to the world.
aiWorld.addFlock(flockObject) # aiWorld is an AIWorld object.
Specify the flock behavior priority. As mentioned earlier, flock behavior works with other steering behaviors.
# aiBehaviors is an AIBehaviors object.
aiBehaviors.flock(float priority)
# Turns the flock behavior off.
aiWorld.flockOff(unsigned int flock_id)
# Turns the flock behavior on.
aiWorld.flockOn(unsigned int flock_id)
# Removes the flock behavior.
# Note: This does NOT remove the AI characters of the flock.
aiWorld.removeFlock(unsigned int flock_id)
# Returns a handle to the flock object.
aiWorld.getFlock(unsigned int flock_id)
The full working code in Panda3D :
import direct.directbase.DirectStart
from panda3d.core import *
from direct.showbase.DirectObject import DirectObject
from direct.task import Task
from direct.actor.Actor import Actor
#for Pandai
from panda3d.ai import *
#for Onscreen GUI
from direct.gui.OnscreenText import OnscreenText
# Globals
speed = 0.75
# Function to put instructions on the screen.
font = loader.loadFont("cmss12")
def addInstructions(pos, msg):
return OnscreenText(text=msg, style=1, fg=(1, 1, 1, 1), font=font,
pos=(-1.3, pos), align=TextNode.ALeft, scale=.05)
class World(DirectObject):
def __init__(self):
base.disableMouse()
base.cam.setPosHpr(0, 0, 85, 0, -90, 0)
self.loadModels()
self.setAI()
self.setMovement()
def loadModels(self):
# Seeker
self.flockers = []
for i in range(10):
ralphStartPos = Vec3(-10+i, 0, 0)
self.flockers.append(Actor("models/ralph",
{"run": "models/ralph-run"}))
self.flockers[i].reparentTo(render)
self.flockers[i].setScale(0.5)
self.flockers[i].setPos(ralphStartPos)
self.flockers[i].loop("run")
# Target
self.target = loader.loadModel("models/arrow")
self.target.setColor(1,0,0)
self.target.setPos(0,20,0)
self.target.setScale(1)
self.target.reparentTo(render)
def setAI(self):
#Creating AI World
self.AIworld = AIWorld(render)
#Flock functions
self.MyFlock = Flock(1, 270, 10, 2, 4, 0.2)
self.AIworld.addFlock(self.MyFlock)
self.AIworld.flockOn(1)
self.AIchar = []
self.AIbehaviors = []
for i in range(10):
char = AICharacter("flockers" + str(i), self.flockers[i], 100, 0.05, 5)
self.AIchar.append(char)
self.AIworld.addAiChar(char)
self.AIbehaviors.append(char.getAiBehaviors())
self.MyFlock.addAiChar(char)
self.AIbehaviors[i].flock(0.5)
self.AIbehaviors[i].pursue(self.target, 0.5)
#AI World update
taskMgr.add(self.AIUpdate, "AIUpdate")
#to update the AIWorld
def AIUpdate(self, task):
self.AIworld.update()
return Task.cont
# All the movement functions for the Target
def setMovement(self):
self.keyMap = {"left": 0, "right": 0, "up": 0, "down": 0}
self.accept("arrow_left", self.setKey, ["left", 1])
self.accept("arrow_right", self.setKey, ["right", 1])
self.accept("arrow_up", self.setKey, ["up", 1])
self.accept("arrow_down", self.setKey, ["down", 1])
self.accept("arrow_left-up", self.setKey, ["left", 0])
self.accept("arrow_right-up", self.setKey, ["right", 0])
self.accept("arrow_up-up", self.setKey, ["up", 0])
self.accept("arrow_down-up", self.setKey, ["down", 0])
#movement task
taskMgr.add(self.Mover, "Mover")
addInstructions(0.9, "Use the Arrow keys to move the Red Target")
def setKey(self, key, value):
self.keyMap[key] = value
def Mover(self,task):
startPos = self.target.getPos()
if self.keyMap["left"] != 0:
self.target.setPos(startPos + Point3(-speed, 0, 0))
if self.keyMap["right"] != 0:
self.target.setPos(startPos + Point3(speed, 0, 0))
if self.keyMap["up"] != 0:
self.target.setPos(startPos + Point3(0, speed, 0))
if self.keyMap["down"] != 0:
self.target.setPos(startPos + Point3(0, -speed, 0))
return Task.cont
w = World()
base.run()
To get the full working demo, please visit: