
Flow Fields - dmit
https://tylerxhobbs.com/essays/2020/flow-fields
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smcameron
Taking the curl of a noise field will get you a divergence free flow
field[1]... which is an easy way to get something that _looks_ like fluid
dynamics, but isn't.

I've use this to great effect on the surface of a sphere to generate textures
for gas giants[2]. Some example output:
[https://imgur.com/a/9LipP](https://imgur.com/a/9LipP)

1\. [https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rbridson/docs/bridson-
siggraph2007-cu...](https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rbridson/docs/bridson-
siggraph2007-curlnoise.pdf) 2\. [https://github.com/smcameron/gaseous-
giganticus](https://github.com/smcameron/gaseous-giganticus)

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jcims
I think it would be interesting to add a z dimension so you could sweep
through it with the plane to look for the best aesthetic in the field. Kind of
like passing a line laser through smoke. You could even slice along a spline
or some other function (e.g. spiral) to get more effects.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyhySKWPtmA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyhySKWPtmA)

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evrydayhustling
Really cool explanation! Some of the generated forms remind me if Julie
Mehretu stuff: [https://www.artsy.net/artist/julie-
mehretu](https://www.artsy.net/artist/julie-mehretu)

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uryga
that's beautiful! thank you for the link

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pierrec
This can be generalized to scalar and vector fields in any number of
dimensions. These things are everywhere in generative art. The discretization
done by the author here is often not necessary, though.

The graphical programming environment vvvv has a pack of nodes ("field trip")
for manipulating these in 2D and 3D. Fun to play with, and it's been used to
create many beautiful pieces.

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packetpirate
Flow fields are also great for reducing the amount of computation required to
generate pathfinding for a large number of entities in a game world. I
implemented flow fields as the pathfinding for the enemies in a game I was
working on last year and it works really well.

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jnwatson
I’m a big fan of the artist. He’s at the forefront of the contemporary
generative art movement.

