README

Boid Flocking Behaviour

This program is an implementation of a boid flocking behaviour simulation. 
Features include basic boid rules (alignment, cohersion, separation), obstacle 
avoidance, and food sources.

The implementation is written in Lua and uses the LOVE framework (http://love2d.org).

Description of Important Files:
  objects/boid.lua          
      - Routines for updating orientation and position of a single boid
                            
  objects/boid_graphic.lua  
      - Routines for handling drawing of the boid triangle graphic.
   
  objects/seeker.lua
      - A point that steers towards a target. Based on Craig Reynold's
        steering behaviour (http://www.red3d.com/cwr/steer/). Used to help
        boids steer towards a target.
      
  objects/flock.lua         
      - Manages a flock of boids. Handles adding and removing boids, flockmate 
        queries, and boid graphics.
                              
  objects/flock_interface.lua
      - A user interface to the flock object. Handles mouse input for selection
        of boids and setting a boid's waypoint.
        
  objects/boid_emitter.lua
      - spawns boids at a specified rate. Boids are spawned within a specified
        radius of a point on a plane.
        
  objects/boid_food_source.lua
      - Manages multiple food resources and their depletion. Handles updates to 
        the polygonizer and field functions as boids "eat" the resources.
                            
  objects/implicit_point.lua
      - primitive for the field function of a point
      
  objects/implicit_line.lua
      - primitive for the field function of a line
      
  objects/implicit_rectangle.lua
      - primitive for the field function of a rectangle
      
  objects/implicit_primitive_set.lua
      - manages a set of primitives. Handles adding/removing primitives and
        evaluating field functions using either basic summation or Ricci blend.
        
  objects/polygonizer.lua
      - A 2d implicit surface polygonizer. Handles polygonization of a set of
        primitives. Uses continuation algorithm to find boudary of surface.
        Constructs polygonized data for use with collisions and graphics drawing.
        
  objects/collider.lua
      - A fixed grid spatial partition. Handles insertion/deletion/updates of 
        points and axis-aligned bounding boxes. Used for querying boids in a flock
        and primitives for the polygonizer.
        
  states/*
      - Directory contains all states of the program (slides and interactive
        demos). Each state contains load, update, draw and user input callbacks.