> Which ones? Let's call the initial columns from left to right A, B, C
> etc. and the initial columns from top to bottom 1, 2, 3 etc. Can you
> single out the boids you refer to? Cause I'd be interested in studying
> them. :)

It'd be the last column, one before the last row. That guy just heads on out
of the field of view. If you look at the other boids though, they point
towards a corner of the dark gray patch once they get settled. So why is
that first guy running off? Frightened by the masses behind him? ;-)

> You could say that, though I envisioned it before the movies were made,
> so that's not where I got the idea from. Besides, my simulation is
> point-based - while the developers of Massive carefully explains how
> their system is much more advanced than primitive point-based systems.
> Oh well, there's a limit for my ambitions. ;)

"Much more advanced" is a relativ term, you know. I've read lots about
Massive, watched all kinds of footage, and for me, it boils down to this: a
Massive-AI will "seek" it's opponent, instead of just picking the nearest
one. Seeking the "proper" opponent is achieved by using various methods:
checking for surrounding sounds, field of vision, probably signals other AI
make... That aside, a system with more complicated rules has to be more
advanced than a primitive point-based-system, right? :-)

So, you could, for example, create a viewing field for the boid, perhaps
using a rectangular area with intervals. Sort the boids that would map onto
the intervals, and just use the one closest to the boid, the others can't be
seen behind this one. Then check from the remaining boids which one is
closest and an enemy. And there you go, one first simple rule for doing a
more AI-Approach to selecting an enemy. Add some other stuff (like, when the
boid has a higher "coward" level, it will tend to pick enemies close to
groups of friends, or just head to his friends and help beat the guys they
are already fighting with) and voila: POV-Massive is born! :-) Well, at
least I plan on doing something like that, first a running boid script, and
then add some rules for direction judgement and better interaction.

> Hmm. If you're going to code a complete battle simulation in pure
> POV-Ray script, then I wish you good luck. If, besides that, you also
> have plans to release the code and make it userfriendly and
> well-documented, then I wish you good patience as well!

I've got patience! :-) Seriously, I've had quiet a few courses now concerned
with programming. I know that POV-SDL has it's limits in terms of
calculation power, but it's easy and intuitive (which I suspect to be the
reason why you implemented some of the vector-functions like vcross() in
Java, still some kind of POViness in the code, eh?). Additionally, with all
the data I use out of the scene these days, it's just a requirement when
doing stuff for POV.

> I'm looking forward to seeing more of your stuff! :)

And the same applies to you! I'm always anxious to see what you've come up
with, and if you're getting ahead of me again...
;-)

-- 
"Tim Nikias v2.0"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>
Email: tim.nikias (@) nolights.de

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