Surface Walking 3D

1 collaborator

Uri Wilensky (Author)

WHAT IS IT?

This model is a 3D version of a surface-walking algorithm used in "Surface Walk 2D". Turtles approximate a user-defined surface using a simple algorithm that considers the turtle's current position relative to neighboring surface patches.

HOW IT WORKS

Turtles exist in a world that consists of two different kinds of patches: surface and non-surface. Turtles follow two basic rules in order to walk along the patch-defined surface:

1) Look for opposite neighboring patches. If the turtle is currently on a surface patch, it will look for a non-surface one, and vice versa.

2) Of those neighboring patches of opposite type, identify the one that requires the smallest change in turtle angle for the turtle to face.

3) Adjust pitch and heading halfway to the patch that requires the smallest change in angle to face and take a step.

Why does this algorithm work? Consider any perturbation along a flat surface (in the case of 2D, a curve or angle along an otherwise straight line). In order to traverse the perturbation and remain on the surface, a turtle needs to find and remain on the 'edge' of the surface, and maintain its direction while traveling along this edge. Since turtles in NetLogo always report being on only one patch (the one that the center of their body is over), we maintain the turtle's position along the edge by having it search for a patch that is of opposite type to the patch it is positioned over (Rule 1).

Rule 2 enables the turtles to travel along that edge while maintaining their current direction. Consider a surface in 2D: turtles are able to travel along that surface in one of two opposite directions (for example, they can walk along a circle in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction). If a surface is flat, a turtle need not change its heading at all to continue to travel in the same direction along that surface. But, if the surface is curved or has an angle, then in order to continue to stay along the edge of the surface the turtle must change its heading. If it changes its heading exactly 180 degrees, it will reverse its direction of travel. But whether the angle is concave or convex, it will be of some measure between 0 and 360 degrees (non-inclusive). Then the heading change required to continue along the surface without reversing the direction of travel will be less than that required to reverse direction.

Finally, Rule 3 reduces the 'weaving' effects produced by turtles moving toward surface and non-surface patches in order to remain close to the edge by having turtles actually point only halfway to the patch of interest.

In 3D versions of this surface-walking algorithm, the same rules are used as in the 2D version, but the way to determine the angle between a turtle's current heading and the nearest opposite patch is a little more complicated. Because there are two angle measures, heading and pitch, we use the inverse dot product to determine the angle between a turtle's heading and a given patch. For more detail, it may help to look through the "Trig for Angle Calculations" section of the procedures tab or visit the "Geometric Interpretation" of the dot product entry at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_product.

HOW TO USE IT

NUMBER-OF-TURTLES: Allows the user to adjust the number of turtles that will appear along the shape surface when SETUP is pressed.

STEP-SIZE: Allows the user to adjust how far each turtle moves forward during each step.

SURFACE-SHAPE: Allows the user to select the surface shape to appear when SETUP is pressed.

COLORED-SURFACE?: Allows user to toggle whether the surface on which turtles will walk is colored red, or is invisible.

SETUP: Sets up the environment by creating a surface and placing turtles along the surface.

GO: Runs the model by asking turtles to walk along the surface.

TRACE: Asks a random turtle to leave a trail.

THINGS TO NOTICE

Try adjusting STEP-SIZE while the model is running. What happens to the motion of the turtles? What happens to their speed?

Do turtles behave differently on different types of surfaces? Try using the SURFACE-SHAPE chooser to test different shapes. Try creating your own.

Set the SURFACE-SHAPE chooser to "Sphere", and set NUMBER-OF-TURTLES to 1. Run the model and observe the motion of that one turtle over the sphere. Is its motion what you would expect? Try using the TRACE button to trace the turtle's trajectory over the surface, or try different surfaces.

THINGS TO TRY

What might happen if the STEP-SIZE is set to 1 or larger?

Currently, turtles turn half of the way to the edge patch that they identify. What happens if they turn the whole way?

Select "Mickey Mouse" from the SURFACE-SHAPE chooser. SETUP and tell the model to GO. What happens to turtles when they pass over the acute angles where Mickey's ears meet his head? Try adjusting the STEP-SIZE slider while the model is running to investigate.

When does the surface-walking algorithm fail? Why? Does changing the world's resolution effect turtle motion?

EXTENDING THE MODEL

Currently, turtles seek the surface edge by seeking patches that are classified in certain ways. Find and implement another way that patches can be identified or that turtles can identify edge patches.

Can there be more than two types or classifications of surface patches? When would this be useful?

Try using STAMP to trace the trajectory of a turtle over different kids of surfaces. How might one describe surface-walking accuracy?

The surface-walking algorithm used in this model fails for surfaces (or gaps in surfaces) that are only one patch wide. Why? How might this be fixed?

NETLOGO FEATURES

Note the use of TOWARDS and TOWARDS-PITCH to compute headings and pitches and MIN-ONE-OF to make a choice between competing patches.

RELATED MODELS

Surface Walking (2D NetLogo model)

HOW TO CITE

If you mention this model in an academic publication, we ask that you include these citations for the model itself and for the NetLogo software:

- Wilensky, U. (2007). NetLogo Surface Walking 3D model. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/SurfaceWalking3D. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

- Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

In other publications, please use:

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Permission to use, modify or redistribute this model is hereby granted, provided that both of the following requirements are followed:

a) this copyright notice is included.

b) this model will not be redistributed for profit without permission from Uri Wilensky. Contact Uri Wilensky for appropriate licenses for redistribution for profit.

This is a 3D version of the 2D model Surface Walking.

Comments and Questions

Jerry Rhee

3D Surface Walking (Question)

Hi, Who designed this model, please? Thanks!

Posted over 15 years ago

Michelle Wilkerson-Jerde

3D Surface Walking

Hi Jerry, I designed it a couple of years ago. Do you have any questions/comments on it?

Posted over 15 years ago

Jerry Rhee

3D Surface walking (Question)

Hi Michelle, I think it's great and I would like to modify it but don't yet know how. I changed some signs and made the shape concave, but it's split things into two half globes. This is good because I want to work on a dome but don't know how to get rid of one of them. Is there a simple solution to this?

Posted over 15 years ago

Michelle Wilkerson-Jerde

3D Surface Walking

Thanks, I'm glad you might find it useful! Have you uploaded, or can you upload, the model here? If I could take a look at your code I may be able to give you some pointers.

Posted over 15 years ago

Jerry Rhee

3D Surface Walking/Cornea Patch Formation (Question)

Hi Michelle, I uploaded the model now called "Cornea Patch Formation" and placed "All users may view" and "Only group can modify" for permissions. However, I think there was a glitch and now I no longer have permission to view/modify. Reuven, can you please help? Thank you, Jerry With respect to the specific question, I am interested in exploring the model but have not really devoted too much thought to it. So, maybe it's premature to ask for your help but I'm sure I will have lots of questions later. Thanks!!

Posted over 15 years ago

Alessandro Gigli

Error when running the 3D surface walking (Question)

Hello, my name is Alex I am a phd student. I am trying to run the 3D surface walking program but I am getting many error messages, related to variables not being declared like towards-pitch...and many more...how can i fix this? The model must be really interesting and I thank you for allowing us to download it. hope to hear from you regards Alex

Posted about 9 years ago

Click to Run Model

patches-own [ surface? ]

;; ===========================================================================
;; ============================= Main Procedures =============================
;; ===========================================================================

to setup
  clear-all
  ask patches [ set surface? false ]

  if surface-shape = "Sphere"          [ draw-sphere ]
  if surface-shape = "Cube"            [ draw-cube ]
  if surface-shape = "Convex Shape"    [ draw-convex ]
  if surface-shape = "Mickey Mouse"    [ draw-mickey ]
  if surface-shape = "Hollow Cylinder" [ draw-cylinder ]

  if colored-surface?
    [ ask patches with [ surface? ] [ set pcolor gray ] ]

  ask n-of number-of-turtles patches with [ is-border-patch? ]
  [
    sprout 1 [ set size world-width * 0.05 ]
  ]
end 

to go
  ask turtles [
    sfd 1
  ]
  tick
end 

to trace
  ask one-of turtles [ pen-down ]
end 

;; ===========================================================================
;; =========================== Surface Walking ===============================
;; ===========================================================================

to sfd [ steps ] ;; turtle procedure
  repeat ( 4 * steps ) [ seek-border ]
end 

to seek-border ;; turtle procedure
  face-closest-neighbor neighbors with [ surface? != [surface?] of myself ]
  fd step-size
end 

;; how much turtle faces calling patch

to-report pitch-if-facing-caller [ the-patch ] ;; turtle procedure
  report ( towards-pitch the-patch + 180 ) mod 360
end 

to-report facing-nearest [ the-turtle ] ;; patch procedure
  let difference 0
  let heading-toward [heading] of the-turtle

  let pitch-toward (towards-pitch the-turtle - 180 ) mod 360
  if not (pxcor = [xcor] of the-turtle and pycor = [ycor] of the-turtle)
    [ set heading-toward (towards the-turtle - 180 ) mod 360 ]

  set difference angle-between [heading] of the-turtle [pitch] of the-turtle heading-toward pitch-toward

  report min list difference (360 - difference)
end 

to face-closest-neighbor [ neighbor-subset ] ;; turtle procedure
  let closest-border-patch min-one-of neighbor-subset [ facing-nearest myself ]

  ifelse abs( towards-pitch closest-border-patch - pitch ) <= 180
  [
    set pitch ( towards-pitch closest-border-patch + pitch ) / 2
  ]
  [
    set pitch ( towards-pitch closest-border-patch - 360 + pitch ) / 2
  ]

  if [pxcor] of closest-border-patch != xcor and [pycor] of closest-border-patch != ycor
  [
    ifelse abs( towards closest-border-patch - heading ) <= 180
    [
      set heading ( towards closest-border-patch + heading ) / 2
    ]
    [
      set heading ( towards closest-border-patch - 360 + heading ) / 2
    ]
  ]
end 

to-report is-border-patch? ;; patch procedure
  report any? neighbors with [surface? != [surface?] of myself]
end 

;; ===========================================================================
;; =========================== Surface Drawing ===============================
;; ===========================================================================

to draw-sphere
  ask patches with [ distancexyz 0 0 0 < ( world-width * .85 / 2 ) ]
    [ set surface? true ]
end 

to draw-cube
  ask patches with [ abs( pxcor ) < ( world-width * .75 / 2 ) and
                     abs( pycor ) < ( world-width * .75 / 2 ) and
                     abs( pzcor ) < ( world-width * .75 / 2 ) ]
    [ set surface? true ]
end 

to draw-convex
  draw-cube
  ask patches with [ distancexyz 0 0 (     world-width / 2 )
                       < ( world-width * .75 / 2 ) or
                     distancexyz 0 0 ( 0 - world-width / 2 )
                       < ( world-width * .75 / 2 ) ]
    [ set surface? false ]
end 

to draw-mickey
  ask patches with [ distancexyz  0 ( 0 - world-width * .2 / 2 ) 0
                       < ( world-width * .65 / 2 ) ]
    [ set surface? true ]
  ask patches with [ distancexyz  ( world-width * .55 / 2 ) ( world-width * .45 / 2 ) 0
                       < ( world-width * .35 / 2 )  ]
    [ set surface? true ]
  ask patches with [ distancexyz  ( 0 - world-width * .55 / 2 ) ( world-width * .45 / 2 ) 0
                       < ( world-width * .35 / 2 )  ]
    [ set surface? true ]
end 

to draw-cylinder
  ask patches with [ distancexy 0 0 < ( world-width * 0.75 / 2 ) and
                     distancexy 0 0 > ( world-width * 0.5  / 2 ) ]
    [ set surface? true ]
end 


;; ===========================================================================
;; ====================== Trig for Angle Calculations ========================
;; ===========================================================================

to-report xvel [ angle tilt ]
  report sin( angle ) * abs( cos( tilt ) )
end 

to-report yvel [ angle tilt ]
  report cos( angle ) * abs( cos( tilt ) )
end 

to-report zvel [ tilt ]
  report sin tilt
end 

to-report dot-product [ angle1 pitch1 angle2 pitch2 ]
  let x1 ( xvel angle1 pitch1 )
  let y1 ( yvel angle1 pitch1 )
  let z1 ( zvel pitch1 )

  let x2 ( xvel angle2 pitch2 )
  let y2 ( yvel angle2 pitch2 )
  let z2 ( zvel pitch2 )

  ;; to take care of slightly-over or slightly-under dot products
  ;; these break the acos used in "angle-between"
  report min ( list 1 ( max ( list -1 ( ( x1 * x2 ) + ( y1 * y2 ) + ( z1 * z2 ) ) ) ) )
end 

to-report angle-between [ angle1 pitch1 angle2 pitch2 ]
  ifelse angle1 = angle2
  [
    report min( list abs( pitch1 - pitch2 ) abs( 360 - ( pitch1 - pitch2 ) ) )
  ][
  ifelse pitch1 = pitch2
  [
    report min( list abs( angle1 - angle2 ) abs( 360 - ( angle1 - angle2 ) ) )
  ][
    report acos( dot-product angle1 pitch1 angle2 pitch2 )
  ] ]
end 


; Copyright 2007 Uri Wilensky. All rights reserved.
; The full copyright notice is in the Information tab.

There are 3 versions of this model.

Uploaded by	When	Description	Download
Uri Wilensky	over 14 years ago	Updated from NetLogo 4.1	Download this version
Uri Wilensky	over 14 years ago	Model from NetLogo distribution	Download this version
Uri Wilensky	over 14 years ago	Surface Walking 3D	Download this version

Attached files

File	Type	Description	Last updated
Surface Walking 3D.png	preview	Preview for 'Surface Walking 3D'	over 11 years ago, by Uri Wilensky	Download

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NetLogo

Surface Walking 3D

1 collaborator

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WHAT IS IT?

HOW IT WORKS

HOW TO USE IT

THINGS TO NOTICE

THINGS TO TRY

EXTENDING THE MODEL

NETLOGO FEATURES

RELATED MODELS

HOW TO CITE

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Comments and Questions

3D Surface Walking (Question)

Posted over 15 years ago

3D Surface Walking

Posted over 15 years ago

3D Surface walking (Question)

Posted over 15 years ago

3D Surface Walking

Posted over 15 years ago

3D Surface Walking/Cornea Patch Formation (Question)

Posted over 15 years ago

Error when running the 3D surface walking (Question)

Posted about 9 years ago

Attached files