Magic Ivy is a generative and interactive 3D simulation of a non-existing spherical plant. This work was created in one week’s time as a final project in Nuno Correia’s Generative Media Coding course.
The plant is fully generated with code (JavaScript, three.js), no pre-built 3D models were used.
Generative growth is based on Dijkstra’s shortest path finding algorithm in a graph with rotated spherical connectivity built upon point clouds generated with simplex noise. Smooth organic look is achieved by using curves (Bezier and Catmull–Rom).
This plant simulation has two possible interactions: 1. camera orbit controls to explore the plant (pan, zoom, rotate). 2. adding flowers by clicking on the plant (flowers are oriented normal to the surface using ray casting technique, colors are randomly generated within an allowed range).
Alexey Nikolaev New Media Design and Production