Guest lecture by Robert Voûtre

Slides: 3 - Cellular Automata.pdf


Definition

Cellular automata are a grid with cells arranged in a certain shape. Each cell state changes as a function of time, according to a defined set of rules driven by the states of neighboring cells.

Can work in different dimensions and spaces, such as triangles/rectangles/hexagons in 2D, but surprisingly also applies to 1D.

Example: Conway’s game of life

Voxels

A voxel is the 3D equivalent of a pixel, it represents a value in a regular 3D grid.

Smart voxels

3D cellular (almost-)automaton, with some additional behavior:

  • Standard 6 neighbors
  • Can be partially “filled” on different sides
  • Behavior influenced not only by neighbors, but also by its own state
  • Directional: ??
  • Flow: ??
  • Can have multiple attributes
  • Same voxel can have many different roles
  • Consider the size of a voxel and its relative scale in the real world