Flocks, herds and schools: A distributed behavioral model
Abstract
The aggregate motion of a flock of birds, a herd of land animals, or a school of fish is a beautiful and familiar part of the natural world. But this type of complex motion is rarely seen in computer animation. This paper explores an approach based on simulation as an alternative to scripting the paths of each bird individually. The simulated flock is an elaboration of a particle systems, with the simulated birds being the particles. The aggregate motion of the simulated flock is created by a distributed behavioral model much like that at work in a natural flock; the birds choose their own course. Each simulated bird is implemented as an independent actor that navigates according to its local perception of the dynamic environment, the laws of simulated physics that rule its motion, and a set of behaviors programmed into it by the "animator." The aggregate motion of the simulated flock is the result of the dense interaction of the relatively simple behaviors of the individual simulated birds.
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Flocking in birds is an emergent behavior that can only be understood at the algorithmic level, which in turn can only be determined by studying the emergent behavior itself.
“An example of an emergent behavior that can only be understood at the algorithmic level, which in turn can only be determined by studying the emergent behavior itself, is flocking in birds.”
From Neuroscience Needs Behavior: Correcting a Reductionist Bias (2017) · cites this paper as Reynolds, 1987
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- Authors
- Reynolds, C. W.
- Affiliations
- Symbolics Graphics Division, Los Angeles, CA
- Corresponding author
- Reynolds, Craig W.
- Venue
- ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics
- Published
- 1987-08
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 25-34
- ISSN
- 0097-8930 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4234406933
- Cited by
- 5,148
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 114 · 2025: 176 · 2024: 185 · 2023: 210 · 2022: 282 · 2021: 279 · 2020: 260 · 2019: 260 · 2018: 306 · 2017: 270 · 2016: 254 · 2015: 270 · 2014: 262 · 2013: 249 · 2012: 254
- FWCI
- 15.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design › Computer Graphics and Visualization Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Ocean Engineering › Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Control and Systems Engineering › Human Motion and Animation
- Keywords
- flocking, collective motion, particle systems, emergent behavior, bird flocking, fish schooling, herding behavior, local perceptions
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