The Swarm Java applet is very much similar to the computer model developed by
Craig Reynolds in 1986. In his model, the created coordinated animal motion
such as bird flocks and fish schools. He based it on three dimensional
computational geometry, and called the simulation "boids".
Swarm illustrates the movement of a flock of birds as well. Each bird in the
simulation must conform to three basic rules which Craig Reynolds had
developed:
1.
Separation
Steer to avoid crowding local flockmates
2.
Alignment
Steer towards the average heading of local flockmates
3.
Cohesion
Steer to move toward the average position of local flockmates
These rules allow for an amount of virtual creatuers to move around in
patterns that appear to be just like real life.