Tao's Cellular Material
Cell Attributes
Generating Sound Output from the Material
The Emergent Behaviour of the Material
Having described the microscopic structure of the cellular material it is now time to say something about its macroscopic behaviour. One of the most appealing features of computer models in which many simple elements interact on a local basis according to well-defined rules is that they often exhibit interesting emergent behaviour. In Tao's case the material appears to behave (not surpisingly) like an continuous elastic sheet when viewed from a distance.Figure * shows a typical piece of Tao's material, in this case a circular sheet which has had a short impulse applied at a single point. The image is a snapshot taken some short time interval later and clearly shows wavefronts spreading out from the point of impact and also reflecting off of the boundary of the object.
In the graphical representation used the individual cells and springs are not visible. Instead what we see is a wireframe representation in which each line represents a single row of cells. Note how smoothly contoured the waves are, giving the impression that the material is continuous and elastic in behaviour.
Tao's Cellular Material
Cell Attributes
Generating Sound Output from the Material