Particle Systems
Particle systems are an extremely hot topic in game design and simulation at present (see Figure 10.10 for an example). A particle system is basically a collection of small objects (particles) that obey some model of physics. Particle systems are real attention getters and are commonly used for effects such as explosions, fire, and gas trails. Moreover, in visualization, particle systems are often exactly what we are trying to model in the first place. In Figure 10.10, the particle system models the gaseous explosions and is based on a complex mathematical model developed by astrophysicists.
One aspect of a dynamical system is a certain amount of evolving randomness and possibly a fate for each particle. For example, part of ...
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