The human race is roughly 7.089 billion strong as of 2012 estimations! That is a lot of people walking this earth. Then think that insects out number humans roughly 200 million to one!!! That is such an insanely large number that it is hard to even comprehend. Now imagine that you need to show a large proportion of bugs or humans animated and moving around in a 3D scene… I can hear you all cringe initially at the thought, and some of you start thinking of how you would solve the problem. If you were to attempt to animate this all by hand you would fail. Enter crowd simulation software, a stroke of programming genius that lets a 3D artist dictate the actions of thousands of units. 3D Crowd simulation software is used in everything from video games and blockbuster films to civil engineering and biological studies.
Image Source: massivesoftware.com
3D Crowd simulation walks that interesting line between engineering, science, and art. All these different specialties coming together to accurately and artistically represent the actions of large crowds. The first crowd simulation software that I became aware of was Massive, which was used in the making of the massive (heehee) battle scenes from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This software has been adapted for all different kinds of industries besides film and television. Massive is also used in video games, education, architectural visualization, and engineering simulations. The idea behind crowd simulation visually, is to be able to fill in large crowds and have each agent, as massive calls them, automatically move and react to both the physical environment around them, as well as other agents near them. This technology intensifies the drama in large fight scenes like in Lord of the Rings or a stadium crowd in one of the most successful viral ads of all time for Nike.
As crowd dynamic software has become more widely used there are many other software solutions that have been created. An(i)ma by AXYZ was developed especially for 3D artists and architectural visualization artists. It is a standalone software, but also offers plugins for 3D programs like Cinema 4D, 3ds Max, and Maya.
In Control Sim is also a popular crowd simulation software especially in urban development projects and mass transit projects like train stations etc. By using their Pedestrian Dynamic crowd management simulator they are able to help answer clients safety questions like “how long does it take to evacuate the building?”, or optimization issues like, “how many ticketing machines are necessary and where should they be placed for optimal pedestrian flow?” Crowd simulation is a key factor in trying to increase safety and inefficiency in building and transportation projects.
Image Source: incontrolsim.com
The ability with VFX and 3D now to increase the number of extra people in a scene is helping to create better television and film. That same technology is also being used to increase gaming experience, make buildings and trains safer and more efficient, as well as study different biological groups evasion behaviors (PDF). Crowd simulation is incredibly versatile and interesting and I look forward to seeing what new developments come out of the software being more accessible.