Steering behaviors

Recently I have described some of the open source libraries included in APOCALYX. This is the time of “OpenSteer”, a library originally developed by Sony that implements steering behaviors for autonomous characters.
At this point you may ask what these steering behaviors are. Do you need to move your characters on the scene in particular ways? This library includes the necessary functions to make your models act in a believable fashion. Starting from the concept of an abstract vehicle, “OpenSteer” defines functions to make those vehicles move in flocks with cohesion, separation or speed matching rules, follow a given path avoiding fixed obstacles or other moving characters, perform pursuit or evasion and more complex behaviors combining different effects.
Imagine to move a platoon of soldiers in a terrain full of obstacles following their chief, or consider a flock of birds or a group of fishes in the background of your level, or people along a road walking in two opposite directions. In all these cases, expecially the last, we want to avoid collisions or wrong interpenetrations. “OpenSteer” does all the necessary computations for you.
Among the demos of the engine, you can find one in DemoPack1 that shows how to drive two columns of armored knights along a path in opposite directions. It’s amusing to see how, in some situations, a group of warriors opens in a believable way to let in a single warrior, avoiding a dangerous collision (or, better, avoinding an unbelievable pass-through). Good flocking!