Algorithm development for pattern generation inspired from tree growth

Abstract

The nature was the source of inspiration in many designs and products. Learning the algorithms from nature and incorporating them in the product design can be another level of inspiration. Algorithms for generating the pattern of tree-growth and venation in a leaf are nature-based algorithms for various uses in design and modeling. Development of the plant-pattern generators was initially intolerant of target shape until introduction of the space colonization algorithm (SCA). The SCA had a target area filled with points. The nodes, which create the final shape, start growing the pattern from an initial point to cover the target area. The points have an attraction field, which determines the direction of pattern. This project consists of two phases. The first phase improved some the features in the SCA including: i) the capability of starting the branching pattern from outside the target area, ii) tolerating symmetric distribution of points in target area, and iii) not canceling the effect of points from each other. The second phase used a branching equation assigned thickness to the members. The parameter in the equation was optimized to achieve the minimum variance of stress/capacity ratio among members.