We create self-animating, autonomous agents which emulate the realistic appearance, movement, and behavior of individual animals, as well as the patterns of social behavior evident in groups of animals. To validate our framework, we have implemented a virtual marine world inhabited by a variety of realistic artificial fishes. Each artificial fish is a functional autonomous agent. It has a physics-based, deformable body actuated by internal muscles, sensors such as eyes, and a brain with perception, motor, and behavior control centers. It swims hydrodynamically in simulated water through the controlled coordination of its muscle actions.
Artificial fishes exhibit a repertoire of behaviors.
They explore their habitat in search of food, navigate around obstacles, contend with predators, and indulge in courtship rituals to secure mates. Like their natural counterparts, their behavior is based on their perception of the dynamic environment and their internal motivations. Since the behavior of artificial fishes is adaptive to their virtual habitat, their detailed motions need not be keyframed nor scripted. This thesis therefore demonstrates a powerful approach to computer animation in which the animator plays the role of a nature cinematographer, rather than the more conventional role of a graphical model puppeteer. Our work not only achieves behavioral animation of unprecedented complexity, but it also provides an interesting experimental domain for related research disciplines in which functional, artificial animals can serve as autonomous virtual robots.