M.Sc. (Computer Science) / Modelling the geometry of a 3D plant for use in a virtual environment can be highly laborious, and hence modelling a large collection of variations of the same plant can be a difficult task. Procedural rule-based methods, such as L-Systems, that generate plant geometry indirectly are powerful techniques for the modelling of plants. However such methods often require expert knowledge and skill in order to be used effectively. This dissertation explores a method for the modelling of procedurally generated plants using an evolutionary algorithm. The model is based on gene expression programming, and uses a hybrid of automated and interactive fitness evaluation. In the model, organisms are represented with linear genomes that can be expressed as L-Systems. The L-Systems can in turn be interpreted as geometry for 3D plants. Several automated fitness functions are presented to rate plants based on various topological and geometric attributes. These fitness functions are used in conjunction with user-based, interactive fitness evaluation in order to provide a comparison of different organisms. The model discussed in this dissertation offers advantages over previous approaches to modelling plants with evolutionary algorithms, and allows a user to quickly generate a population of varied plants without requiring knowledge of the underlying L-Systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7190 |
| Date | 05 September 2011 |
| Creators | Venter, Johannes |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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