Particle-System on the Beach

Recently, I business tripped down to the beautiful and luxurious Marco Island, Florida.  It is the type of place you might find yourself after winning a vacation on The Price is Right.

I was there installing some interactive trade-show magic at the 2010 Bridgestone Executive Symposium. One of our main pieces was a large particle-system displaying Symposium messages.  The messages were visually comprised of hundreds of small photos, clustering together to create words and shapes.  When cycling from one message to the next, each photo would explode out of it’s resting spot and animate as necessary to find a new position appropriate to forming the new message.

On a lunch break, I decided to go for a quick dip in the ocean, but didn’t want to get my special Florida beach outfit wet (via Target $22.99), so I took some sweet pix instead.  There were some birds sitting by the water, and the nearby children couldn’t resist but run at them full speed, arms flailing and scare them out of their resting spot.  The birds would take flight, then begin organizing themselves in a two-dimensional grid, hovering above the ocean, mimicking the ebbing and flowing surface of the currents.

A natural particle-system!  It was a beautiful moment illustrating an intersection of complex math and nature.

I believe these birds are called “Terns”, and they are very common on Florida beaches.