Pattern formation through minimalist biologically inspired cellular simulation

Abstract

This paper describes a novel model for coupling continuous chemical diffusion and discrete cellular events inside a biologically inspired simulation environment. Our goal is to define and explore a minimalist set of features that are also expressive, enabling the creation of complex and plausible 2D patterns using just a few rules. By not being constrained into a static or regular grid, we show that many different phenomena can be simulated, such as traditional reaction-diffusion systems, cellular automata, and pigmentation patterns from living beings. In particular, we demonstrate that adding chemical saturation increases significantly the range of simulated patterns using reaction-diffusion, including patterns not possible before such as the leopard rosettes. Our results suggest a possible universal model that can integrate previous pattern formation approaches, providing new ground for experimentation, and realistic-looking textures for general use in Computer Graphics.