Nicolas Sievers

Lightning v.3
Last update: 9/30

-some code based off Malcom's initial code

Creates a main lightning curve between two objects that has a number of divisions based on user input. The division length however is randow and relative to the length of the distance between the objects. 1 Level of branches is also created off of the main curve. The number of branches is based on user input. A simple GUI for the user input is implemented

Code:

Lightning3.mel 

Pics (click for bigger image)::

  

Research and Reasoning:

I first took a look at some lightning examples to get an idea of lightning struture. The following are some pics I found on Google: Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4

I felt the structure of the lightning had to be a little bit more random than using recursion at least for the first level of branches. Using recursion will cause

the branches created to be identical to the main branch only a smaller size. To get more randomness I created two seperate procedures. One for the main

branch and one for branches coming off of it. Later I can implement recursion for any other further branching and give it a branch depth of more than 1.