GuruBlog

I implemented a game-of-life engine in python that generates blender animations

The generation of the blend file takes a while and they get quite big so I made the python script available at the end of the blog post instead of the blend file this time

import the script in a new text-editor in blender and press run script.

import bpy

def run():
    w = 40
    f = 1
    mat = bpy.data.materials['Material']
    bpy.ops.anim.change_frame( frame = f )

    cubes = [[ 0 for i in range(w)] for j in range(w)]
    for x in range(w):
        for y in range(w):
            bpy.ops.mesh.primitive_cube_add( location=(x * 2, y * 2, 0 ))
            cubes[x][y] = bpy.context.active_object
            cubes[x][y].data.materials.append( mat );
            cubes[x][y].scale=(.1,.1,.1)
            bpy.ops.anim.keyframe_insert_menu( type='Scaling')

    cells = [[ 0 for i in range(w)] for j in range(w)]
    nextGen = [[ 0 for i in range(w)] for j in range(w)]

    cells[16][14] = 1
    cells[16][15] = 1
    cells[15][15] = 1
    cells[15][17] = 1
    cells[16][16] = 1
    cells[17][15] = 1
    cells[17][17] = 1
    cells[16][17] = 1

    for l in range(50):
        f += 5
        bpy.ops.anim.change_frame( frame = f )
        for x in range(w):
            row = ""
            for y in range(w):
                nb = 0
                for i in range(-1,2):
                    for j in range( -1, 2):
                        xx = (x + i + w) % w
                        yy = (y + j + w) % w

                        if not( xx == x and yy == y):
                            nb += cells[xx][yy]

                if ( cells[x][y] == 1 and (nb == 2 or nb == 3)):
                    nextGen[x][y] = 1
                elif ( cells[x][y] == 0 and nb == 3 ):
                    nextGen[x][y] = 1
                else:
                    nextGen[x][y] = 0

                n = cubes[x][y]
                bpy.context.scene.objects.active = n
                n.select = True
                if  cells[x][y] == 1 :
                    #row += 'X'
                    cubes[x][y].scale=(1,1,1)
                else:
                    #row += '.'
                    cubes[x][y].scale=(.1,.1,.1)
                bpy.ops.anim.keyframe_insert_menu( type='Scaling')

        for x in range( w ):
            for y in range(w):
                cells[x][y] = nextGen[x][y]


if __name__ == "__main__":
    run();