SimiLive Demos

A series of demonstration models illustrating the capabilities of the SimiLive visualization tools. If you have a model you would like to see here, let us know!

3-D Views:

Arabidopsis whole plant

The model includes the photosynthesis process, the plant's circadian clock and the allocation of new material to roots and leaves. The 3-D view shows the growing plant, which does not emerge into view until around 150 hours after the start.

Branching plant

This is an L-systems model of plant stem or root growth. Each element of the stem has a certain probability of producing a new branch, leading to a very complex and lifelike pattern of growth. The stem also increases in thickness during growth.

Particle diffusion

A model of what happens at a molecular level when a crystalline solid warms up and becomes liquid. Initially the molecules vibrate around their positions in the lattice, but as more energy is added, they start to move further and eventually the lattice shape disappears. The visualization tool shows molecules initially in opposite sides of the lattice in green and orange so the process can be followed.

Shading, agroforestry

This is a simple model of competition for light in a cropping system where an annual crop is grown as an understorey to a sparsely forested area. The beige lollipops represent amount of annual crop in each grid square, while the green ones represent individual trees. The effect of competition for light is seen as the annual crop growing faster in the clearings.

Three-body problem

Two bodies in space, under the influence of mutual gravitation, will orbit their common centre of mass on a fixed path forever. Three or more bodies however will behave chaotically, and the 'problem' is that there is no analytical solution to predict their motion as in the two-body case. But we can model them numerically, as in this example with eight bodies.

Grid Views:

Fire spread

In this grid model, vegetation grows in each grid square at a regular rate, and the more there is, the more likely it is to burn if a spark appears or if a neighbouring square burns. When it burns the amount of vegetation is reduced, so a fire eventually burns out. Because in reality the fire burns much faster than the vegetation grows, the model pauses the growth process while fire is burning. The visualization has been set up to show squares progressing from black to green to beige as the vegetation increases, with squares currently alight shown in orange.

Game of Life

Conway's Game of Life is a 2-D rectangular grid with simple rules for deciding whether a cell appears, persists or dies in each square according to whether its neighbours are populated. Simple initial patterns create complex series of configurations and usually settle down into stable patterns eventually, although many have been discovered with interesting properties.

Polygon Views:

Urban development

A map of the boroughs of a city, showing population density. The model is chiefly concerned with waste management, including landfill, sewage and recycling.

World natural capital

A model of the effects of strategies for managing ecosystem services worldwide. The map shows the countries of the world, coloured according to the health of their ecosystems. Changing the inputs will affect not only how the ecosystems turn out, but also the consequences on living standards and population.