Genetic Algorithms in Houdini

[Activate]

I am not sure if this is the appropriate forum. I recently wondered how hard it would be to implement genetic algorithms in SOPs. The particular example I was curious about was if I could turn a box into a sphere by optimizing for a target function that maintains volume but minimizes surface area. Overall, this was easier than I thought and did not involve all that much code. I ended up recording a video that explains this:

The underlying motivation was to get this working in PDG but I figured I had to start with SOPs first. Let me know what you think.

[konstantin magnus]

Really interesting and easy to follow! I am looking forward to the next part and would love to know what other applications you have found for this kind of algorithm. 

As a side note: Maybe you could slightly lower the screen resolution for better legibility and while you have chosen beautiful and calm music I would still just leave it out ; )

[Activate]

Here is the second part - still with  music and higher screen resolution though. If I end up doing another one of these, I will increase the UI size in Houdini. The application was to find simulation parameters for a tree simulation. The parameters subtly depend on each other which makes genetic algorithms reasonably suitable. The real challenge is expressing the target function. In my case, I just used the volume of the convex hull but the total length of all wires may be another interesting one to consider.