Evolved Virtual Creatures

Evolved Virtual Creatures

1994 · 4 min · Animation, Documentary

This video shows results from a research project involving simulated Darwinian evolutions of virtual block creatures. A population of several hundred creatures is created within a supercomputer, and each creature is tested for their ability to perform a given task, such the ability to swim in a simulated water environment. Those that are most successful survive, and their virtual genes containing coded instructions for their growth, are copied, combined, and mutated to make offspring for a new population. The new creatures are again tested, and some may be improvements on their parents. As this cycle of variation and selection continues, creatures with more and more successful behaviors can emerge.

Directed by Karl Sims

Your Rating

Cast

Make it a double feature

1h 17m together

Evolved Virtual Creatures

Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase

A close match in mood and era.

More from Karl SimsSee all →

Particle DreamsParticle Dreams · 1988
Particle Dreams
★ 7.01988
MovieAnimation
Dream sequences created using 3D particle systems techniques. Behavior rules are applied to thousands of individual particles to model complex phenomena such as an explosion, a snowstorm, a tumultuous head, and a waterfall. A Connection Machine CM-2 computer was used to perform physical simulations on thousands of particles simultaneously, one processor for each particle.
Liquid SelvesLiquid Selves · 1992
Liquid Selves
1992
MovieAnimation
This computer animation depicts the upcoming struggle between the virtual and physical sides of our selves, where our bodies are left behind as technology enhances our ability to exist in purely virtual worlds.
Peedee Meets the DragonPeedee Meets the Dragon · 1989
Peedee Meets the Dragon
1989
MovieAnimation
Twisted computer animated short from 1989. The fire effect was impressive for the time, created on the massively parallel Connection Machine 2.
PanspermiaPanspermia · 1992
Panspermia
1992
MovieAnimation
Panspermia is the name for the theory that life exists and is distributed throughout the universe in the form of germs or spores. This animation places the viewer in the middle of a virtual world of an aggressively reproducing inter-galactic life form, and depicts a single life cycle of this unusual self propagating system.
Primordial DancePrimordial Dance · 1991
Primordial Dance
1991
MovieAnimation
Primordial Dance is an experimental animation containing a progression of abstract textures and colours. It is a study of emerging and transforming mathematical equations. These effects were created using an interactive process of "artificial evolution." The artist and computer collaborate to produce images and movements that neither could easily produce alone. The computer generates and displays a collection of experimental abstract images. The artist chooses the most aesthetically interesting images, and those survive and are "bred" to produce a new collection of images.

More Like This

Junk HeadJunk Head · 2021
Junk Head
★ 6.52021
MovieAnimationScience Fiction
Mankind can no longer reproduce because of gene manipulation aimed at making life longer. The clones ruling the bottomless underworld may have become fertile. Parton is selected to go on a mission through a subterranean labyrinth crawling with monsters to secure humanity's future.
ReligulousReligulous · 2008
Religulous
★ 7.02008
MovieDocumentaryComedy
Commentator-comic Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to believers about their faith. Traveling around the world, Maher examines the tenets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and raises questions about homosexuality, proof of Christ's existence, Jewish Sabbath laws, violent Muslim extremists.
World of TomorrowWorld of Tomorrow · 2015
World of Tomorrow
★ 7.82015
MovieAnimationDrama
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.
Expelled from ParadiseExpelled from Paradise · 2014
Expelled from Paradise
★ 6.52014
MovieAnimationScience Fiction
A.D. 2400, DEVA's central council detects an incident of unauthorized access into their mainframe. Someone on Earth was trying to hack into the system. The only information DEVA was able to retrieve was that hacker referred to themselves as "Frontier Setter." To investigate the mysterious hacker's motives, the high officials of DEVA dispatch system Security Third Officer Angela Balzac to the Earth's surface. Equipped with a prosthetic "material body," Angela attempts to make contact with a local agent Dingo, but what awaited her instead was a swarm of Sandworms now infesting the Earth's surface. Angela intercepts the gruesome pests with her exoskeleton powered suit Arhan.
Scooby-Doo and the Cyber ChaseScooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase · 2001
Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase
★ 7.32001
MovieAnimationAdventure
When Scooby and the gang get trapped in a video game created for the gang, they must fight against the 'Phantom Virus.' To escape the game they must go level by level and defeat the game once and for all.
Animal Kingdom: Let's Go ApeAnimal Kingdom: Let's Go Ape · 2015
Animal Kingdom: Let's Go Ape
★ 5.22015
MovieAdventureComedy
Based on the novel 'Evolution Man' by Roy Lewis, this tells the story about the first man - young Edward - to descend from apes. Edward is ejected by his tribe, but is very resourceful. He learns to walk, discovers fire, manages to hunt - and we follow him as he evolves. He has a generous nature, and search for true humanity - a world where we don't eat our fathers.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter