Firework display simulator

Software	An object oriented language plus good computer graphics tools
Covers	Graphics, simulation
Skills Required	Programming, familiarity with computer graphics
Challenge	Conceptual ?? Technical ??? Programming ????

Brief Description

The aim of this project is to develop a firework display simulator that enables the user to plan and simulate a large-scale firework display, and see what it would look like from a graphic display of the exploding fireworks.

One element of this is an editor for enabling the user to construct, save and edit descriptions of individual fireworks. The obvious way to do this is to create two dimensional representations of the patterns of light created by fireworks, but the project would be stronger and more persuasive with three dimensional fireworks.

A second element of this is an editor for constructing a timed sequence of fireworks, including the launch location and direction of the fireworks to spread them out over the area of the display, enabling the user to plan effects to be produced by groups of fireworks.

A third element of this is a graphic display of a running firework display simulation, that enables the user to envisage what it would look like. Ideally this would create a three dimensional representation of the firework display that could be viewed from different angles.

Variant

This project could concentrate on creating physically realistic firework designs. In this case the fireworks would be constructed of components, and the appearance of the exploding firework would be computed from the behaviour of the components.

Extension

A nice extra feature to have would be the ability to assemble firework displays around large buildings or monuments, such as the London Eye.

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