I'm putting together an evolution simulator in the vein of the Bibites (a YouTube series, no affiliation) and I'd like to start with plants. They will be growing in a 3d space, and I will need to calculate how much of their chlorophyll-containing tissue was exposed to sunlight, and for how long, at the end of each day. I plan to do this by taking a series of 180 snapshots from above, one per degree from horizon to horizon; any tissue visible in the snapshot receives sunlight for 1/180th of the day length. For now I am not varying sunlight intensity by time of day or year.
What data structure is best for representing the plants? I'm assuming that this is a solved problem but I've never done this kind of work before. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks, Dan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
