Last month I submitted an entry for Reddit’s /r/proceduralgeneration monthly challenge, which was to make an infinite number of spaceships using procedural generation. I figured generating spaceships in a 3D modelling package would be the most useful, so I decided to throw together a Blender Python addon.
I used Blender’s BMesh module to manipulate a box into a final spaceship. Here’s the basic algorithm:
- Start with a box.
- Build the hull: Extrude the front/rear faces several times, adding random translation/scaling/rotation along the way.
- Add asymmetry to the hull: Pick random faces and extrude them out in a similar manner, reducing in scale each time.
- Add detail to the hull: Categorize each face by its orientation and generate details on it such as engines, antenna, weapon turrets, lights etc.
- Sometimes apply horizontal symmetry.
- Add a Bevel modifier to angularize the shape a bit.
- Apply materials to the final result.
- Take over the universe with your new infinite fleet of spaceships.
I won the monthly challenge, and put the code up on GitHub. Since then a bunch of people have been making improvements, I made the top of HackerNews, and the /r/ mods gave me the flair “Starfleet Commander”. A good month.
