Real-time multi-threaded particle system with 1 million Coulomb-force particles rendering chaotic emergent behavior.
An evolution of the original 2008 Processing sketch, optimized to simulate 1 million particles in real-time using multi-threaded computation. Particles interact via Coulomb forces based on their charge type (positive, negative, neutral), creating chaotic, ever-shifting visual patterns.
The original sketch used 25,000 particles. Modern optimization with ExecutorService threading and JavaFX rendering allows scaling up 40x without losing responsiveness.
- 1 Million Particles — Real-time simulation and rendering
- Multi-Threaded Physics — ExecutorService with 32 logical threads for parallel force calculations
- Particle Interactions — Coulomb-like forces between all particle pairs
- Charge Types — Positive, negative, and neutral particles create complex repulsion/attraction patterns
- JavaFX Rendering — Hardware-accelerated FX2D mode for smooth performance
- Emergent Behavior — No predefined patterns; complexity emerges from simple rules
- Boundary Wrapping — Particles recycle across screen edges
- Processing 3.0+ (updated to use JavaFX)
- High-performance computer — Recommended: Multi-core processor (i9 or equivalent) for smooth 1M particle simulation
- JavaFX library — Included with Processing 3
- Open
android_monster.pdein Processing 3.0 or later - Click Run
- Watch the particle system emerge and evolve
Adjust count variable in the sketch to scale particle count based on your hardware (default: 1,000,000). Lower counts run smoothly on less powerful machines.
- Particle Count: 1,000,000 (configurable)
- Thread Pool: 32 threads (tuned for i9 processors)
- Rendering: JavaFX FX2D mode
- Display: 1280x720
- 2008 — Original Processing sketch with 25,000 particles
- 2016 — Ported to Processing 3, JavaFX rendering added
- 2023 — Optimized to 1M particles with multi-threaded force calculation
Copyright 2008, 2016, 2023 Walter Gordy