Wind tunnel

There's something very seductive about the movement of fluids. Whether it's water in a stream, or smoke rising from a fire the patterns are similar and beautiful in their complexity. We've been doing some experimentation and managed to create a fully functional simulation of a wind tunnel. You can choose different vehicles and see how they perform or use the brush and draw your own streamlined shape. To do this we've had to solve the Navier-Stokes equation which until recently was the preserve of dedicated high power computers. These days however, you can try it yourself if you've got a recent multi-processor PC. Even if your PC is getting on a bit you can still see the video. Go on, give it a go.

Ants

Joe's niece received an interesting toy for Christmas. It was a small plastic car which would follow any line that you drew on a piece of paper. After spending a while playing with this we were inspired to create a game based on the same idea. In Ants you have to guide a small group of er, ants by drawing a trail for them to follow. The little creatures are pretty obedient but as the levels progress it gets much trickier than you'd think.

Symmetry drawing

This demo lets you create beautiful symmetrical pattens with ease. Although very simple to use it's enormously engaging and everyone who tries it produces their own unique picture.

Camera tricks

>This demo shows off several visual effects and activities. They range from the 'kaliedoscope' effect shown above to the motion based 'blur' and 'wiggle' effects. There's also the more abstract 'fly' and the 'snow' game in which you have to wipe the snow from your screen quicker than it falls. You'll need a webcam to try these demos.

The grain game

The grain game was created for the Science Museum's web site to publicise the well known Launch Pad gallery. It's proved to be enormously popular and at one point was accounting for over 10% of all hits to the museum's site. Players have to use the various conveyers belts, funnels and other equipment to catch all the grain before the time runs out.