Pulsating Alien Goo in R

aliengoo.R

library(rayrender)

#Generate a random series that loops
set.seed(5)
perlinnoisex = ambient::noise_perlin(c(1000,1000),frequency = 0.001)
perlinnoisey = ambient::noise_perlin(c(1000,1000),frequency = 0.001)
perlinnoise_rad = ambient::noise_perlin(c(1000,1000),frequency = 0.001)

xvals = rep(0,360)
yvals = rep(0,360)
rvals = rep(0,360)
for(t in 1:360) {
  xvals[t] = perlinnoisex[500+499*sinpi(t/180),500+499*cospi(t/180)]/3
  yvals[t] = perlinnoisey[500+499*sinpi(t/180),500+499*cospi(t/180)]/3
  rvals[t] = perlinnoise_rad[500+499*sinpi(t/180),500+499*cospi(t/180)]/3
}

#Camera lookat vector for shaky cam
plot(xvals,yvals)
#Pulsating radius value
plot(rvals+sinpi(1:360/180*6)/10) 

final_r = rvals+sinpi(1:360/180*6)/10

#Create the animation
r = 0.7
theta_vals = seq(0,2*pi,length.out = 16)[-16]
phi_vals = seq(0,pi,length.out = 16)[-16][-1]
for(i in seq(1,360,by=1)) {
  spike_list = list()
  counter = 1
  for(theta in theta_vals) {
    for(phi in phi_vals) {
      #Add spikes facing outwards
      rval = c(r*sin(phi)*cos(theta),r*cos(phi),r*sin(phi)*sin(theta))
      spike_list[[counter]] = cone(start=rval, direction = rval/sqrt(sum(rval*rval))^3 * 
                                      (0.75 + 0.25 * sin(theta - 4*pi/180* i)) *
                                      (0.75 + 0.25 * cos(phi + 2*pi/180* i)),
                                    radius=0.25,material = glossy(color="black"))
      counter = counter + 1
    }
  }
  vector_field = do.call(rbind,spike_list)
  #Render frame (get an environment image from hdrihaven.com)
  sphere(radius = 1 + final_r[i]*1.25, material = glossy(color="black")) %>%
    add_object(vector_field) %>%
    render_scene(fov=25, samples=400,environment_light = "kiara_1_dawn_2k.hdr",
                 filename=glue::glue("spikyshaky{i}"), 
                 width=800,height=800,lookat=c(xvals[i],yvals[i],0))
}