When modelling plants, creatures and other organic objects, we desire natural look and variety (e.g. forest where no two trees are the same). The modelling in OpenInventor, 3DS, etc. can not do. Fractals are limited. Parametric objects with tons of parameters are complex to implement. Instead, I propose to evolve organic forms as Nature does--to create a "stem cell" of pyramidal shape that multiplies over time based on the "DNA" within it (stem direction, color, speed, decay, deviation, variation, daughter cells); the cells that evolve into simple forms (e.g. leaf) can be encapsulated as objects and used as "daughter cells" (e.g. leaves on a tree). The result would be a modeller in which user specifies the DNA, then watches the real-time growth and can export the end result. For the final demonstration we plan grass, flowers, trees and a face. The modeller would be done in OpenGL/XForms environment. I believe the project is fairly simple and fairly revolutionary. I also argue that any 3D object can be modelled this way.
The project can be done as individual project in four weeks; the more teammates, the more of interesting end results.
Timeline:
Week 1: Reference from biology, previous work on the topic, system implementation
Week 2: Experimentation
Week 3: Experimentation
Week 4: Experimentation