whats the difference between a simulation and an animation?
Think of it this way:
A simulation is like playing a video game where the world reacts to what you do. If you jump, duck, or run, the game adapts. It’s all about mimicking real-world behavior and interactions based on rules and calculations.
An animation, on the other hand, is like watching a cartoon. No matter what you do, the characters will keep doing what they were programmed to do—it’s all pre-designed and plays out the same way every time.
So, if simulation is the nerdy genius that calculates outcomes, animation is the fun artist that sticks to the script. Both are cool, but one’s a bit more brainy while the other’s all about style.
Simulations automatically produce realistic behaviour (provided the laws that objects obey are realistic). In animations this depends the skill of the animator (if realism is desired). Simulations can carry on forever as objects continue to interact. Without user interaction, what happens in a simulation depends only by its starting state. With animation, on the other hand, things can be “made” to happen, irrespective of their being realistic. But if simulations allow user interaction, or contain “intelligent agents”, they too can be guided towards certain outcomes.
