A* Visualizer

A Visualizer* is an interactive application to visualize the A* pathfinding algorithm in a grid with obstacles. The heuristic function used is the Manhattan distance.

It uses the Gosu game development library.

To install this ruby gem, use the gem command:

gem install astar_visualizer

To launch the A* Visualizer, use this command:

astar-visualizer

You can also use the irb environment:

require 'astar_visualizer'
AStar.new.show

You can also choose the size of the grid:

astar-visualizer SIZE

SIZE must be a number between 10 and 100 (default: 50).

It will open a window with the grid. Then:

1. Left click on a node to choose the start node.
2. Left click on another node to choose the end node.
3. Left click on nodes to put obstacles. Right click on them if you want to remove them.
4. Press ENTER to launch the A* algorithm. If a path is found, the path is colored in yellow and the visited nodes in cyan.
5. Press SUPPR to clear the window.

• GitHub: https://github.com/Quentin18/astar-visualizer
• RubyGems: https://rubygems.org/gems/astar_visualizer
• Documentation: https://www.rubydoc.info/gems/astar_visualizer/0.0.1

Quentin Deschamps

MIT