KMilkevych / A-Star-Pathfinding-Visualizer

A visualization program showing various pathfinding algorithms in action, including A* pathfinding.

A* Pathfinding Visualizer

Description

The A* Pathfinding Visualizer is a desktop GUI application written in Java using Swing as the main GUI framework. This application features the following:

• Dynamic GUI.
• Drawing 2D "maze" by placing walls, as well as a start and end node.
• Computing the shortest path from start to end node, using
  • A* Pathfinding Algorithm
  • Breadth First Search
• Visualizing the computational process of the shortest path.

Getting started

To get started with A* Pathfinding Visualizer download the latest release from the releases page, or clone this repository and compile using

javac -d ./bin ./src/*.java

Then run using:

cd bin
java PathfindingVisualizer

How to use

Basic controls

• Use the left mouse button to interact with GUI components, as well as draw tiles on the board.
• Use the right mouse button inside board to pan around.
• Use the scroll wheel inside board to zoom in and out.

Drawing a maze

Select the the kind of tile you'd like to draw with, in the toolbar to the right:

The colors symbolize different kind of tiles:

• RED: Start tile
• BLUE: End tile
• BLACK: Wall tile
• GRAY: Eraser/Free tile

Then draw the tile unto the board using left-click:

Remember to place a start and end tile before proceeding to the next step.

Choosing a pathfinding algorithm

In the Settings menu at the left, select the desired pathfinding algorithm in the combobox:

Running the visualization

To run the visualization, press the Run button in the Configuration menu at the left:

Clearing the board

To clear the board, press the Clear button in the Configuration menu at the left: