[Discuss] 3d... stuff?

[Daniel C.]

Hey gang,

I'm tilting at a windmill called "simulated evolution," and I'm in over my
head before I've even started.

I want to have plants and animals co-evolve, and plants obviously need to
grow up toward the sun, getting more or less nutrition depending on how
much of their photosynthesizing surfaces are exposed to sunlight.

Which means I need a way to represent 3d structures, and then calculate
which of them can be seen from above. (The first iteration won't include
orbit or rotation of the planet, so no sunrise / sunset and no seasons.)

I have absolutely no clue what data structure to use for this, and what
algorithm is appropriate for doing the projection that calculates sun
exposure.

Help? I'm just looking for the names of the appropriate tools, I can teach
myself to use them.

Thank you!
Daniel