This is a python Application for visualizing A-star path finding algorithm where users can choose source and destination node and positions of obstacles in between. A star algorithm is implemented from scratch using manhattan distance as hueristic distance, with a light weight GUI developed in pygame to visualize the process of path finding with final computed shortest path . It can also be used for visualizing other path finding algorithms on a grid.

For running the tool , pygame needs to be installed if not already present. which can be done using the following commands.

$ pip install pygame

$ pip3 install pygame

or

$ python -m pip install pygame

After succesfully installing pygame run this application with

$ python astar_visualizer.py

Now follow the steps below for interacting with pygame GUI

• Choose start node by right clicking on it (appears orange)
• similarly choose end node ( appears blue)
• similarly choose all the obstacle nodes (appear black)
• Press space bar to see the algorithm in action (at the end shortest path is displayed in purple)
• use CTRL + C to reset the window