Poisson Disk Sampling

Robert Bridson's 2007 algorithm solves the problem of randomly placing objects (like trees in a forest) while maintaining a minimum distance between them, using an efficient grid-based approach that has become influential in computer graphics with nearly 1,000 citations. The algorithm partitions space into a grid, maintains an active list of points, and samples candidate positions in an annulus around existing points, rejecting those that violate the minimum distance constraint.