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| Soft Body Simulation with Spring Grids |
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Monday, July 07 2003 @ 01:13 AM EDT, Matthew
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Playing around some more with springs, I ended up trying a softbody-like simulation using a grid of springs. Here are the results, which worked out fairly nicely. Left mouse to push, middle mouse to pull, A/Z to jump up/down.
Practical applications are fairly limited, due to issues with increasing the collision surfaces of the nodes to realistically match the spring-covered area. I'll probably play with this again and attempt to make the body play well with other physical entities. As usual, the source CMO is available.
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| Faster-Paced Slacklining Test |
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Sunday, July 06 2003 @ 07:48 PM EDT, Matthew
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This version of the test has a loser rope, more help on balancing, and more influential controls for an overall faster-paced experience.
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| Slacklining Balance Mechanic |
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Sunday, July 06 2003 @ 07:23 PM EDT, Matthew
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My little brother suggested a slacklining mechanic, so today I did a rough version using the rope behavior graph I created yesterday. I made a few alterations to the BG; most notable is the addition of curve creation, parented to the spring nodes. This curve is used for rendering the rope, rather than the Physics Debug Rendering BB I usually fall back on. Other tweaks include changing the rope so all nodes in the same collision group. This means the rope is more cohesive to other objects, but no longer collides with itself.
Anyway, on to the test. Control is relative mouse motion, so ignore the cursor position. Left/right mouse motion is a rotational torque, and up/down provides impulse to help the player absorb shock. Continously larger waves are sent out, with the eventual goal of knocking the player off the rope. If you do get knocked off, R key respots. When I get a moment I plan to do a two-player version with keyboard controls.
Source CMO is available here.
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| Mesmerizing |
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Saturday, July 05 2003 @ 06:07 PM EDT, Matthew
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Check this out. Wheeee.
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| Rope Collision |
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Saturday, July 05 2003 @ 05:43 PM EDT, Matthew
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Turns out that the rope setup I used is incredibly cohesive during collisions, with enough segments. This is the same test with a cylinder added.
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| Springrope Test and Behavior Graph |
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Saturday, July 05 2003 @ 05:19 PM EDT, Matthew
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I decided to make a quick behavior graph today to create a rope between two objects. The rope itself is composed of a definable number of spring segments. Creation is done in the simplest fashion possible, by creating the rope between two objects. I might explore more interesting creation methods at a later date (starting in a coil, etc). Physical spheres are used on the midpoints, although I have yet to test how cohesive the rope behaves in collisions.
Here's a bungee-like test of the BG, hold space to press down on the sphere. Source CMO, which has the BG, is also available .
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| Treads Test |
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Thursday, July 03 2003 @ 03:40 AM EDT, Matthew
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I've been testing complicated attachment/constraint rigs for another project, and got stuck on a tread-based locomotion system. I ended up focusing on resolving the stability issues, and this is what came out of it. Left/right arrow keys for control. No respot key, sorry, currently have to restart the composition when you flip or destabilize.
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| Seeded Random Values VSL |
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Wednesday, July 02 2003 @ 09:57 PM EDT, Matthew
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A requirement on a recent project was to have seeded random values. This VSL produces a series of random integers based on a seed pIn. The same seed will produce the same series of numbers. Practical applications include controlled randomization of game boards (so the same level is always the same board). Download it with a simple example here.
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| Smallball AI Article Coming |
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Monday, June 30 2003 @ 12:26 AM EDT, Matthew
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Just a quick note that I'm still working on the Smallball AI article. I meant to have it done over this weekend, but keep getting caught up in other projects. The focus is on designing simple AI behavior for physics-based games (and designing physics-based games in general).
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| Skillcrane Source |
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Sunday, June 29 2003 @ 11:54 PM EDT, Matthew
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I wrapped up a slightly-updated version of the skill crane (same controls: arrow keys and space to drop). I mostly cleaned up the source for posting, but I also removed the two helper views and made the grip a little weaker. It feels more authentic to me now, although obviously more frustrating as well.
Source CMO is available. It contains comments explaining the various sections. Basically, I used constraints to create the crane and springs to provide force for the grip. I tried using motors, but the limit of only rotating around the mass center created arbitrary force (the constraints were off the mass center, so the combination created lateral movement).
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| Submit Tests |
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Interested in submitting your own test to DevLab?
Click here.
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| About DevLab |
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DevLab contains Virtools Dev experiments, examples, and musings by Matthew Wegner of Flashbang Studios, LLC.
For more information on Virtools, check out their website.
Feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions for the site.
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