5 replies to this topic

[kenna]

Is anyone here interested in physics engines?

I took almost every physics course in college (although I've forgotten quite a bit), but I still find it very interesting and I've been thinking about physics engines for some time now. I've also been reading about integrations (I didn't take advanced mathematics), and just generally about physics engines.

I'm not an expert in mathematics nor programming, so it's not so easy. However, I wouldn't expect anyone to just like that hop on the bandwagon and help me develop a physics engine, even if a simpler one. I'm still looking for someone with similar interests though, so I can have someone to discuss things with, and learn more, much more.

[G_Morgan]

What do you mean by physic engines?

Are you referring to something like Havoc which is used in gaming or something else entirely?

[kenna]

Yes, something like Havoc, ODE, Tokamac, etc., a scientific physics engine would be completely over the top ^~^

I've always had the plan to do everything myself, it would be quite difficult to find someone to hlep me anyway, but it's still quite difficult to get any decent information on this, and it would be nice just to be able to talk about things, not being an expert and all.

[G_Morgan]

I can't say I'm an expert myself. I know Newtonian physics in terms of particles, rigid body collisions and some solid body rotations and such but representing it in a computer simulation is nothing I've ever considered.

Fortunately the problem set is reasonably well defined. The question is what constitutes physics in the realm of the application level.

[kenna]

I actually prefer to call it a "universe engine", as it does more than just rigid body physics or collision detection. The goal is to have a library that simulates many parts of our universe. It would be an underlying layer that would simulate a universe similar to ours without the user having to worry about anything.

As for the physics part, the mechanics library would consist of three parts, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, and stellar mechanics. The energy library would deal with various forms of energy such as magnetic, electrical, electromagnetic, chemical, nuclear, etc. Then there would be other libraries too, dealing with other things.

And remember that it's not meant to be some super-duper-sega-mega-drive simulator that would give me a nobel price in physics, chemistry, astrophysics, etc. ^~^

The solid mechanics would be a mass-spring system with spring constraints.

[WingedPanther]

There are a number of physics engines that already exists in the open-source community. You may want to check some of them out to get a feel for what you'd be dealing with. Scorched3D and Open Arena may be good places to start.