A demonstration of Ragdoll Physics with Flash
September 21st, 2007A demonstration of Ragdoll Physics where President Bush is falling down into a never ending pit.
Amazing Video about Havok’s new Physics Engine
September 14th, 2007Realtime 3D/Game Creation in Blender
September 14th, 2007Blender, is an open source 3d modelling, animation, rendering software as well as game development environment. Watch the following video to see how simly one can physics in Blender.
- Graphical logic editor for defining interactive behavior without programming
- Collision detection and dynamics simulation now support Bullet Physics Library. Bullet is an open source collision detection and rigid body dynamics library developed for Play Station 3
- Shape types: Convex polyhedron, box, sphere, cone, cylinder, capsule, compound, and static triangle mesh with auto deactivation mode
- Discrete collision detection for RigidBody simulation
- Support for in-game activation of dynamic constraints
- Full support for vehicle dynamics, including spring reactions, stiffness, damping, tyre friction etc
- Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic
- Support all OpenGLTM lighting modes, including transparencies, Animated and reflection-mapped textures
- Support for multimaterials, multitexture and texture blending modes, per-pixel lighting, dynamic lighting, mapping modes, GLSL vertexPaint texture blending, toon shading, animated materials, support for Normal Maping and Parallax Mapping
- Playback of games and interactive 3D content without compiling or preprocessing
- Audio, using the SDL toolkit
- Multi-layering of Scenes for overlay interfaces
Exploring 3d Real Life
September 14th, 2007
Havok Physics™ is a major innovation in game physics and sets the bar for next-generation games.
Based upon the award winning Havok Physics 2 SDK that has been licensed by over 70 clients and shipped in over 50 titles, Havok Physics introduces Continuous Physics™, an innovative technology that frees up production time by eliminating design limitations that stem from high-velocity game objects.
Unlike current generation physics systems, which utilize only discrete physics, Havok’s Continuous Physics offers an extra level of integrity to your game, and removes restrictions and fix-ups that sap production time that restricts the design of your game.
Havok Physics also incorporates robust memory optimizations crucial for simulating physics in complex game environments on next-generation platforms.
Fundamentals of Physics in 3d
September 14th, 2007
These are enough physics information to allow physical objects to be simulated by a computer program.
| Overview | Overview of methods to simulate physics using analytical and numerical methods |
| Statics | Situation where forces are in balance. |
| Kinematics | Kinematics: The study and description of motion, without regard to its causes, including position, orientation, velocity, angular velocity, acceleration. For example, we can calculate the end point of a robot arm from the angles of all its joints. Alternatively, given the end point of the robot arm, we could calculate the angles and settings of all its joints required to put it there (inverse kinematics - IK). |
| Dynamics | Covers the causes of motion in terms of properties like mass and inertia. Including movement in free space, rotation of solid body, Inertia, Energy and Momentum, Collision, Impulse and Spring, mass, damper model |
| Numerical methods | In some cases, especially when we are not dealing with solid bodies we may need to use other methods such as Finite Element Method, relaxation methods or equations model |
| Particles and Fluids | Water or Gas and particles |
| Table Top Physics | Gives examples and thought experiments to illustrate some of the problems and complexities that we need to solve |
| Other | Other physics topics that might be involved such as Light, Sound, Heat, Electricity/Magnetism and Human Animation |
| Algorithm to animate solid object in computer program | This puts together the kinematics and dynamics concepts into practical algorithms that can be used in computer programs Quantum Mechanics |
| Physics Books | Further reading |
3D Multimedia Lab for Exploring Physics
September 14th, 2007
The virtual world of NEWTON v3.0 provides a completely new way of learning physics – the exploration of kinematics and dynamics on a computer in 3D. 
The virtual world of Newton is ruled by the simulated laws of physics, allowing you to build, manipulate and investigate your experiments interactively, without the limitations of physical models.
When creating an experiment in Newton, you can select from a wide range of real world or abstract objects, from the simplest geometrical bodies (brick, sphere, etc.), complex instruments (stands, slope, car, etc.), and constraints (many types of joints and springs). 
You can adjust their physical parameters (mass, elasticity, friction, etc.); assign to them forces, torques or velocity; and make relationships subject to constraints. You can add virtually any object to Newton using a VRML editor; you may also export your experiments in VRML format
With the example files included, it’s easy to get started. 
You can alter them and simulate again, and you will see that it’s quite simple to create amazing demonstrations. When running a simulation, the bodies start moving, guided by the acting constraints; are rotated by torques; and collide with each other as in a movie.
Actually, you can set up one or more cameras and capture their views of the experiment, storing them in an AVI file. You can also add descriptions to your examples, with explanatory texts, images, and formulas. 
Using diagrams, it’s easy to measure and evaluate the results of your experiments. Several user-defined curves can be displayed on the same diagram, so it’s easy to compare the measured data with the results derived from theoretical calculations. You may also change the units of the physical quantities.