[ODE] new ODE collision

[Nate W]

On Sun, 10 Nov 2002, Russ Smith wrote:

> > - When adding the ray class we should think about what the
> > 'penetration depth' should be. Do you have any thoughts on this?
> 
> i'm not sure that dRay will ever be attached to a body, in which case
> penetration depth does not have much use for the dynamics. perhaps you
> can think of a non-dynamics use/definition for the penetration depth?

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard about the ray class was
sensors for the critters I'm making in Juice, sort of like IR or
ultrasonic rangefinders in robots, or like whiskers on cats.  I'd want to
know the distance from the ray's origin to the first object it collides
with.

Second, I think they might be useful for fast-moving objects - if you
project a ray forward along a missile's direction of travel, you could get
"collision" info in cases where the missile would otherwise teleport
around an object due to its position changing by a distance greater than
its length.  In that case, could the ray intersection be used to generate
a contact joint, to stop the missile from penetrating?

-- 

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA
http://www.natew.com