[ODE] Cylinders, Capsules and Collision

[Josh Welber]

Hi all -- our company is using ODE for a game and it would be convenient if 
we had (uncapped) cylinders as primitives.  I see that all the cylinders in 
ODE are capsules, and just wondering:
1-Why is this?  I assume it must be easier to work with these -- but why?
2-Anyone know of resources (or anything) that would be useful in creating a 
true cylinder primitive in ODE that could collide with the other primitives 
and with TriMeshes?
or
3-Any ideas on how to get capsules to sit nicely on their ends, so that one 
could place them on terrain etc. i.e. ideas on faking a true cylinder using 
a capsule.

Thanks

Josh

Josh Welber
partner/tech wrangler
Large Animal Games
http://www.largeanimal.com
t: 212.989.4312
f: 305.489.5790