[ODE] Geomgroups vs composite

[skjold@cistron.nl]

Hi,

Well, GeomGroups are deprecated in ODE 0.035, you could use SimpleSpaces istead. But when it comes to combining multiple geometries into a single object, I think composite is the way to go, because then it will be treated as a single dynamic body. Also, as I found out yesterday (I'm quite new to ODE myself), these component geometries in a single composite object are, for some reason unknown to me, never tested against eachother for collision. This is desirable of course, since they all represent the same rigid body, but I would have thought ODE to still treat it at separate geometries. So it looks like ODE is way ahead of me, as I was looking for a way to skip collision testing on those component geoms ;)

This does leave me wondering, is it still worthwhile to put the geoms from a single composite object into their own SimpleSpace? I figure that might benefit dSpaceCollide, but then again maybe ODE is way ahead of me on that too. On a side note, I wouldn't mind being able to set user data on spaces, perhaps this would be nice for a future release.

To conclude: WOW! I am impressed by ODE. I've been looking for something like this (aren't we all inspired by Karl Sims :P) Russel, and the other contributers too, great job!

greets



> Hello all!..
> 
> I want to constuct an object that are made up of several basic ode geometry 
> objects. Right now I'm using composite objects to do this.
> Is this the "right way" to do this?. I've been reading in the docs about 
> geomgroups but are uncertain of what it "does".. Does it completly
> replace composite objects or can both work in conjunction somehow?
> 
> Or are they 2 different things that cant be compared and I've been smoking 
> something? :)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ODE mailing list
> ODE@q12.org
> http://q12.org/mailman/listinfo/ode
>