[ODE] Simulating a plane

[Nate W]

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003, [iso-8859-1] Robson Ito wrote:

> hi all, i'm implementing a game that is a flying combat. So i decided
> to use ODE to simulate de physics. I just want some opinions, is it a
> good idea, or no? So, how can i make the plane turn right, left,
> increase velocity? using forces and torque between steps?

Someone posted a demo of a flight sim using ODE a while ago, and it seemed
to work pretty well.  He said he was calculating what forces the air would
exert on the wings (and maybe the control surfaces as well?), and then
applying those forces to the airplane body.  If he's still on the list,
perhaps he'll elaborate.

> If two bodies are atached to each other with a joint the collision
> betewen then will be automaticaly ignored in the step simulation?

Not by default, but this is easy to implement.  In the collision callback,
you can use dAreConnected (body1, body2) and just ignore the collision
instead of creating contact joints.

> is there a way to put objects in the middle of simulation in a
> determined position.? can i change the position manually of an body
> between the steps?

Putting new objects into a simulation would probably work, but I haven't
tried it.  Manually tweaking positions would probably cause the system to
behave really badly.  It might work, but you'd probably be much better off
applying forces to get the bodies to move.

> Sorry about the poor english...

Don't worry about it. :-)

--

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