[ODE] Distance between two objects

[Tatu Lahtela]

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 15:12:54 -0400, Martin C. Martin 
<martin at metahuman.org> wrote:
> Tatu Lahtela wrote:
>> I trying to create force fields to the objects that are extremely 
>> distance dependent
>> (electrostatic and van Der Walls) so I need know the shortest distance 
>> between two objects
>> and use this information to calculate the force if the objects are 
>> closer than a given value.
>
> In general, you'll need more than just the shortest distance, since the 
> force will be a function of the entire distribution of charge, not just 
> the nearest.


Of course, but calculating the nearest points is the first step, and 
calculating the force is unnecessary
if the object are to far from each other. We have an algorithm that 
intergrates through the
surface(s) and calculates the total force. Also, the calculation is quite 
heavy so I'm starting to
be sceptical that we're ever going to get the system fast enough.



-- 
Tampere University of Technology / Automation and Control Institue
Tatu Lahtela <lahtela at cs.tut.fi>