[ODE] Russ' plans for ODE?

[gl]

> What problems do you see with the internals?

No problems, just wondering if Russ has some more tricks up his sleeve, or
is considering other solvers?  (partially answered by the comment about
global contact management).

> My two cents: this really doesn't seem like ODE's place.  The tricky
> thing about rigid body simulation is forces, like contact forces, that
> can change a lot with a small change in position.  Buoyancy isn't really
> in that category, same with rolling friction.
>
> I see ODE's roll as being a good core, rather than a swiss army knife of
> everything someone might want to simulate.

Hmm, I disagree with that.  The things I mentioned are all related to
physics, and would need to interoperate with the internals in any
implementation - and are provided by other physics SDKs.

> Cloth simulation is a whole other can of worms than rigid body
> simulation.  While desirable, this might be an example of "feature creep."

Why?  The interaction with other geoms is the key here.  If it can be added
to the interals (it can always be optionally compiled0, then why not?

I agree with others that the priority for ODE should be to have a solid and
consistent core (ie. things like production quality collisions) - but after
that, why not expand on dynamics features?
--
gl