[ODE] Adjusting a body's mass

[Charlie Hui]

Instead of adding a force to the body, why not just change the mass of
the body. In addition to adding or losing weight, you can recalculate
the center of mass manually. It should have the same effect as adding
new masses in different locations, and be just that much faster per
step.

--Charlie Hui

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 13:56:09 -0800, Johnson, Erik USA <rejohnso at nps.edu> wrote:
>  
> I'm wondering, what is the best method of adding and removing mass from an
> existing body?  
>   
> In my particular case, I want to add and remove "weight" in certain places
> on my vehicle chassis such as a fuel tank, or a driver, or a rocket
> launcher.  My hope is that I can make the vehicle front or back "heavy" and
> it will affect the steering. 
>   
> The added weight pieces don't need to have collision detection so I don't
> think I need a Geom.  Creating additional Bodies and attaching them to the
> chassis with Joints seems like overkill.  I guess I can add a Force to the
> chassis for each added weight, but that seems a little ugly. 
>   
> Any suggestions? 
>   
> Thanks, 
> Erik 
>   
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