[ODE] Re: Roller-coaster

[erwin at erwincoumans.com]

Hi, 

I would say ODE is probably very suitable and using a triangle collider is 
not that bad at all. However if you really want a more 'smooth' ride, 
without discontinuities on the triangle-edges, you can consider writing a 
bezier-patch system, like in SSX. See gamasutra (requires a login): 

http://www.gamasutra.com/gdc2002/features/rayner/rayner_01.htm 

Erwin Coumans 

 

catienci at sfu.ca writes: 

> 
> Hello, 
> 
> I am presently trying to decide whether ODE is suitable for my purposes; I
> have a feeling it may be overkill for what I am trying to do. I have been
> reading the manual, but don't completely understand how some things are
> accomplished and am hoping that some of you experienced folks may be able to
> make a recommendation or two.
> I am trying to model the motion of a sled sliding down an ice track, which
> is a very similar problem to modeling a roller coaster. My main question is: 
> 
> - How does ODE handle interaction between an object like a sled, and the
> enormous track object. Is it collision based? Does the track need to be a
> polygon mesh? If so, isn't this approach a bit crude in that the sled will,
> so to speak, be colliding against a bunch of triangles instead of sliding
> accurately along a predefined surface? 
> 
> I need my simulation to be quite accurate, and it seems to me that modeling
> the smooth motion of a vehicle on a 3D track based on many many collisions
> is less than desirable.
> Am I understanding correctly that this is how ODE would proceed? Do I have
> any alternatives other than mesh/collision based motion? 
> 
> Thank you for your time and help, 
> 
> Cristofer
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