[ODE] Bobsled track

[Jon Watte (ODE)]

I think ODE would work just fine. I'd model the bobsleigh as a box for 
the seat, with narrow ccylinders (cylinders capped by spheres) as the 
skates. The track would be modeled as one large triangle mesh (trimesh).

You can model the body of the skater as a ragdoll, or just as a large 
ccylinder lying on top of the sleigh.

Your time will probably be spent learning to use the API, figuring out 
the right settings (sizes and positions of things, time step sizes, 
etc), and in some art tool, building the actual track/tracks to 
simulate. That, and tuning the friction model/coefficients to behave 
like you want the sleigh to behave :-)

Cheers,

			/ h+


Cristofer Atiencia wrote:
> Hello,
>  
> As I have never used ODE before I'm not quite sure of its capabilities. 
> I have read the website, but can't quite tell if it is the right tool 
> for my purposes. Can anyone share some thoughts/opinions? Outlined below 
> is what I am trying to do.
>  
> I am a fourth year undergraduate, Computer Science student at Simon 
> Fraser University (Canada) as well as a speed fanatic. I am particularly 
> interested in the winter sport of Skeleton which is practiced on a 
> bobsled track. In a nutshell in this sport the athlete sprints at the 
> top of the track and then jumps onto the sled (face down, head first), 
> which is like an elongated cafeteria tray with two runners (skates) 
> underneath.
> Currently I am taking a self-directed course at school and would like to 
> simulate skeleton, that is, a bobsled track and its interaction with a 
> sled, in (as close as possible) real time (as the slides say, 
> 'interactive simulation) and in a fairly accurate way.
>  
> My question is: Is ODE a good choice for handling the physics involved 
> in this simulation?
> OR, should I perhaps consider writing my own physics model specific to 
> this task?
>  
> Thank you for any insight you may be able to provide!
> J
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
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