[ODE] Complex Body Creation

[Remi Ricard]

Hi,
> achaudhry wrote:
>   
>> hi, 
>> I am trying to create a single object which comprises of 4 boxes attached in a
>> fixed manner. 
>> to create this complex object, i am currently creating seperate boxes and then
>> attaching them using Fixed joints. Is there any other method of creating this
>> complex object? 
>>
>> Also after creation, for changing the orientation etc of the complez ogject, i
>> have to currently change orientation for all individual boxes, is there a way
>> to group these boxes together as one single object and then perform operations
>> on them as a single entity? 
>>     
>
> yes... look at ode/test/test_boxstack.cpp
>
> What you need to do, is attach multiple geoms to a single body.
> Each geom is transformed by a transformgeom.
>
> So to make a you object, you would create:
>
> - 1 body
> - 4 box geoms
> - 4 trf geoms
>
> This is much better than fixed joints, computes much faster,
> less instability, more conventient to code, etc.
>   
You can also use: dGeomSetOffsetPosition instead of a transformgeom.

Remi