[ODE] Quick fundamental questions about ODE.

[Jeremy Roberts]

Hello,
     I am new to ODE and have two quick fundamental questions about ODE for people with more ODE experience.  The first has to do with body/mass and approximations.  The second has to do with simple spaces and culling.
     Question 1)  Ok, so it is my understanding that the general outline for creating a complex static object (no joints etc.) would be ... many geoms attached to a single body/mass.  These would be inserted into a containing space (for quicker collision detection) which is then inserted into the global collision space.  Approximating the general object with geoms is pretty straight forward but what confuses me is the single body and mass. 
     My question is ... is approximating a large complex object like a robot with a single body/mass such as a sphere or box convincing enough for all intents and purposes or does one have to connect multiple bodies/masses say with joints or create complex inertia matrices for every complex object?

     Question 2) Trying to figure out how to cull objects efficiently with spaces.
     My question is ... should all complex objects have their components inserted into a simple space which in turn is inserted into the global space for culling?  Is that the general procedure?

Thank you for your help.
Jeremy (grill8)
A.S. Real Time Interactive Simulation 
[Video Game Computer Science]
DigiPen Institute of Technology

- Make the world what it could be, not what it is.
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