Torque Physics and Vehicles
by Christian Menge · in Torque Game Engine · 07/19/2004 (10:03 am) · 7 replies
Hi Guys,
Just started with Torque, having lots of fun! Many of the newer engines have great integration of third party physics engines. They have some great car and or truck demos showing fantastic rigid body performance.
When I look at the Torque vehicle demo's they are not very impressive. Not very responsive.
I have some questions concerning physics in the Torque Engine:
1) How do we get more data on the physics engine being used in Torque?
2) Can we improve the current response/performance?
2) Can we integrate another physics engine into Torque?
3) Would integration of a newer engine be a very large effort for an experience C programmer?
4) Are there any plans for Torque programmers to improve physics in the engine?
Thanks for any help!
Cheers!
Christian
Just started with Torque, having lots of fun! Many of the newer engines have great integration of third party physics engines. They have some great car and or truck demos showing fantastic rigid body performance.
When I look at the Torque vehicle demo's they are not very impressive. Not very responsive.
I have some questions concerning physics in the Torque Engine:
1) How do we get more data on the physics engine being used in Torque?
2) Can we improve the current response/performance?
2) Can we integrate another physics engine into Torque?
3) Would integration of a newer engine be a very large effort for an experience C programmer?
4) Are there any plans for Torque programmers to improve physics in the engine?
Thanks for any help!
Cheers!
Christian
About the author
#2
The vehicle physics looked pretty amazing to us, considering that it was really easy to get it working right out of the box.
Of course, we would have liked to use mulitple rigid bodies for our vehicles, but we needed the game done as soon as possible, and we've gotten a lot of mileage (no pun intended) out of the Torque engine in the short time we've used it.
And yes, ODE integration would be a dream. Or simply adding existing rigid body properties to any object in the world.
07/20/2004 (1:22 pm)
That's very interesting. We started our project with a different engine, but switch nearly half-way when I brought in a copy of the Torque demo to the office.The vehicle physics looked pretty amazing to us, considering that it was really easy to get it working right out of the box.
Of course, we would have liked to use mulitple rigid bodies for our vehicles, but we needed the game done as soon as possible, and we've gotten a lot of mileage (no pun intended) out of the Torque engine in the short time we've used it.
And yes, ODE integration would be a dream. Or simply adding existing rigid body properties to any object in the world.
#3
An experienced C++ programmer who is familiar with physics programming and physics libraries could work wonders on the vehicle physics. Again, I'm not saying it would be extremely easy, but Torque's simulation and networking are well more than flexible enough to support new vehicle physics.
Basically, the engine will not restrict you in this regard. But yes, it does not take care of really advanced vehicle physics for you automatically. You'll either have to implement your own physics, or integrate an existing physics solution. If you focus on integrating just the pieces you specifically need, and especially if you're using a stable, robust, open-source physics system with a completely unrestrictive license which lets you rip out and use code as you see fit, you should be able to achieve your vehicle physics design goals in a reasonable amount of time.
07/20/2004 (9:07 pm)
Christian, I hesitate to say that any of this would be *easy*. However, with a license to the SDK, you get all of the source code. The code which handles vehicle physics is very easy to find, and examine. (Not saying it's very easy to understand).An experienced C++ programmer who is familiar with physics programming and physics libraries could work wonders on the vehicle physics. Again, I'm not saying it would be extremely easy, but Torque's simulation and networking are well more than flexible enough to support new vehicle physics.
Basically, the engine will not restrict you in this regard. But yes, it does not take care of really advanced vehicle physics for you automatically. You'll either have to implement your own physics, or integrate an existing physics solution. If you focus on integrating just the pieces you specifically need, and especially if you're using a stable, robust, open-source physics system with a completely unrestrictive license which lets you rip out and use code as you see fit, you should be able to achieve your vehicle physics design goals in a reasonable amount of time.
#4
07/20/2004 (9:50 pm)
Funny, I too thought the physics were pretty good out of the box. Did you adjust the vehicle's data block in the starter kit? If you do you can make it a hell of a lot more responsive depending on the friction settings etc... You should toy with it more if you don't think it's good because there's a lot of versatility in there.
#5
I really appreciate the comments. I have taken more time to play with the settings and the reactions/performance is much better.
Having the source is a very big plus and is one of the reasons why I decided to go with Torque. I would consider integration of a third-party engine but the networkign stuff would be beond my scope. For now I will work with what is there, thanks guys!
07/21/2004 (3:29 am)
Hi Guys,I really appreciate the comments. I have taken more time to play with the settings and the reactions/performance is much better.
Having the source is a very big plus and is one of the reasons why I decided to go with Torque. I would consider integration of a third-party engine but the networkign stuff would be beond my scope. For now I will work with what is there, thanks guys!
#6
07/21/2004 (1:20 pm)
I cant find where the rigid body is applied to the vehicles, I have the ODE library implemented but the current rigid system is not making the calls to ODE yet. 
Torque 3D Owner David Erenger