Missing options under the Collision, Physics rollouts
by Mike Lilligreen · in Torque Game Builder · 08/10/2006 (9:47 am) · 3 replies
Original topic from this thread:
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=48937
The RIGID option is now missing from the Collision rollout and there seem to be some physics properties (mass, intertia, etc) you can no longer edit in the Physics rollout for objects.
Edit: This is from version 1.1.1 of course. :)
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=48937
The RIGID option is now missing from the Collision rollout and there seem to be some physics properties (mass, intertia, etc) you can no longer edit in the Physics rollout for objects.
Edit: This is from version 1.1.1 of course. :)
About the author
#2
You're right, we took the editing of physics properties out of the TGB level builder. There's good reason for this, and actually we shouldn't have tried putting it in the level builder originally.
The physics stuff is a really advanced feature of TGB. It's hard to use correctly-- you have to know what it's designed to do, what it's not designed to do, and you have to be good at figuring out the math involved with tweaking the physics and collisin parameters. There's no way to make that stuff simple. Yet, the TGB level builder is all about exposing the features of the engine in an easy to use way.
So, the more we thought about it, the less it seemed to make sense to include the editing of physics properties inside the level builder. Physics sims are hard to get right, and given how frequently people mentioned the physics didn't behave the way they expected, we thought the best course of action would be to remove the editing of physics properties from the level builder. As Paul mentioned though, the full functionality of the physics system is still available to you for access; you can set physics properties via script.
This will be nice, actually. Before, we noticed that every new user could get confused about what sort of collision and physics routines they should be using. We were also forcing them to parse and think through whether they have to set up physics parameters to do basic things that shouldn't require physics. It was confusing.
Now people can discreetly choose whether or not they want to utilize the physics system or not, through script. This raises the bar a bit on who is likely to try the physics stuff out. But that is a good thing... any rigid body physics simulation is going to be complicated, and utilizing physics simulation code is a complex process. It's much more a programmer-oriented process, than an artist / designer process. As such, it makes more sense to access that stuff via script and code, than via nice GUI controls and widgets that give the false impression that the physics system is simple to use and ought to be touched on even for basic games.
08/10/2006 (12:13 pm)
Hi Mike,You're right, we took the editing of physics properties out of the TGB level builder. There's good reason for this, and actually we shouldn't have tried putting it in the level builder originally.
The physics stuff is a really advanced feature of TGB. It's hard to use correctly-- you have to know what it's designed to do, what it's not designed to do, and you have to be good at figuring out the math involved with tweaking the physics and collisin parameters. There's no way to make that stuff simple. Yet, the TGB level builder is all about exposing the features of the engine in an easy to use way.
So, the more we thought about it, the less it seemed to make sense to include the editing of physics properties inside the level builder. Physics sims are hard to get right, and given how frequently people mentioned the physics didn't behave the way they expected, we thought the best course of action would be to remove the editing of physics properties from the level builder. As Paul mentioned though, the full functionality of the physics system is still available to you for access; you can set physics properties via script.
This will be nice, actually. Before, we noticed that every new user could get confused about what sort of collision and physics routines they should be using. We were also forcing them to parse and think through whether they have to set up physics parameters to do basic things that shouldn't require physics. It was confusing.
Now people can discreetly choose whether or not they want to utilize the physics system or not, through script. This raises the bar a bit on who is likely to try the physics stuff out. But that is a good thing... any rigid body physics simulation is going to be complicated, and utilizing physics simulation code is a complex process. It's much more a programmer-oriented process, than an artist / designer process. As such, it makes more sense to access that stuff via script and code, than via nice GUI controls and widgets that give the false impression that the physics system is simple to use and ought to be touched on even for basic games.
#3
I still think there is value in providing nice GUI controls and widgets to help improve the workflow for advanced users within the level builder, but I agree with your viewpoint to keep the bar raised a bit by adding those things back either through editing the tool source, or better yet using the new addon support for an advanced physics management window.
08/10/2006 (1:42 pm)
Thanks for the clarification Josh (and Paul). I only saw the mention of rigid being removed from the world limits in the change log, so I thought the rest was an unintended result of that change. Clearly not. :)I still think there is value in providing nice GUI controls and widgets to help improve the workflow for advanced users within the level builder, but I agree with your viewpoint to keep the bar raised a bit by adding those things back either through editing the tool source, or better yet using the new addon support for an advanced physics management window.
Torque Owner Paul /*Wedge*/ DElia