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Recently i posted a simple car made with joints without too much explanations... so What is a joint? This video shows joints in action. At the end, the stand alone executable and the complete project. The following text and figure is from the "ode-latest-userguide", figures are also form the JV-ODE documentation: In real life a joint is something like a hinge, that is used to connect two objects. It is a relationship that is enforced between two bodies so that they can only have certain positions and orientations relative to each other. This relationship is called a constraint, the words joint and constraint are often used interchangeably. The figure shows three different constraint types. The first is a ball and socket joint that constraints the “ball” of one body to be in the same location as the “socket” of another body. The second is a hinge joint that constraints the two parts of the hinge to be in the same location and to line up along the hinge axle. The third is a slider joint that constraints the “piston” and “socket” to line up, and additionally constraints the two bodies to have the same orientation. Each time the integrator takes a step all the joints are allowed to apply constraint forces to the bodies they affect. These forces are calculated such that the bodies move in such a way to preserve all the joint relationships. Each joint has a number of parameters controlling its geometry. An example is the position of the balland- socket point for a ball-and-socket joint. The functions to set joint parameters all take global coordinates, not body-relative coordinates. A consequence of this is that the rigid bodies that a joint connects must be positioned correctly before the joint is attached. Figure: types of joints The "Integrator step" is the part of the physics engine that does all the calculations. Based on the current state, force applied, constrain parameters, collisions etc... recalculates the next position and rotation of every affected physical obejct. Leadwerks then, does the render of the objects acordingly to it's new positions, or that is what is supposed to do... (Josh should correct me if I'm wrong). A joint normally is placed between two objects, one is called Parent and the other Child. The child should be NULL, and in this case the joint is between one body and the world or scene. In the case of a door, you need a Door and a Frame, the Frame should be the Parent body, the Door the child body. In real life you have to decide where the Hinge (or more than one) will be placed and use some screws to attach both parts of the hinge to the frame and the door. In software, things are practically the same In other words, we have to have 3 things clear: Who is the parent and where it should be positioned and oriented. Who is the child and where it should be poitioned and oriented. Which type of joint you need, where it should be positioned and oriented. Normally we create and place the two bodies first and then, at joint creation we say where the joint will be and how it should be oriented, who the parent is and who child is, if any. After that, joints normally has some other properties that should be adjusted, used, controlled, limited, enabled... etc, depending on the joint type. Joints have two "limits": If the joint is a Hinge, the limits are the Start Angle and End Angle "the door should turn". If the joint is a Slider, the limits are the Start Position and End Position the piston should extend. If the joint is a Ball, the limits are the cone angle and twist or torsion... keep reading Joints (hinge and slider) should have a "motor" if not, as a normal door, we need external forces to "open the door", if we place a door on a frame attached with hinges and the door has no lock at all, then the wind should open/close it, or some body that collides with the door should move it. As we use a hinge, the door do not fall, do not take an upward motion, the motion is well known and constrainded tho the clasic movement we all know. But if, for instance we have a "motorized door" then the open/close operation is started in some way (press of a button?) and a motor does the job. Normally it stops automatically, because there are end-run switches or the like installed and working for us. A sofware motorized joint is exactly that, we set where we want the joint go (setTargetAngle), and start a motor (enableMotor). Ball Joint A ball is used when we need a "cone" movement freedom, think that you have a rope attached at the roof of your room and you hang a box on it. If the rope is made of a rigid material, the box should made a pendulum movement not so large and probably the box orientations should not change too much. How much we let the rope to move is dictated by the first limit and how much the object attached should change orientation (twist/torsion) is dictated by the second limit. A rope is a nice looking example, all you have to do is place N cubes (shape is not important) and place ball joints in the middle of each pair. You may have the first box joined to the world (attached to a fixed 3d position) and then a link of bodies and ball joints: Joint N has body N as parent and body N+1 as child Leadwerks came with a simple ball.lua script: function Script:Start() local pos = self.entity:GetPosition(true) self.joint = Joint:Ball(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z, self.entity, self.entity:GetParent()) self.joint:SetFriction(10) self.entity:SetDamping(0,0) end If you have a chain of parented objetcts, then you may set this script and you have a rope build with a few clicks of your mouse on the editor. Procedure: Create some boxes, set prop collision and a mass not zero (1 perhaps), place then in a vertical row somewhat separated. In the editor drag the second box to the first, the third to the second building a hierachy (parent/child relationship) Select all (one by one with ctrl click on each box) and then apply the ball script. Voila! You have a rope with no limits: cone angle is the maximum the engine lets you to be and the same for torsion. Collide the rope with some object or, place the boxes horizontally (instead of vetically) and let gravity do it's job. I made another ball script: ballEnhaced: Script.parent = nil--Entity "Parent" Script.child = nil--Entity "Child" Script.useLimits=false--bool "Use limits" Script.coneAngle = 45--Float "Cone Angle" Script.torsion = 45--Float "Torsion" Script.hide = true--bool "Hide entity" function Script:Start() local pos = self.entity:GetPosition(true) if self.parent~=nil then self.joint = Joint:Ball(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z, self.parent, self.child) self.joint:SetLimits(self.coneAngle, self.torsion) if self.useLimits then self.joint:EnableLimits() System:Print("limits:"..self.coneAngle..", "..self.torsion) end if self.hide then self.entity:Hide() end end end if using this script, you have to create a pivot or box (collision type: none, and no mass) and tell the script ho the parent is and ho the child is, if no child, then the parent body will be attached to the environement, fixed at this 3d point. In the map included in this blog there are two ropes, one made with the leadwerks ball.lua and one with the ballEnhaced.lua script, in this script you may tell how to constrain the ball cone anlgle and trosion. Look the video, and you will see the difference on how the cubes behave when hitted by the car. A rope suspension bridge should be made with both ends attached to the world and a double chain of joints... doing two unions between each part of the brige. It's nice so see the car passing over it! The attached video shows at first the car passing over the bridge... the mass of the car is very little, if not, the joints get broken.. as always there are some other things to consider. Hinje Joint As I used a hinge for some explanation, i guess there is not to much to say here, I use some hinges for doors in the map attached and also used them for the steer and wheels of the car. One door have a motor and the other not, so the second one moves as the car collides it. I wrote two scripts: hingeEnhaced.lua Script.parent = nil --entity "parent" Script.child = nil --entity "hild" Script.hide = true--bool "Hide entity" Script.pin = Vec3(0,0,1) --Vec3 "Hinge Pin" Script.limitsenabled=false--bool "Enable limits" Script.limits = Vec2(-45,45) --Vec2 "Limits" Script.friction = 0--float "Friction" function Script:Start() local pos = self.entity:GetPosition(true) if self.parent~=nil then self.joint = Joint:Hinge(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z, self.pin.x, self.pin.y, self.pin.z, self.parent, self.child) if self.limitsenabled then self.joint:EnableLimits() end self.joint:SetLimits(self.limits.x,self.limits.y) self.joint:SetFriction(self.friction) self.entity:SetDamping(0,0) if self.hide then self.entity:Hide() end end end As in the case of a ball joint, with this script you may set parent, child and limits hingeMotorized.lua Script.parent = nil --entity "parent" Script.child = nil --entity "hild" Script.hide = true--bool "Hide entity" Script.pin = Vec3(0,0,1) --Vec3 "Hinge Pin" Script.limitsenabled=false--bool "Enable limits" Script.limits = Vec2(-45,45) --Vec2 "Limits" Script.tOpenClose = 15 --Int "Open/Close time" Script.movespeed = 60 --Int "Speed" Script.startTime = 0 Script.action = 1 --1 open, 0 close function Script:Start() local pos = self.entity:GetPosition(true) if self.parent~=nil then self.joint = Joint:Hinge(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z, self.pin.x, self.pin.y, self.pin.z, self.parent, self.child) if self.limitsenabled then self.joint:EnableLimits() end self.joint:SetLimits(self.limits.x,self.limits.y) self.joint:SetTargetAngle(self.limits.x) self.joint:EnableMotor() self.startTime = Time:GetCurrent() self.joint:SetMotorSpeed(self.movespeed) if self.hide then self.entity:Hide() end end end function Script:UpdatePhysics() local time_ = Time:GetCurrent() if time_ - self.startTime > self.tOpenClose*1000 then self.action = 1-self.action --toggle action if self.action == 1 then self.joint:SetTargetAngle(self.limits.x) else self.joint:SetTargetAngle(self.limits.y) end self.startTime = Time:GetCurrent() end end This scripts creates the joint, then set a target angle, enables the motor and apply a velocity, so the "door" starts going to the first limit. After the tOpenClose time, the variable action is toggled and based on it the TargetAngle will be first limit or second limit, in this way, the door continously open and then close after tOpenClose time Slider Joint For a slider joint, in this map i wrote one script: sliderMotorized.lua Script.child = nil --entity "hild" Script.hide = true--bool "Hide entity" Script.pin = Vec3(0,0,1) --Vec3 "Hinge Pin" ScrScript.parent = nil --entity "parent" ipt.limitsenabled=false--bool "Enable limits" Script.limits = Vec2(-45,45) --Vec2 "Limits" Script.tOpenClose = 15 --Int "Open/Close time" Script.movespeed = 60 --Int "Speed" Script.startTime = 0 Script.action = 1 --1 open, 0 close function Script:Start() local pos = self.entity:GetPosition(true) if self.parent~=nil then self.joint = Joint:Slider(pos.x, pos.y, pos.z, self.pin.x, self.pin.y, self.pin.z, self.parent, self.child) if self.limitsenabled then self.joint:EnableLimits() end self.joint:SetLimits(self.limits.x,self.limits.y) self.joint:SetTargetAngle(self.limits.x) self.joint:EnableMotor() self.startTime = Time:GetCurrent() self.joint:SetMotorSpeed(self.movespeed) if self.hide then self.entity:Hide() end end end function Script:UpdatePhysics() local time_ = Time:GetCurrent() if time_ - self.startTime > self.tOpenClose*1000 then self.action = 1-self.action --toggle action if self.action == 1 then self.joint:SetTargetAngle(self.limits.x) else self.joint:SetTargetAngle(self.limits.y) end self.startTime = Time:GetCurrent() end end This script is 99% the same as the hingeMotorized.lua, the only difference is that a slider joint is created instead of a hinge joint. Note that the limis are not angles, they are offsets from the initial position of the plataform. Stand alone executable: jointsworldDistro.zip Project: jointsworldProject.zip Enjoy Juan

Quite some time ago I was playing Rainbow Six Vegas with a coworker (not during work time). We were doing terrorist hunt on this construction site map and we were having a great time enjoying this classic game. At some point I wanted to throw a grenade quite far away. Of course with my pro-fps skills I managed to hit the electric pole standing right in front of me. After I was done facepalming, something caught my eye: the wires on the electric pole were swinging, probably by the grenade's shockwave. I hadn't noticed that before, but I found it really cool. It reminds me of making rope-bridges (old 3ds max tutorial ). I think dynamic wires can add a nice extra touch of 'being an interactive environment'. Making wires like that could be fun to have as an extension on the SplineTools. The Zone This became especially apparent when working on the zone back in June. I was placing these power pylons on the terrain. Since they are great models that add a lot to the background, I decided to bring them a little bit closer to the main area and raised the terrain at several locations. Placing the pylons was a piece of cake. However placing the wires, was a pain. The wires come from 1 single model. The problem with this is that it makes it really hard to place these wires. I had to constantly rotate them around, move them and then rotate them some more. So when I had 2 pylons placed at different heights, it took a lot of messing around to get the models placed correctly. And this was just a straight line of pylons. With bends in the electric network this would have even more problematic. SplineTools extension: Wires The wires/ropes/cables extension of the SplineTools fixes this problem. We can simple put a pivot on each of the wire connectors of a pylon. Then we attach the wirescript to the pivots and make the pylon a prefab. Now we can connect multiple pylons by connecting the wire nodes. We play around with some of the handlers to create a nice bezier curve and we are good to go. Physics We can take it even further by adding physics to these wires. At the moment of writing there is support for static physics ropes and also experimental dynamic ropes. The latter one makes physics shapes per wire segment and adds joints between them. We can anchor both ends of the wire if we want to. In the stable 4.4 branch this causes the game to crash now and then, but the beta branch for 4.5 doesn't seem to have this. So that is good news. We now have the same wires as the ones that I encountered in Rainbow six. The dynamics ropes are really fun to play with. You can now easily create a tireswing, draggable computer cables (like in HalfLife 2) and most importantly: rope-bridges. I have to finish the example scenes and make the tutorial for them, but they are almost ready for release. They are included in the SplineTools package. A new video blog will be posted when it is ready. At the moment the workshop uploading fails, so I can't push any updates yet.