New SimpleVehicle class

**Esenthel** · 04-11-2013 08:35 PM

Because current Vehicle class works only on PhysX, and there is no PhysX on iOS yet, I've decided to make my own physics-engine-independent vehicle class.
After a week of heavy work you can say hello to "SimpleVehicle" class, which works on all physics engines, it's very lightweight (small amount of computations per vehicle), has enjoyable and realistic driving experience, suspension, working collisions, allows for cool drifting, it has no gears though.
Available in next release.

Also: In the video you can see a scene of some of models that I've bought online, for the purpose of making another small mobile game. It's a sci-fi oriented shooter, with view from the top. I had the idea for this game since many months. It's a bit like Death Rally, but with less racing, and more about completing missions, trading, bounty hunting, harvesting, travelling across the planet, and not just one but to other planets as well (you will have bikes, cars and space ships as well).

xzessmedia · 04-11-2013 09:03 PM

yeah man, this looks impressive.

can't wait to play with it

Pixel Perfect · 04-11-2013 09:28 PM

Really nice work! Another great addition to the engine grin

Ozmodian · 04-11-2013 09:51 PM

Haha love it. Looks like a lot of fun. Great work Esenthel.

Tottel · 04-11-2013 11:12 PM

Sounds very neat and advanced. smile

Is it planned to be a tech demo, source for licensees, or just a personal project? pfft

**Esenthel** · 04-11-2013 11:17 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone smile

The 'SimpleVehicle' is a new class built into the engine as alternative to 'Vehicle', and can be used by everyone, starting next engine release.
But the game itself is my side project, just like Esenthel RTS, though I'm not thinking of selling source code for this one just yet (I've barely started working on it).

gwald · 04-12-2013 08:13 AM

Hi Esenthel,
That's pretty cool!
You impress me with your mastery!
I have a question, not sure why you still make silent video's?
It doesn't help communicate your point (wiggling the mouse?).
I've heard you speak english on other videos, so I don't know why you don't.
Or maybe speak Polish and enable youtube translation (poorly but better then nothing).

Oh, and something that I've always wanted to know is, why not just port Bullet Physics Library to all platforms?
I think you have all but windows and instead use PhysX.

Scarlet Thread · 04-12-2013 09:57 AM

Looks pretty nice.

My only concern from the video is that when he hits the front bumper it doesn't slide out but catched on the ground. Though it is a WIP so for a WIP it looks awesome.

**Esenthel** · 04-12-2013 12:17 PM

(04-12-2013 08:13 AM)gwald Wrote: I have a question, not sure why you still make silent video's?

Generally I like my voice, but when I hear it recorded on a Esenthel video, somehow I feel it doesn't fit, and my accent is terrible wink

Quote:Oh, and something that I've always wanted to know is, why not just port Bullet Physics Library to all platforms?

Bullet is great library, but from my tests:
PhysX loads phys bodies/actors faster, calculates simulations faster (especially with background thread processing), simulations are more stable, API is more cleaner. Also I have not yet implemented clothing wrapper for Bullet (didn't yet checked if it's supported there).
Currently only Esenthel for iOS uses Bullet, all other platforms use PhysX.

Scarlet Thread Wrote:My only concern from the video is that when he hits the front bumper it doesn't slide out but catched on the ground. Though it is a WIP so for a WIP it looks awesome.

Thanks

The bumper is not managed by 'SimpleVehicle' class itself, but by regular Actor/Physics collision system. You can easily adjust sliding ability by adjusting PhysMtrl parameters of that Actor (reduce bounciness, reduce frictions)

gwald · 04-12-2013 03:16 PM

Hey,
Thanks for the reply smile

I don't think your audience is critical about your voice or accent.
But would value very much any information you do say.

Thanks for the info on the physics engine, I guess you will be dropping Bullet from iOS after porting PhysX?

Your vehicle physics engine looks heaps of fun and thanks sharing it with us smile

Gian-Reto · 04-12-2013 05:44 PM

Looks great!

... now someone should make a RC Racing / Rock'n'Roll Racing revival for iOS with it. Classical topdown 16bit fun, but in full 3d, how awesome is that? smile

Keep the updates coming, Greg.

TheElk · 04-12-2013 07:54 PM

Esenthel

Let me say I was the same way when I started recording videos but its better to have
a voice there than nothing at all and if anyone says different.....well thats there problem.

and by the way Keep up the great work.

ThankYou
TheElk

Ezequel · 04-12-2013 10:25 PM

This looks very cool! Will there be a tutorial for this?
When the vehicle flips over, will it always flip back on its wheels like in the video?

para · 04-12-2013 11:01 PM

That's great Esenthel!

I'm already playing with this, but i'm not able to push other physical bodies around, if I just use vehicle.mass() and set it to some non 0 value the vehicle simulation breaks.

**Esenthel** · 04-13-2013 12:09 PM

(04-12-2013 10:25 PM)Ezequel Wrote: Will there be a tutorial for this?

This will be in next release:

Code:

/******************************************************************************/

Memc<Actor>   actors;

SimpleVehicle vehicle;

/******************************************************************************/

void InitPre()

{

   EE_INIT();

   App.flag=APP_RESIZABLE|APP_MINIMIZABLE|APP_MAXIMIZABLE|APP_WORK_IN_BACKGROUND|AP​P_FULL_TOGGLE;

#ifdef DEBUG

   App.flag|=APP_MEM_LEAKS|APP_BREAKPOINT_ON_ERROR;

#endif

   Cam.dist=10;

   Cam.pitch=-0.4;

   D.viewFov(DegToRad(60)).mode(App.desktopW()*0.8, App.desktopH()*0.8);

}

/******************************************************************************/

bool Init()

{

   Physics.create(EE_PHYSX_DLL_PATH);

   actors.New().create(Plane(Vec(0, -1, 0), Vec(0, 1, 0))); // create ground

   SimpleVehicle.Params params; // setup vehicle params

   flt x=0.9, y=-0.5, z=1.8;

   params.wheel[WHEEL_LEFT_FRONT ].pos.set(-x, y,  z);

   params.wheel[WHEEL_RIGHT_FRONT].pos.set( x, y,  z);

   params.wheel[WHEEL_LEFT_REAR  ].pos.set(-x, y, -z);

   params.wheel[WHEEL_RIGHT_REAR ].pos.set( x, y, -z);

   PhysBody body; body.parts.New().create(Box(2, 1, 4)); body.setBox(); // create vehicle body

   vehicle.create(body, params, 1, 1); // create vehicle

   return true;

}

/******************************************************************************/

void Shut()

{

}

/******************************************************************************/

bool Update()

{

   if(Kb.bp(KB_ESC))return false;

   Physics.startSimulation().stopSimulation(); // update physics

   // set vehicle input

   flt forward=Kb.b(KB_W),

       back   =Kb.b(KB_S),

       angle  =Kb.b(KB_D)-Kb.b(KB_A);

   flt accel, brake;

   if(vehicle.speed()<=1 && back>forward) // if moving at slow speed and want to go backward

   {

      accel=-back   ; // set negative acceleration

      brake= forward; // set braking

   }else

   {

      accel=forward;

      brake=back;

   }

   vehicle.angle(angle).accel(accel).brake(brake);

   // setup camera

   Cam.at =vehicle.pos();

   Cam.yaw=Angle(vehicle.matrix().z.xz())-PI_2;

   Cam.setSpherical().updateVelocities(CAM_ATTACH_ACTOR).set();

   return true;

}

/******************************************************************************/

void Draw()

{

   D.clear(TURQ);

   Physics.draw();

   // draw wheels

   SetMatrix();

   REP(WHEEL_NUM)

   {

      WHEEL_TYPE wheel =WHEEL_TYPE(i);

      Matrix     matrix=vehicle.wheelMatrix(wheel); matrix.draw();

      Tube(vehicle.wheelRadius(wheel), 0.2, matrix.pos, matrix.x).draw();

   }

}

/******************************************************************************/

Quote:When the vehicle flips over, will it always flip back on its wheels like in the video?

That's not guaranteed.

Quote:I'm already playing with this, but i'm not able to push other physical bodies around

Please insert into above tutorial code this line to the Init function

Code:

actors.New().create(Box(1, 1, 1, Vec(0, 0, 2)));

for me it works fine.

Quote:if I just use vehicle.mass() and set it to some non 0 value the vehicle simulation breaks.

I recommend controlling vehicle mass through density parameter in the 'create' method.
However I've tried changing its mass during the simulation with

Code:

if(Kb.bp(KB_LCTRL))vehicle.mass(vehicle.mass()*2);

and it works fine, perhaps you've set the mass too big or too small somehow.

New SimpleVehicle class
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