SketchyPhysics3 Update.

CPhillips

HI Chris

These are very good news! At some point, I thought you got tired about this great project.

Hope you are doing better with your hand. Thank you so much for all the work you have been doing about SP. IMO, it's a fantastic piece of code.

I have a couple of questions regarding the new release:

Will it work under SU6 or do we need to upgrade to SU7 ?

Did you do any improvements regarding the object's density/weight ? The only thing I can see now is the defaultobjectdensity global property under Physics Settings. I understand this setting affects every object. I've read in another post from you that it's not useful right now, but you were talking about possible changes in the future then.

I think that considering different densities for different objects (like the real world does) would be a great improvement. Please let me know if we can expect something like that in version 3 or maybe in SPIV.

Best Regards and have a great year,
Jorge

As far as I can tell the current version 2.0b1 should work fine on SU7. I have been using it for a while. You would need to change the install path during installation to point at SU7 instead of SU6.

No changes in object density and weight in this version. Object materials are one of the features that is difficult in this code but will be possible in SPIV.

Platypus5

Chris, when you said that the joint connection tool won't be needed, what do you mean? How will we connect the right joint to the right object?

CPhillips

@platypus5 said:

Chris, when you said that the joint connection tool won't be needed, what do you mean? How will we connect the right joint to the right object?

Good question. Joints automatically connect to anything they are touching, coupled with the fact joints can be any shape or size. It works amazingly well.

Wacov

Hi Chris,
There's a bunch of stuff I'd like to ask, so here's a list...

Would emitters/spawners be possible in SPIV? I don't know if you've ever heard of LittleBigPlanet, but something like the emitter in that would be useful; with a named physics component being the object that is created. That would mean things like projectile weapons would be easier to make.

With keyboard/gamepad button controls, it could be helpful to have a toggle option; press once for on, again for off.

What's going to become of bouyancy in SPIV? Will the bugs be fixed? In the Newton playground, you could spawn bouyancy fields; will we be able to make these?

And finally, this is probably crazy, but do you think a sort of "explosives" joint would be possible? For example, something that, when triggered, creates a powerful force in all directions around it for a fraction of a second, something like the magnet joint as it exists now.

I hope at least some of this is possible... thanks!

Platypus5

@wacov said:

Hi Chris,
There's a bunch of stuff I'd like to ask, so here's a list...

Would emitters/spawners be possible in SPIV? I don't know if you've ever heard of LittleBigPlanet, but something like the emitter in that would be useful; with a named physics component being the object that is created. That would mean things like projectile weapons would be easier to make.

With keyboard/gamepad button controls, it could be helpful to have a toggle option; press once for on, again for off.

What's going to become of bouyancy in SPIV? Will the bugs be fixed? In the Newton playground, you could spawn bouyancy fields; will we be able to make these?

And finally, this is probably crazy, but do you think a sort of "explosives" joint would be possible? For example, something that, when triggered, creates a powerful force in all directions around it for a fraction of a second, something like the magnet joint as it exists now.

I hope at least some of this is possible... thanks!

While I am not Chris, I think I can answer some of your questions. Some of your things are set to be in SP3, others in SPIV, and others are not sure yet. At least Chris hasn't told us.

Cphillips has stated specifically that it will be possible to create objects using one of the controlers, and not in SPIV, but in SP3. However, it will require some coding so that the object knows when to clone itself, should it send it in a certain direction, at what velocity, etc.

And yes, I know that there will be keyboard input in SP3. While he hasn't said specifically how this will work, he has also said that oscillators will be able to work using a formula rather than a set number. (i.e. it goes down fast, rises slowly, goes down fast again)

Finally, breakable joints are schedueled for SPIV.

CPhillips, tell me if I got any of this wrong. I

CPhillips

@wacov said:

Hi Chris,
Would emitters/spawners be possible in SPIV? I don't know if you've ever heard of LittleBigPlanet, but something like the emitter in that would be useful; with a named physics component being the object that is created. That would mean things like projectile weapons would be easier to make.

Something like emitters are in SP3.

@wacov said:

With keyboard/gamepad button controls, it could be helpful to have a toggle option; press once for on, again for off.

No specific support for toggle, but I think you create a controller formula would act like a toggle.

@wacov said:

What's going to become of bouyancy in SPIV? Will the bugs be fixed? In the Newton playground, you could spawn bouyancy fields; will we be able to make these?

Buoyancy in 3.0 will be the same as 2.0. SPIV will have better buoyancy, but I dont know exactly what features yet. Probably volumes at least.

@wacov said:

And finally, this is probably crazy, but do you think a sort of "explosives" joint would be possible? For example, something that, when triggered, creates a powerful force in all directions around it for a fraction of a second, something like the magnet joint as it exists now.

If I finish the current magnet it would would support that. I hadn't planned on doing anything with magnet for 3.0 but I will think about it.

Keyboard support is done by having keyboard emulation of the joystick. The joystick now supports the full range buttons on a Xbox 360 style controller.

javawizard2539

I have a few questions about 3.0 and SPIV:

First, will it be possible to edit the friction of certain objects? What would be nice is to set an object to be "rubber-coated", so that it can grip objects really well. Although not directly related to friction, it'd also be nice to have some sort of "sand" attribute that causes objects moving across a particular substance to slow down, even if the object is round and can roll.

Second, will it be possible to add triggers for a motor, so that when a spring is pressed to a certain point, it sets the parameters of a certain motor to certain values? Here's an example of something I'd been wanting to do that would require triggers: a bowling pinsetter. When the pinsetter picks up the bowling ball and sends it back to the player on a track, it triggers a motor to lower the pinsetter. When it lowers all the way, another trigger runs that grips the pins that remain standing, and lifts the pinsetter back up.

Third, will it be possible to create custom scripts? It'd be nice to be able to write scripts in ruby that can control attributes of elements. For example, a multistory elevator could be made, where clicking on a particular object (the elevator button) triggers a particular ruby function, which would set the attributes of the motor controlling the elevator to shift the elevator in the direction of the door who's button was pushed.

CPhillips

@javawizard2539 said:

I have a few questions about 3.0 and SPIV:

First, will it be possible to edit the friction of certain objects? What would be nice is to set an object to be "rubber-coated", so that it can grip objects really well. Although not directly related to friction, it'd also be nice to have some sort of "sand" attribute that causes objects moving across a particular substance to slow down, even if the object is round and can roll.

Second, will it be possible to add triggers for a motor, so that when a spring is pressed to a certain point, it sets the parameters of a certain motor to certain values? Here's an example of something I'd been wanting to do that would require triggers: a bowling pinsetter. When the pinsetter picks up the bowling ball and sends it back to the player on a track, it triggers a motor to lower the pinsetter. When it lowers all the way, another trigger runs that grips the pins that remain standing, and lifts the pinsetter back up.

Third, will it be possible to create custom scripts? It'd be nice to be able to write scripts in ruby that can control attributes of elements. For example, a multistory elevator could be made, where clicking on a particular object (the elevator button) triggers a particular ruby function, which would set the attributes of the motor controlling the elevator to shift the elevator in the direction of the door who's button was pushed.

First is materials. It will probably be in SPIV. Second, no triggers in 3.0 again probably SPIV. Third, SP3 will have some scripting elements. I am still working on that bit so I dont know for sure what it will and wont be able to do.

xrok1

can't wait

ianbruce

Sorry to hear about the accident -- I couldn't imaging not having an useable mouse hand. Thanks for the update -- I'm thrilled to hear SP finally going to make it to the Mac. Thank you for you efforts.

More on the point, friction coefficients would be a welcome and powerful addition to SP. I could almost imagine eventually seeing a feature like quick-and-dirty CFD. That would be cool.