Non-vacuum gravity simulator

BRL-CAD provides facilities for representing geometry, but limited capability for simulating effects on that geometry, such as gravity. There are basic forward-kinematic animation facilities and rudimentary joint rigging systems that can be used to simulate connectivity, but they were predominantly designed for animations.

This task minimally involves integrating or implementing a simple rigid body dynamics system that can be used for simulating gravity and basic newtonian physics. We want to be able to "turn on" the system and have a simulation take over. For example, you might model a scene with an ambient gravity force, model a firm ground plane, model a box up in the air, then turn on the simulation and watch the box fall to the ground plane onto a flat face. The system will need to be driven from a single time parameter so that frames can be rendered for animation and other visualization purposes.

A third-party physics system (such as the Open Dynamics Engine (ODE) or the Bullet Physics Library) can and should be used for this project in leu of implementing one, but selection of such a system will need to be discussed beforehand to ensure compatibility and maintainability. MIT/BSD license is ideal.

References

• src/archer
• src/librt

Requirements

• Strong familiarity with C/C++

Past Efforts

• GSoC12