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SECOND EDITION

Physics for Game Developers

David M. Bourg and Bryan Bywalec

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 Physics for Game Developers, Second Edition
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by David M. Bourg and Bryan Bywalec

Copyright © 2013 David M. Bourg and Bryan Bywalec. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents

Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Part I. Fundamentals
1. Basic Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Newton’s Laws of Motion 3
Units and Measures 4
Coordinate System 6
Vectors 7
Derivatives and Integrals 8
Mass, Center of Mass, and Moment of Inertia 9
Newton’s Second Law of Motion 20
Inertia Tensor 24
Relativistic Time 29

2. Kinematics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Velocity and Acceleration 36
Constant Acceleration 39
Nonconstant Acceleration 41
2D Particle Kinematics 42
3D Particle Kinematics 45
X Components 46
Y Components 47
Z Components 48
The Vectors 48
applicable copyright law.

Hitting the Target 49

Kinematic Particle Explosion 54
Rigid-Body Kinematics 61
Local Coordinate Axes 62

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 Angular Velocity and Acceleration 62
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3. Force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Forces 71
Force Fields 72
Friction 73
Fluid Dynamic Drag 75
Pressure 76
Buoyancy 77
Springs and Dampers 79
Force and Torque 80
Summary 83

4. Kinetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Particle Kinetics in 2D 87
Particle Kinetics in 3D 91
X Components 94
Y Components 95
Z Components 95
Cannon Revised 95
Rigid-Body Kinetics 99

5. Collisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Impulse-Momentum Principle 104
Impact 105
Linear and Angular Impulse 112
Friction 115

6. Projectiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Simple Trajectories 120
Drag 124
Magnus Effect 132
Variable Mass 138

Part II. Rigid-Body Dynamics

7. Real-Time Simulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Integrating the Equations of Motion 144
applicable copyright law.

Euler’s Method 146

Better Methods 153

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 Summary 159
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8. Particles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Simple Particle Model 166
Integrator 169
Rendering 170
The Basic Simulator 170
Implementing External Forces 172
Implementing Collisions 175
Particle-to-Ground Collisions 175
Particle-to-Obstacle Collisions 181
Tuning 186

9. 2D Rigid-Body Simulator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Model 190
Transforming Coordinates 197
Integrator 198
Rendering 200
The Basic Simulator 201
Tuning 204

10. Implementing Collision Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Linear Collision Response 206
Angular Effects 213

11. Rotation in 3D Rigid-Body Simulators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Rotation Matrices 228
Quaternions 232
Quaternion Operations 234
Quaternions in 3D Simulators 239

12. 3D Rigid-Body Simulator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Model 243
Integration 247
Flight Controls 250

13. Connecting Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Springs and Dampers 257
applicable copyright law.

Connecting Particles 258

Rope 258
Connecting Rigid Bodies 265
Links 265

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 Rotational Restraint 275
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14. Physics Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Building Your Own Physics Engine 281
Physics Models 283
Simulated Objects Manager 284
Collision Detection 285
Collision Response 286
Force Effectors 287
Numerical Integrator 288

Part III. Physical Modeling

15. Aircraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Geometry 294
Lift and Drag 297
Other Forces 302
Control 303
Modeling 305

16. Ships and Boats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Stability and Sinking 323
Stability 323
Sinking 325
Ship Motions 326
Heave 327
Roll 327
Pitch 328
Coupled Motions 328
Resistance and Propulsion 328
General Resistance 328
Propulsion 334
Maneuverability 335
Rudders and Thrust Vectoring 336

17. Cars and Hovercraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Cars 339
Resistance 339
applicable copyright law.

Power 340
Stopping Distance 341
Steering 342

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 Hovercraft 345
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How Hovercraft Work 345

Resistance 347
Steering 350

18. Guns and Explosions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Projectile Motion 353
Taking Aim 355
Zeroing the Sights 357
Breathing and Body Position 360
Recoil and Impact 361
Explosions 362
Particle Explosions 363
Polygon Explosions 366

19. Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Modeling a Golf Swing 370
Solving the Golf Swing Equations 373
Billiards 378
Implementation 380
Initialization 383
Stepping the Simulation 386
Calculating Forces 388
Handling Collisions 393

Part IV. Digital Physics

20. Touch Screens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Types of Touch Screens 403
Resistive 403
Capacitive 404
Infrared and Optical Imaging 404
Exotic: Dispersive Signal and Surface Acoustic Wave 404
Step-by-Step Physics 404
Resistive Touch Screens 404
Capacitive Touch Screens 408
Example Program 410
Multitouch 410
applicable copyright law.

Other Considerations 411

Haptic Feedback 411
Modeling Touch Screens in Games 411

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 Difference from Mouse-Based Input 412
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Custom Gestures 412

21. Accelerometers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Accelerometer Theory 414
MEMS Accelerometers 416
Common Accelerometer Specifications 417
Data Clipping 417
Sensing Orientation 418
Sensing Tilt 420
Using Tilt to Control a Sprite 420
Two Degrees of Freedom 421

22. Gaming from One Place to Another. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Location-Based Gaming 427
Geocaching and Reverse Geocaching 428
Mixed Reality 428
Street Games 428
What Time Is It? 429
Two-Dimensional Mathematical Treatment 429
Location, Location, Location 433
Distance 433
Great-Circle Heading 435
Rhumb Line 436

23. Pressure Sensors and Load Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Under Pressure 440
Example Effects of High Pressure 440
Button Mashing 442
Load Cells 444
Barometers 448

24. 3D Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Binocular Vision 451
Stereoscopic Basics 454
The Left and Right Frustums 454
Types of Display 458
Complementary-Color Anaglyphs 458
applicable copyright law.

Linear and Circular Polarization 459

Liquid-Crystal Plasma 462
Autostereoscopy 463
Advanced Technologies 465

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