Defining Awesome — Update report #2
  • Status Updates

  • Update report #2

    Written by . Posted at 4:12 pm on October 6th, 2008

    Today I integrated Box2D ragdoll physics with my Character Builder. I had 3 options to do this:

    1. Have a separate system for the animation ragdoll and physics ragdoll
    2. Have the animation ragdoll and physics ragdoll tied together
    3. Have one system for physics and animation

    I decided to go for option 2, because I already have two systems and this was the easiest way to integrate it. Basically it works as if the physics ragdoll was tied with ropes to the animation ragdoll. You can see this on the video. The green lines are for the animation ragdoll and the blue is the physics ragdoll. Animating this is super easy – you just drag the blue limbs. Click for more to see the video.

    Video from the Link-Dead animation editor:

    charb.gif

    The question: why use an animation system at all, why not just animate the physics ragdoll?
    Well, for performance reasons. If the gostek is not dead there is no point in using the physics.

    Be Sociable, Share!

    15 comments.

    1. HE HAS A BUTT


    2. Niko Šveikovsky

      Impressive.

      Glad to see that the new character graphics fixed the anatomy problems (from the looks of this) that the old characters had. They used to look like children.


    3. First comment after many months reading your blog, hehe.

      Box2d is awesome! I’m using it in my project too (but the python version).

      Good to see updates, keep up the good work.


    4. Good work has always :)


    5. lol it does have a butt! wow….
      that’s… hott…


    6. THRUST!


    7. “THRUST!”

      Heh… yeah, next time, MM, make the animation thrust it’s pelvis.


    8. rofl he does have a butt.


    9. snazzy IK mm
      make it so you can blow his arms off and he’ll keep running


    10. Real cool, i wonder what it look like when the physic body takes a shot during a runing animation. Should be amazing if both body works agaisnt each other !


    11. yea


    12. greatgrape

      MM said “if the gostek isn’t dead there’s no point in using the physics”, which means this physics engine is for dead soldiers and flying body parts only.


    13. But maybe the idea isn’t as bad and quite easy to implement. The “green connection lines” could simulate some kind of force that holds the body in the desired position of the current player animation state instead of simply fixing the body position. If one bullet hits the body, both forces would overlap so the resulting animation would be more realistic.

      I think the best in Soldat is the quite realistic Player movement. It is much more important for a good game feeling than a beautiful level-design, i think. You have the feeling of a real “controlling” of a human body, that is the main aspect that makes you wanna play over and over again i think. Why not make it more realistic? I always fell in love in details, maybe its only a problem of me :)


    14. Makron666

      That looks kickass, and you should keep it the way is is now.


    15. Future portability of Berserker?

      Can I play this in linux in the future?


    Post a comment.

    Links