Game Physics Engine Development: How to Build a Robust Commercial-Grade Physics Engine for your Game

by Ian Millington

Overview

Physics is really important to game programmers who need to know how to add physical realism to their games. They need to take into account the laws of physics when creating a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer or player.The game engine ne

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498717588
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	07/23/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	552
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ian Millington is a partner of IPR Ventures, a consulting company developing next-generation AI technologies for entertainment, modeling, and simulation. Previously he founded Mindlathe Ltd, the largest specialist AI middleware company in computer games, working with on a huge range of game genres and technologies. He has a long background in AI, including PhD research in complexity theory and natural computing. He has published academic and professional papers and articles on topics ranging from paleontology to hypertext.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Particle Physics: The Mathematics of Particles. The Laws of Motion. The Particle Physics Engine. Mass Aggregate Physics: Adding General Forces. Springs and Spring-Like Things. Hard Constraints. The Mass Aggregate Physics Engine. Rigid-Body Physics: The Mathematics of Rotations. Laws of Motion for Rigid Bodies. The Rigid-Body Physics Engine. Collision Detection: Collision Detection. Generating Contacts. Contact Physics: Collision Resolution. Resting Contacts and Friction. Stability and Optimization. Putting It All Together. Further Topics in Physics: Physics in Two Dimensions. Other Programming Languages. Other Types of Physics. Appendices: Useful Inertia Tensors. Useful Friction Coefficients. Mathematics Summary

Editorial Reviews

Praise for 1st edition:

"The first game physics book to emphasize building an actual engine...his book fills a gap by demonstrating how you actually build a physics engine." - Dave Eberly, President, Geometric Tools.

"A competent programmer with sufficient mathematical sophistication could build a physics engine just from the text and equations—even without the accompanying source code. You can't say this about a lot of books!" - Philip J. Schneider, Industrial Light & Magic.

From the Publisher