Simulate Rigid Bodies

 
 
 

Categories

  • Simulation

Description

Moves particles as if each of them were rigid bodies (non deforming) using the PhysX dynamics engine. Particles will intercollide based on their shape and collide with the input obstacle objects. More specifically, the node updates the position, velocity, orientation, and angular velocity of particles based on the following attributes:

  • PointPosition

  • PointVelocity

  • Orientation

  • AngularVelocity

  • Shape

  • Size

  • Scale

  • StaticFriction

  • DynamicFriction

  • Mass

  • Force

  • Elasticity

For information on using this node, see ICE Rigid Bodies.

The collision geometry used for the rigid body collision objects (obstacles) is a convex hull approximation.

The following shapes are use for the collision geometry of the rigid body particles:

  • Instanced geometry uses bounding boxes

  • Bounding spheres are used for the Sphere and Blob shapes. Points are approximated by very small spheres.

  • Bounding boxes are used for the Box, Disc, and Rectangle shapes.

  • Bounding capsules are used for the Capsule, Cylinder, Cone, and Segment shapes.

To create rigid bodies using the Bullet physics engine, use the Simulate Bullet Rigid Bodies node.

Tip

If you create collisions with particles using any of the Surface Interaction compounds (such as Bounce Off Surface), you cannot also make those particles into rigid bodies in the same ICE tree. This is because the Surface Interaction compounds use the Simulate Particle node, while rigid body particles use either this node or the Simulate Bullet Rigid Bodies node.

For information on creating other types of collisions with particles, such as bouncing, sticking, or sliding, see About ICE Particle Collisions.

Parameters

Reference

Reference to the geometric object to simulate.

Explore

Click to select the reference from an explorer. If the In Name port is connected, you can only choose references that are valid at the existing path.

Pick

Click to launch a picking session and select a reference from a viewport, explorer, or schematic view.

Ports

Inputs

Mute

Turns off the rigid body simulation.

In Name

Allows daisy chaining nodes to specify the reference. The scene path connected in this port is appended as a prefix to the reference string of the node.

Collide

Specifies whether the particles collide with each other and with the obstacles.

Precision

Specifies the maximum simulation frequency allowed. A precision of 60 means that the longest simulation substep would be 1/60 seconds.

Active

Specifies whether the obstacle collides with the particles.

Geometry

The collision object geometry. The collision geometry is approximated to the convex hull of the collision object.

NoteIf you want to use the actual shape of the collision object, you can use the Simulate Bullet Rigid Bodies node.

Elasticity

The elasticity of the obstacle material. The elasticity is combined with the Elasticity attribute on each particle to determine how much each particle bounces off this obstacle.

Static Friction

The static friction of the obstacle material. The static friction is combined with the StaticFriction attribute on each particle to determine how each particle starts sliding on the obstacle when it is at rest.

Dynamic Friction

The dynamic friction of the obstacle material. The dynamic friction is combined with the DynamicFriction attribute on each particle to determine how each particle slides on the obstacle when in motion.

Outputs

Simulate

The port to connect so the node executes.

Out Name

Allows daisy chaining nodes. Connect this port into the In Name port of another node to prefix the reference of the other node with the reference of this node.