Real Physics for Power Users

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
1

I wrote an interface to MBDyn, which is an open source Multibody Dynamic simulation program. It includes real physics, kinematics, dynamics, aerodynamics, deformable structures, and pilot-in-the-loop operation. The user interface conforms with the standard Blender GUI, so it should not be too difficult for an experienced Blender user to give it a test spin. A thorough video tutorial is available at http://www.vimeo.com/3749933 , and much simpler tutorials are available at www.baldwintechnology.com/blender.html . The advanced functions require a Linux workstation and that Blender be opened from a console. Source code for MBDyn is available at http://www.aero.polimi.it/mbdyn/ , and v0.1.3 of the Blender Python script is now available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderandmbdyn/

This code is most useful for physically accurate simulations, and is not intended to be a gaming engine.

Doug

2

Thanks Doug,

This is very interesting.

<S>

3

Wow, this is some very detailed and impressive stuff.

The video is huge, I’m not going to watch it all now, but have just watched the first 15 mins (its 1am here atm)
Ill comment later once ive read all the stuff and watched the rest. Looks good though.

Hopefully this gets a lot more views and feedback.

4

AD-Edge…thanks. I’ll brief this at two major international technical conferences this summer, one on Helicopters and another on Multibody Dynamics. This script will continue to develop and be used for engineering design and analysis work.

By the way, I improved the sound track volume on the copy posted at www.baldwintechnology.com/video . I know its a very long tutorial. There’s some simpler introductory tutorials at www.baldwintechnology.com/blender.html . I’ve modified the interface somewhat since these simpler tutorials were developed, but they are still instructive.

You can build models in on a Windows machine, but to interact with the GameBlender engine requires Linux. I may be able to remove this constraint in the future.

Doug

5

A 16-minute, high-definition video demonstration of Blender and MBDyn is now
available. The video includes four demonstrations:

  1. a rendered swinging chain;
  2. an aeroelastic beam (think Takoma Narrows Bridge);
  3. a Bell 430 helicopter operating from a hover trimmed condition; and
  4. a rendered, built-up coaxial helicopter with external load.

The two helicopter models demonstrate pilot-in-the-loop operation.

You may view the video at the following sites:
http://www.vimeo.com/4837929
www.baldwintechnology.com (currently shown as the last video on the home
page)

The Blender and MBDyn script has been updated to v0.3.0 and is available at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/blenderandmbdyn . This release includes some
usability enhancements and the nlp and nlsf constitutives.

All of the Blender models shown in the demonstration video are included in a
zip file available at http://www.baldwintechnology.com/blender/models.zip .
These models and the v0.3.0 script were used to produce the demonstration
video. The Bell 430 model requires the enhanced “deformable joint” code
that was posted to the MBDyn user forum earlier this month, and which was announced
for a future release of MBDyn.

Doug

6

Hi, im currently making a saimultaion of a P51 Mustang. Ive programmed the Drag, Lift and Thrust physics. Does your script work with the game engine? It seems complicated (too complicated for a tenth grader), but can your script provide steering physics?

7

For a simple airplane game, the Bullet physics engine is best. This MBDyn code is for simulation of accurate real world physics, tied to the Blender rendering engine or using Game Blender as a way to provide realtime inputs to the simulation.

Doug