Ragdoll physics (Patreon)

We've begun working on a custom physics engine to be used in FurryVNE. This engine will replace inverse kinematics and will work in conjunction with the new animation systems. So you could say our entire new tech lineup is dependent on this work.

Since the animation is based off physical calculations, we hope this system will create a more engaging experience than before.

Custom engine

Here you can see things we've tested in this engine so far:

https://gyazo.com/d0076af0b9d412b74721c829b9a293b6

https://gyazo.com/bef5c89303db9d4365c1bc2c81b04772

Here's a torture test - creating a very difficult scenario for any physics engine to handle. Most engines will fail with such extreme forces. Ours can handle this scenario just fine:

https://gyazo.com/82a792e39254692c50346dc30f91eb7b

Comparison with PhysX

PhysX is the default physics engine in Unity:

https://gyazo.com/06852c1463e8de79724de510a4870da7

(NOTE!! Not ours!!)

Motivation

The reason we're implementing our own engine is in part due to PhysX suffering from limitations that cause undesired behaviors such as this. Not only for this kind of scenario, but in general.

By implementing our own engine and having full understanding of every nook and cranny about it, we'll have a completely customized engine that we can adapt to any need we have. This will come in handy for the animation systems, in which we will need to implement custom constraints* to enable different kinds of interactions.

Creating our own physics engine is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, since PhysX has always suffered from limitations and been a general pita to work with. Hopefully, with our systems, we'll be able to move beyond and create something very engaging.

* A constraint in this context essentially means code governing the behavior of a physical entity.

- odes