Hello Michael,

Since Moi is well suited for creating mechanical parts, would it be possible to integrate Open Dynamics Engine into it to facilitate basic simulation and visualization of mechanical joints and moving parts?
As I understand it Moi models would have to be meshed to create collision envelopes for ODE. From there the full range of physical forces and constraints in ODE (hinges, ball sockets, push-pull forces and so forth) would be available for simulation and the mesh objects in the ODE simulation could be used to update the position and rotation of Nurbs models in the Moi viewport.

This would be an interesting feature to have because you would see how assemblies of connected parts behave when they are moved by physical forces (like torque or a force impulse).

Interested to see what you think of the idea.

- curvemeister

here's a watchband-like example that could be simulated with ODE. By tugging on one of the links with a mouse you would see how the chain rearranges itself as one link is pulled in a certain direction. You could also simulate how a ring made of such elements would fit around a given volume (like a 3D model of a wrist or presentation stand) and how the elements would settle into place.

I guess everyone would want that but... it's going to be MoI 1.0, not MoI 10, there's a dot :)
Actually I wouldn't even think of talking about animation capabilities ....

Hi Curvemeister, it would definitely be very cool to do this!

But unfortunately it will be a long time before I would be able to focus on it, it is just quite a bit outside of the core mission of MoI which is to focus on drawing and modeling.

There are still a lot of improvements that I want to make just for modeling...

I've got to be generally careful not to attempt too many different areas too quickly, I'd rather keep focused on one particular area and really refine MoI for that area (modeling) before trying other things like simulation.

There is no doubt that simulation would be useful for many things and would also be fun to do, but there are just only so many hours in the day....

- Michael

I will glad if MoI have animation. But in my opinion, MoI should be consent on how to create 3D model with simple steps, easy to use, easy editing, easy manipulating. I think this will be the power of MoI.

About animation,
there are a lot of animation software now. I am using solidworks animator.

Let`s wait Michael idea and plan for MoI in the feature....

>>About animation, there are a lot of animation software now. I am using solidworks animator.

Realtime dynamics simulation has nothing to do with animation. It lets you treat your CAD model like a physical prototype - nudge it to see if it falls over or rolls over a table surface, manipulate moving parts interactively with the mouse and see how linked parts move, see the sweep of rotating or hanging parts in the design, open and close hinged parts like lids and covers interactively, put objects inside each other or stack them, or drop them on top of each other, and so on.

Having basic Newtonian physics simulation in the design process, which is what engines like ODE do, is a good way to spot potential problems early. It may save you from manufacturing physical prototypes with serious flaws or going back to revise a complex design that you have already spent a fair amount of time on.

I think that once you have realtime physics in the design process you won't want to design without it. How and whether it fits into the current development plan for Moi is a different question altogether.