Efficient modelling of flexible connectors

Simulation of rigid body dynamics has been an active research area for many years. Most applications of simulating rigid body dynamics require interactive performance and involve user interactions. However, meeting these requirements is challenging for two reasons. First, simulating a flexible (non-rigid) object is typically done by modeling it as a large amount of rigid bodies, which is a time-consuming process and is difficult to perform interactively. Second, in an interactive environment, the motion of rigid bodies may sometimes be intervened. However, such interaction cannot be modeled with typical rigid body dynamics simulation techniques, such as associating constraints or behavior functions to the rigid bodies, due to its unpredictable nature. In this paper, we present a method for simulating flexible connectors. Our method combines impulse-based simulation and particle system to support real-time simulation of flexible connectors, such as ropes or chains. It also handles interventions efficiently. © 2008 IEEE.