Integrating a physics simulation library into animation software

Abstract

Creating realistic motion that appears physically accurate in animation software can be a difficult and tedious process if done by hand. For this reason, many software packages include physics simulation functionality to aid in this process. This thesis aimed to deliver a case study on integrating a physics simulation library into an animation package called Bongo. In addition to providing a better understanding of physics integrations for games, this thesis aimed to explain a physics library's integration within the context of animation. This was achieved by first exploring problems with traditional animation techniques for creating physics-based animation. After that, PhysX and Bullet Physics, two popular physics libraries, were compared with Bullet chosen as the library to be integrated. Finally, the integration was completed, and the implementation details were discussed. The implementation details cover the full cycle of physics simulation from 3D scene conversion to eventual playback for the animator.