The True Axis Physics SDK has two different of calculating the forces that result from collisions. These are referred to as the fast solver and the slow solver.
- Slow Solver
- The slow solver uses a complex method for calculating the response to collisions involving groups of objects. The method is balanced between realism and speed. It attempts to uphold Newtons laws of motion so that objects would approximately behave as they in the real world. Although this method is fast for a small number of objects and collisions it does not scale up efficiently. It becomes impractically slow and memory hungry for real time physics when approaching 100s of objects with 1000s of collisions between them. Although it provides an accurate response in most situations, it can sometimes be unpredictably unstable. In these cases, the True Axis Physics SDK falls back to the fast solver.
For those with further interest, the slow solver is extended from Dantzig’s algorithm. It differers from many other implementations and literature by being impulse based rather then force based.
- Fast Solver
- The fast solver is designed with the goal of speed and uses "smoke and mirror" tricks rather then approximating real world physics to achieve this. By not aiming to provide a physically accurate response in all situations, the fast solver is can use algorithms that produce results that appear real to the naked eye in most situations, yet are efficient and scalable. The fast solver can handle 1000s of collisions at once comfortably in real time.
For those with further interest, the fast solver uses collision ordering and shock propagation methods.
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