Proposing an Open-Source Dynamic Physically-Simulated Character Animation Library

Danathus · 2010-03-16T22:48:48

Hey everybody, I've done some work lately with ODE (the Open Dynamics Engine, a physics library) and CAL3D (Character Animation Library 3D, a graphics engine-independent skeletal animation library) to create some ragdolls for an application using the Delta3D game engine. It occurred to me that this could be pushed further to realize a dream I've had for some time of creating a dynamic physically-based character animation system. I started wondering what might be out there already in this direction, and having done some research, all I came across was something called "ODECAL" that was purportedly a ragdoll library based on top of ODE and CAL3D, except that it was apparently ONLY mentioned in some book that I can't find the text for online (so there's no website, it's not hosted anywhere, etc)...and something called DANCE, which looks really cool and can be found here http://www.magix.ucla.edu/dance/. The problem with DANCE is that its creators absolutely PROHIBIT commercial use, as it's meant to be exclusively for academic research. Well, that won't do for my purposes at all -- what I want to see is something both open-source and free for either commercial or non-commercial use. I'm admittedly still probably under-read on my open-source licenses, but I think I like the sound of LGPL, since the philosophy of "if you improve it, give back" resonates well with my philosophy. Basically what I want to see is (until I am convinced otherwise -- I happily encourage anyone to tell me things I don't know) an open-source LGPL'ed library based on top of CAL3D (unless there's a better graphics engine independent character animation lib out there?) and...probably PAL for physics? Has PAL been well-accepted as a standard intermediary for physics engines? If anyone has seen any sort of library like what I'm looking for, please LET ME KNOW! Otherwise, I am looking to start such a thing -- probably hosted at source forge. I don't have a good name for the thing yet (DANCE is a fantastic name, but it's sadly already taken) but am totally open to suggestions. Mainly, right here I'm looking to find like-minded souls, gauge / drum-up interest in this sort of library, inquire as to the common pool of knowledge about what's already out there, see who else might be interested in such a project, and maybe bounce back and forth some design ideas. Whaddayasay?

Engines and Middleware Programming

Started by Danathus June 11, 2008 06:56 PM

19 comments, last by Danathus 14 years, 1 month ago

Danathus

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March 16, 2010 10:48 PM

Hey everybody, I'm resurrecting this thing.

The reason why nothing has happened so far is because I was more or less waiting until I went back to school full time, so I could dedicate myself to this project. A lot of time passed and I didn't manage to successfully pull myself away from work. In today's economy, it might be a good idea for me to wait while I do have a steady job.

That said, I think I can manage to work on this part time, and I do have something to start this project with.

So, it's in its infancy, but here it is:

http://code.google.com/p/react3d/

^ There is some code in there, which I am still working on. Anyone interested, please check it out and let me know what you think. If you want to help collaborate, let me know, and I'll see about figuring out the required permissions.

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Proposing an Open-Source Dynamic Physically-Simulated Character Animation Library

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Proposing an Open-Source Dynamic Physically-Simulated Character Animation Library

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