Physics Based Animation (Graphics Series) (Hardcover)

~ Kenny Erleben (Author), Jon Sporring (Author), Knud Henriksen (Author), Henrik Dohlmann (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The booming computer games and animated movie industries continue to drive the graphics community's seemingly insatiable search for increased realism, believability, ad speed. To achieve the quality expected by audiences of today's games and movies, programmers need to understand and implement physics-based animation. To provide this understanding, this book is written to teach students and practitioners and theory behind the mathematical models and techniques required for physics-based animation. It does not teach the basic principles of animation, but rather how to transform theoretical techniques into practical skills. It details how the mathematical models are derived from physical and mathematical principles, and explains how these mathematical models are solved in an efficient, robust, and stable manner with a computer.

This impressive and comprehensive volume covers all the issues involved in physics-based animation, including collision detection, geometry, mechanics, differential equations, matrices, quaternions, and more. There is excellent coverage of collision detection algorithms and a detailed overview of a physics system. In addition, numerous examples are provided along with detailed pseudo code for most of the algorithms. This book is ideal for students of animation, researchers in the field, and professionals working in the games and movie industries.

Topics Covered: * The Kinematics: Articulated Figures, Forward and Inverse Kinematics, Motion Interpolation * Multibody Animation: Particle Systems, Continuum Models with Finite Differences, the Finite Element Method, Computational Fluid Dynamics * Collision Detection: Broad and Narrow Phase Collision Detection, Contact Determination, Bounding Volume Hierarchies, Feature-and Volume-Based Algorithms

Features: * Great coverage of collision detection algorithms * Good overview of parts of a physics system * Numerous examples with detailed pseudo code for most algorithms * Companion Web site includes additional content, pseudo code from the book, and exercises for appropriate chapters

About the Author

Kenny Erleben received his Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, where he is currently working as an assistant professor. Jon Sporring received his Masters and Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, where he is currently an associate professor. Knud Henriksen holds a Ph.D. in computer science and is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Copenhagen. Henrik Dohlmann is a Ph.D. student at the University of Copenhagen and employed in an industrial collaboration between the Department of Computer Science and the School of Dentistry.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 832 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media (August 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584503807
• ISBN-13: 978-1584503804
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.7 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #235,311 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended physics book, October 14, 2005

By	EJ Coumans (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been working in collision detection and rigidbody simulation for several years now and there are not many books that cover stuff needed to get the knowledge to be able to develop a modern physics engine.

Rather then filling half of the book with basic linear algebra and stuff that no-one actually uses when developing realtime physics algorithms, this one actually discusses the good stuff.

Contact points generation, comparison of collision detection algorithms, iterative solvers, sph fluids, fem deformable etc.

Just buy it.
Erwin Coumans
http://www.continuousphysics.com

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars need some undergrad physics and maths background, September 15, 2005

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The authors figure that you are already an animator. You know the rudiments of programming animation in some language, but want to add more realism to the actions in your games.

The point of this book is to teach you how to go from understanding simple but useful physics equations to implementing these numerically and efficiently in your game. Probably the most obvious context are the equations of motion - where your objects obey gravity. And they conserve momentum and energy, up to a point. That is, you can build in friction into your system, for more realism. Ideally, all of this should make your game more plausible to a player, by conforming to her real world intuition.

The book also gives extensive coverage to collision detection methods. In many games, 2d or 3d, if you have objects moving around, how to quickly see when they might collide? Efficiency is often a key consideration.

Having said all this, it probably does help if you have had several undergraduate courses in physics and maths. So that what the book brings up doesn't throw you for a loop.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Loaded with information, spotty derivations, crunchy typesetting, May 12, 2007

By	Brian Beckman (Renton, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recommend this book for breadth of coverage and references. However, you will find many of the derivations very lacking and you will have to do a lot of work to prove them to yourself. Also, the mathematical typesetting is very much below par (they should have used LaTeX, which is industry standard!), so your eyes will hurt. I find myself copying out their formulas just so I can read them.

Good book with some problems. I would buy it again.