Timewarp rigid body simulation

The traditional high-level algorithms for rigid body simulation work well for moderate numbers of bodies but scale poorly to systems of hundreds or more moving, interacting bodies. The problem is unnecessary synchronization implicit in these methods. Jefferson´s timewarp algorithm (Jefferson 85) is a technique for alleviating this problem in parallel discrete event simulation. Rigid body dynamics, though a continuous process, exhibits many aspects of a discrete one. With modification, the timewarp algorithm can be used in a uniprocessor rigid body simulator to give substantial performance improvements for simulations with large numbers of bodies. This paper describes the limitations of the traditional high-level simulation algorithms, introduces Jefferson´s algorithm, and extends and optimizes it for the rigid body case. It addresses issues particular to rigid body simulation, such as collision detection and contact group management, and describes how to incorporate these into the ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: SIGGRAPH
• Authors: Brian Mirtich
• Keywords: Computer Graphics, Rigid Body, Rigid Body Simulation, SIGGRAPH 2000, Timewarp Algorithm