We present an algorithm for fast, physically accurate simulation of deformable objects suitable for real time animation and virtual environment interaction. We describe the boundary integral equation formulation of static linear elasticity as well as the related Boundary Element Method (BEM) discretization technique. In addition, we show how to exploit the coherence of typical interactions to achieve low latency; the boundary formulation lends itself well to a fast update method when a few boundary conditions change. The algorithms are described in detail with examples from ArtDefo, our implementation.
Doug L. James, Dinesh K. Pai