How to apply forces

Steps to apply external forces

The steps to apply an external force to a 3D character are summarized below:

Enable the character's kinetic behavior
Compute an external force
Apply the external force

Step 1. Enable Kinetic behavior

Enable the character's kinetic behavior using the method U4DEngine::U4DDynamicModel::enableKineticsBehavior() as shown in the snippet below. And set the character's mass to 1.0 using the method U4DEngine::U4DStaticModel::initMass(). See lines (line 3 & 4).

//Line 3. Enable Kinetics Behavior
myAstronaut->enableKineticsBehavior();

//Line 4. Set mass of entity
myAstronaut->initMass(1.0);

Step 2. Compute an External Force

Next, we need to compute the external force and apply it to the model using the method U4DEngine::U4DDynamicModel::addForce(). The following snippet shows the process:

void Earth::update(double dt){
    
    //Line 8. Compute a force=m*(vf-vi)/dt
    
    //Line 8a. Get the mass of the entity
    float mass=myAstronaut->getMass();

    //Line 8b. set a final velocity vector
    U4DEngine::U4DVector3n finalVelocity(2.0,0.0,0.0);

    //Line 8c. compute force
    U4DEngine::U4DVector3n force=finalVelocity*mass/dt;

    //Line 9. Apply force to entity
    myAstronaut->addForce(force);

    //Line 10. set initial velocity to zero
    U4DVector3n zero(0.0,0.0,0.0);
    myAstronaut->setVelocity(zero);
    
}

In line 8a we get the mass of the entity using the method U4DEngine::U4DStaticModel::getMass(). In line 8b, we set the desired velocity vector. In this instance, we want to velocity to be two units in the +x direction. Finally, in line 8c, we compute the force.

In line 9, we apply the force to the 3D entity using the method U4DEngine::U4DDynamicModel::addForce().

Since we want a constant force, we set the initial velocity to zero as shown in line 10 using the method U4DEngine::U4DDynamicModel::setVelocity().

(Optional) Remove Gravity Forces

To prevent entities from falling, the Untold Engine allows you to control the force of gravity through the method U4DEngine::U4DDynamicModel::setGravity(). If you want objects not to fall, the force of gravity must be set to zero.

//Line 5. Set gravity to zero
U4DEngine::U4DVector3n zero(0.0,0.0,0.0);
myAstronaut->setGravity(zero);

Result

Helper Functions

Here are some code snippets for your reference:

This snippet applies the appropriate force by providing the desired magnitude of the final velocity as an argument.

Note that in this instance, it is required to provide a force direction.

void Astronaut::applyForce(float uFinalVelocity, double dt){
    
    //force=m*(vf-vi)/dt
    
    //get the force direction
    forceDirection.normalize();
    
    //get mass
    float mass=getMass();
    
    //calculate force
    U4DEngine::U4DVector3n force=(forceDirection*uFinalVelocity*mass)/dt;
    
    //apply force to the character
    addForce(force);
    
    //set inital velocity to zero
    
    U4DEngine::U4DVector3n zero(0.0,0.0,0.0);
    setVelocity(zero);
    
}

Whereas this code snippet applies a force by providing the desired final velocity vector as an argument:

void Astronaut::applyVelocity(U4DEngine::U4DVector3n &uFinalVelocity, double dt){
    
    //force=m*(vf-vi)/dt
    
    //get mass
    float mass=getMass();
    
    //calculate force
    U4DEngine::U4DVector3n force=(uFinalVelocity*mass)/dt;
    
    //apply force to the character
    addForce(force);
    
    //set inital velocity to zero
    
    U4DEngine::U4DVector3n zero(0.0,0.0,0.0);
    setVelocity(zero);

}