IonGFX | Physics Character Controller

[DarkFact]

IonGFX Character Controller

Physics-Based (Newton Dynamics)

Current Features

• 100% Newton Dynamic Controller
• Programming Skill Level: Beginner
• Get up and running around in your levels fast! Collide with and navigate in your 3d world in mere minutes. Perfect for quick geometry tests.
• Optimized for FPS Games
• Fully Customizable Parameters
• Many actions can be Enabled or Disabled in the developers code
• Jump, Crouch/Crawl, Crouch/Jump, Run, Forward, Backward, Strafe Left, Strafe Right, Lean Left, Lean Right
• Stairs and Slopes are handled with ease, regardless of PCC velocity
• Stopping on stairs is possible if the geometry allows
• The PCC will not slide on slopes unless the angle is sufficient

Proposed Features

• 3rd Person Camera Options
• 1st/3rd Person swimming controls

Features are subject to change. This post is to familiarize the TV3D community with the
controller. Watch this thread for progress reports and announcements. ~IonGFX Team

Very simple to implement in your existing code:

19MB WMV Video Demo

[RuntimeError101]

Very nice!

[DarkFact]

@RuntimeError101: Thanks. 

We'll be updating this thread with our progress, so please check back. ~DF

[darqSHADOW]

Nice and smooth, great work!  I also really like the level design, slick...  =)

John

[JohnB]

Very Nice!

John B.

[DarkFact]

John and John, thanks!

We've got a few things to tidy up in the code, then we'll release a demo version for public evaluation. Keep watching!

[newborn]

This is by far the most impressive character controller I've seen available through physics. Congrats, you really rock! How well does it handle when you keep walking in a wall? Do you get stuck or get through thin walls sometimes?

[DarkFact]

Thanks, Newborn. 

How well does it handle when you keep walking in a wall? Do you get stuck or get through thin walls sometimes?

We have never gotten stuck in a wall or other object. We had issues with penetrating the ground plane on crouching at the beginning of development, but that's been solved for quite some time. Our goal is to get the PCC as perfect as possible, but it will undoubtedly take a few versions released and we encounter and overcome additional hurdles before that day comes. At this time, we've had no issues of being stuck or passing through thin objects by any of our testers.

[Hypnotron]

very slick DarkFact.  The stairs area for some reason reminds me of my favorite America's Army level "Pipeline." 

[DarkFact]

Thank you, Hypnotron 

Our physics genius, Lyrical, deserves the lion's share of credit for the PCC's functionality. I've helped here and there with pseudo code and designing the testing geometry. BTW, the level geometry, 3dsMax source files and materials will likely be shipped with licensed copies of the PCC as an additional bonus.

[Lyrical]

Hey all,

 Glad your liking the character controller, i only need to tidy up a few minor details then we will start dressing up the controller ready for you all to have a look at.

As DarkFact says, i'm sure we will run into the odd problem or hitch that we havn't catered for but so far we have given the controller a good testing with our testers and all seam well.

I have triied to keep the users functionality to anabsolute minimum, you don't want to have to setup every little detail at the start. In fact with only setting the inital PCC parameters you will have a fully functional controller without any further settings.

DarkFact has shown that the function to walk/jump/crouch are all very easy to use. There are other settings which allow for jumping while crouched, how much force to give when jumping and a seperate jump force when crouched. There are other functions but there will be in the documentation that will be shipped with the controller upon release.

If there is any further questions please post them here, i will be watching this thread.

Thanks for all your kind comments so far

Lyrical

Special Thanks to DarkFact who's 2 cents worth is more like a few bucks worth.
and Thanks to the ionGFX team for helping with testing.

[VonXorzist]

Uhm.. Maybe I´m just stupid but I´ll ask these questions anyways

Can I download the SDK?
When will I be able to download the SDK?
Is it going to cost any money?
How much?
Is it going to work with c++?

[DarkFact]

Hi VonXorzis, I can answer some of this, but Lyrical will have to answer the rest. The DLL is not yet ready for public downloading, but we should have a testing version available within a few days. Yes, the PCC will be a licensed product, but I don't know the price yet. Lyrical will have to answer the last question, but I believe it will work with any .Net compliant language.

[Waterman]

Remember this: Always when dealing with physics & Newton, you must test with a wide range of frame rates, especially the low ones preferrably down to 18, 20 or so. A low fps may produce unwanted surprises.

[DarkFact]

The code already dynamically adjusts for varying frame rates.

[Lyrical]

DarkFact has answered most of these questions thanks,

The last question of will it work with C++, The c++.Net and CS.Net should have no issues with running the inital release of the PCC

We are also creating a project version to run with Visual Studio Express editions also.

These testing version are all going to take time to get the projects coded and tested properly but we will have them available soon after the initial VB.NET DLL goes live,
You may even be able to test these before we get a chance, so your input would also be appreciated on that side.

I can confirm that testing has been done on several different PC's with different graphic card capabilities with regards to FPS, this as you are probably away does indeed throw up some interesting suprises. Also enabling and disabling the VSync option has also been tested along with Windowed and Full Screen. These area are still being worked on but we have tested these on numerious occation. I even have an old GForce2 that i use are 20 FPS
this did highlight alot of the problems for us.

I have no doubt we will encounter cercumstances where we havn't quite got something right, I have been programming for 20 years and released alot of large scale software not to be aware of this.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

PM me if you wish to have any specific questions you may wish to ask.

Cheers

[FiziK]

Dark I just want to say thanks for the help again. Your teams stuff is so amazing and really shows me the potential of tv3d. Looks awesome and im always checking back to see what you guys bring. Keep up the good work and I can wait to play a demo of your game.
-Nick

[DarkFact]

Hi Nick! 

Thanks for the compliments, brother. We're working very hard to prove that "indie" doesn't have to mean "amateur". Expect some very professional results using TV3D from our team. Keep watching and thanks again. ~Dave

[DarkFact]

Small Update:

Lean Left & Lean Right actions have been added.

[Waterman]

I can confirm that testing has been done on several different PC's with different graphic card capabilities with regards to FPS, this as you are probably away does indeed throw up some interesting suprises. Also enabling and disabling the VSync option has also been tested along with Windowed and Full Screen. These area are still being worked on but we have tested these on numerious occation. I even have an old GForce2 that i use are 20 FPS
this did highlight alot of the problems for us.

Ok, sounds good. The trick i use is simple: Simulate(min(elapsedtime, 0.05)). If the time consumed for one frame is more than 1/20th of a second, simulate even so for 1/20th of a second. This will unfortunately make the movement slow down, but it's an emergency valve.

You probably do something similar, maybe a bit more fine-tuned. What perhaps makes it  challenging for me is that i use no damping whatsoever. This can sometimes make the forces and counterforces go pendolino.

Always good to hear from people with long experience .