Weekly Summary

This week was filled with a wide array of experimentation on building the structure of softbody physics for our assignment. We started the week by continuing on the work from last week using the open source library on softbody deformations, but unfortunately we were running into the issue that as we deformed the game object, the mesh was not changing, which meant that the object didn’t interact properly with other objects in the environment. We therefore pivoted towards paid assets from the unity store (linked below). We had considered these libraries from the start but had hoped that something free would be sufficient; however, this was not the case. As of now, we are working with the Yue softbody library. Thus far, the interactions work with a mesh of any shape, which allows us to have a vase object as we originally hoped. Additionally, we have made the objects interactable in VR, without having the objects grow exponentially when touched. Our next steps include making the interactions mimic the deformations that we desire, as well as altering how gravity affects the object because right now it appears that the mesh deflates when it is just stationary.

Team Member Contributions

Zoe: Experimented with both the Obi and Yue assets, as well as made efforts towards manipulating the on pointer click functionality such that the object is only deformed in the location that is interacted with.

Joanie: Wrote snippet 4, interpreted the code for the softbody scripts, as well as debugged the functions we wrote regarding allowing the objects interactable.

Emi: Experimented with both the Obi and Yue assets, as well as found all the objects from sketchfab that we are utilizing. Wrote the functions that make the objects interactable.

Madrona: Researched the paid assets we wanted to purchase and asked permission from John, as well as contributed to understanding the physics behind the various variables in the softbody components.

All team members contributed pretty evenly to the experimentation with the code and manipulation of the objects. Decision making regarding which avenue to pursue (i.e., continuing to manipulate the open source library versus a paid assets) were made collectively.

New Features

  • Yue softbody scripts on a game object
  • the game object we are using is a vase, accessed from sketchfab
  • We also made the user interface a bit more appealing, with a colorful floor and a pedestal to hold the ceramic object

Files for Review

  • As of current, this script is the most relevant to the changes we have made

Blocking Issues

  • We are still struggling a bit with the equations on how to make only a piece of the mesh deform
  • The scripts we have written have a bit of a ‘bounce-back’ or jellylike property, which we ultimately want to eliminate and instead have the deformations remain after being interacted with

Links