Physics for Games Developers

As a naval architect and marine engineer, David M. Bourg performs computer simulations and develops analysis tools that measure such things as hovercraft performance and the effect of waves on the motion of ships and boats. He teaches at the college level in the areas of ship design, construction and analysis. On occasion, David also lectures at high schools on topics such as naval architecture and software development. In addition to David's practical engineering background, he's professionally involved in computer game development and consulting through his company, Crescent Vision Interactive. Current projects include a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, several Java-based multiplayer games, and the porting of Hasbro's "Breakout" to the Macintosh.

Table of Contents Preface 1. Basic Concepts Newton's Laws of Motion Units and Measures Coordinate System Vectors Mass,Center of Mass,and Moment of Inertia Newton's Second Law of Motion Inertia Tensor 2. Kinematics Introduction Velocity and Acceleration Constant Acceleration Nonconstant Acceleration 2D Particle Kinematics 3D Particle Kinematics Kinematic Particle Explosion Rigid Body Kinematics Local Coordinate Axes Angular Velocity and Acceleration 3. Force Introduction Force Fields Friction Fluid Dynamic Drag A Note on Pressure Buoyancy Springs and Dampers Force and Torque 4. Kinetics Particle Kinetics in 2D Particle Kinetics in 3D Rigid Body Kinetics 5. Collisions Impulse-Momentum Principle Impact Linear and Angular Impulse Friction 6. Projectiles Simple Trajectories Drag Magnus Effect Variable Mass 7. Aircraft Geometry Lift and Drag Other Forces Control Modeling 8. Ships Flotation Volume Resistance Virtual Mass 9. Hovercraft How They Work Resistance 10. Cars Resistance Power Stopping Distance Roadway Banking 11. Real-Time Simulations Integrating the Equations of Motion Euler's Method Other Methods 12. 2D Rigid Body Simulator Model Integration Flight Controls Rendering 13. Implementing Collision Response Linear Collision Response Angular Effects 14. Rigid Body Rotation Rotation Matrices Quaternions 15. 3D Rigid Body Simulator Model Integration Flight Controls Rendering 16. Multiple Bodies in 3D Model Integration Collision Response Tuning 17. Particle Systems Model Integration Collision Response Tuning Appendix A: Vector Operations Appendix B: Matrix Operations Appendix C: Quaternion Operations Bibliography Index