Position based dynamics

The most popular approaches for the simulation of dynamic systems in computer graphics are force based. Internal and external forces are accumulated from which accelerations are computed based on Newton’s second law of motion. A time integration method is then used to update the velocities and finally the positions of the object. A few simulation methods (most rigid body simulators) use impulse based dynamics and directly manipulate velocities. In this paper we present an approach which omits the velocity layer as well and immediately works on the positions. The main advantage of a position based approach is its controllability. Overshooting problems of explicit integration schemes in force based systems can be avoided. In addition, collision constraints can be handled easily and penetrations can be resolved completely by projecting points to valid locations. We have used the approach to build a real time cloth simulator which is part of a physics software library for games. This application demonstrates the strengths and benefits of the method.