Developed a small-scale 3D physics simulation featuring rigid body dynamics, collision detection and response, force accumulation, and angular motion. The physics system was designed independently of the rendering pipeline, exposing only transform data (position, rotation, scale) to the renderer.
Key Features
- Euler integration for linear and angular motion.
- Impulse-based collision response with penetration correction.
- Sphere-to-sphere and sphere-to-plane collision detection.
- Support for forces, torque, friction, and restitution.
- Modular architecture separating physics and rendering systems.
Technical Highlights
- Implemented rigid body physics using linear and angular velocity calculations.
- Researched and applied impulse-based collision response from academic resources.
- Identified the O(n²) collision detection bottleneck and proposed spatial partitioning to improve scalability.
Reflection
The project successfully demonstrates core physics simulation concepts with realistic collision behaviour and clean system separation. Future improvements would include additional integration methods (RK4/Verlet), broader collider support, improved numerical stability, and spatial partitioning for optimized collision detection.