Hi, checking out the terrain package at j3d.org is definitely a good idea. But let me add the basic trick you'll need for what you have in mind, regardless of the terrain engine you're going to use: To make a robot climb across mesh terrain realistically, you will have to do on-the-fly physics based on raypick information.
Example: Cast a ray down the robots vertical axis (or do this for each of its wheels, to get more data) and retrieve the altitude, normal and material of the patch of ground it currently moves on. Then, apply physics to the robot based on that information. Simple: If the robot is more than n units above ground, let it drop using gravitation. More complex: Orient the robot along the interpolated surface normal. You can easily create complex, realistic behavior using raycasting to gather environmental information, then applying basic physics. I once wrote a demo showing these techniques, but it was Visual Basic/DirectX, not Java. (Shame on me, how could I ever do such a thing :-) ) The demo's name is ERacer, you can find it for example on http://www.planetsourcecode.com HTH Wolfgang Kienreich -----Urspr�ngliche Nachricht----- Von: Discussion list for Java 3D API [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Im Auftrag von ZACZEK, MARIUSZ P. (JSC-DM) (NASA) Gesendet: Mittwoch, 25. September 2002 22:45 An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Betreff: [JAVA3D] ? 3D Terrains with Terrain Following ? Hi, I'm looking for some suggestions/links/examples/anything regarding Terrains. I want to make a simulator program which imports 3D models of vehicles into a 3D terrain and the user can control the vehicle over the terrain. Sort of like using the Sojourner (Mars vehicle) on a 3D Martian terrain...have the vehicle climb hills, be stopped by rocks. Well, I figured I'd make some 3D terrain using meshes/triangles so that I know the node heights for use in the terrain following...but meshes tend to be quite jagged unless you reduce the mesh size significantly and somehow get the heights correct. I then though about maybe making the terrain out of VRML as well...but I'm not sure if node heights is something I could get from the VRML file through Java3D. ANy thoughts on what is the best way to tackles this?....and I'm not looking for any infinite terrains. Mario Mariusz Zaczek NASA - Johnson Space Center Automated Vehicles and Orbit Analysis / DM35 Flight Design and Dynamics Division Mission Operations Directorate Bldg: 30A Room: 3048B Disclaimer: "The opinions, observations and comments expressed in my email are strictly my own and do not necessarily reflect those of NASA." =========================================================================== To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "signoff JAVA3D-INTEREST". For general help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "help". =========================================================================== To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "signoff JAVA3D-INTEREST". For general help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "help".
