setting the angle of a b2revolutejoint - ios

From what I have read, in Box2d, you get the angle of a revolute joint with the GetJointAngle function, but when trying to set the angle the member m_referenceAngle is protected. Can the angle not be programmatically set?
I found that I can apply the angle from one joint to another body as:
float FirstAngle = firstArmJoint->GetJointAngle();
secondArmBody->SetTransform(b2Vec2((750.0/PTM_RATIO),(520.0f+100)/PTM_RATIO),hourAngle);
I put this in ccTouchesMoved so that when the user drags the first object (from which FirstAngle is retrieved) the second object (secondArmBody) is also moved.
What happens is that the second body rotates at the top of the image and not at the anchor point.
Any ideas?

SetTransform() can be used to set the position and rotation of a body. This happens completely independently of any joints on the body. For example, if you want to make sure a body is perfectly upright at a given moment, you can call
body->SetTransForm(body->GetPosition(), 0);
passing 0 as the angle value (upright). I've never tried this for a body with a joint on it, but I doubt it would work properly.
When I ran into the problem of having to make a revolutejoint point at a certain angle, I solved it by enabling motor on the joint and adjusting the motor speed until the angle matched the one I wanted. This simulates realistic motion of the joint. Example:
Creating the joint
b2RevoluteJointDef armJointDef;
armJointDef.Initialize(body1, body2,
b2Vec2(body1->GetPosition().x,
((body1->GetPosition().y/PTM_RATIO));
armJointDef.enableMotor = true;
armJointDef.enableLimit = true;
armJointDef.motorSpeed = 0.0f;
armJointDef.maxMotorTorque = 10000.0f;
armJointDef.lowerAngle = CC_DEGREES_TO_RADIANS(lowerArmAngle);
armJointDef.upperAngle = CC_DEGREES_TO_RADIANS(upperArmAngle);
_world->CreateJoint(&armJointDef);
Pointing the joint
float targetAngle = SOME_ANGLE;
b2JointEdge *j = body->GetJointList();
b2RevoluteJoint *r = (b2RevoluteJoint *)j->joint;
if(r->GetAngle() > targetAngle){
r->SetMotorSpeed(-1);
} else { r->SetMotorSpeed(1); }
Basically, you see what side of the current angle the target angle is on, and then set the motor speed to move the joint in the correct direction. Hope that helps!
http://www.box2d.org/manual.html

Related

Box2D: How to use b2ChainShape for a tile based map with squares

Im fighting here with the so called ghost collisions on a simple tile based map with a circle as player character.
When applying an impulse to the circle it first starts bouncing correctly, then sooner or later it bounces wrong (wrong angle).
Looking up on the internet i read about an issue in Box2D (i use iOS Swift with Box2d port for Swift).
Using b2ChainShape does not help, but it looks i misunderstood it. I also need to use the "prevVertex" and "nextVertex" properties to set up the ghost vertices.
But im confused. I have a simple map made up of boxes (simple square), all placed next to each other forming a closed room. Inside of it my circle i apply an impulse seeing the issue.
Now WHERE to place those ghost vertices for each square/box i placed on the view in order to solve this issue? Do i need to place ANY vertex close to the last and first vertice of chainShape or does it need to be one of the vertices of the next box to the current one? I dont understand. Box2D's manual does not explain where these ghost vertices coordinates are coming from.
Below you can see an image describing the problem.
Some code showing the physics parts for the walls and the circle:
First the wall part:
let bodyDef = b2BodyDef()
bodyDef.position = self.ptm_vec(node.position+self.offset)
let w = self.ptm(Constants.Config.wallsize)
let square = b2ChainShape()
var chains = [b2Vec2]()
chains.append(b2Vec2(-w/2,-w/2))
chains.append(b2Vec2(-w/2,w/2))
chains.append(b2Vec2(w/2,w/2))
chains.append(b2Vec2(w/2,-w/2))
square.createLoop(vertices: chains)
let fixtureDef = b2FixtureDef()
fixtureDef.shape = square
fixtureDef.filter.categoryBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Wall
fixtureDef.filter.maskBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Player
let wallBody = self.world.createBody(bodyDef)
wallBody.createFixture(fixtureDef)
The circle part:
let bodyDef = b2BodyDef()
bodyDef.type = b2BodyType.dynamicBody
bodyDef.position = self.ptm_vec(node.position+self.offset)
let circle = b2CircleShape()
circle.radius = self.ptm(Constants.Config.playersize)
let fixtureDef = b2FixtureDef()
fixtureDef.shape = circle
fixtureDef.density = 0.3
fixtureDef.friction = 0
fixtureDef.restitution = 1.0
fixtureDef.filter.categoryBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Player
fixtureDef.filter.maskBits = Constants.Config.PhysicsCategory.Wall
let ballBody = self.world.createBody(bodyDef)
ballBody.linearDamping = 0
ballBody.angularDamping = 0
ballBody.createFixture(fixtureDef)
Not sure that I know of a simple solution in the case that each tile can potentially have different physics.
If your walls are all horizontal and/or vertical, you could write a class to take a row of boxes, create a single edge or rectangle body, and then on collision calculate which box (a simple a < x < b test) should interact with the colliding object, and apply the physics appropriately, manually calling the OnCollision method that you would otherwise specify as the callback for each individual box.
Alternatively, to avoid the trouble of manually testing intersection with different boxes, you could still merge all common straight edge boxes into one edge body for accurate reflections. However, you would still retain the bodies for the individual boxes. Extend the boxes so that they overlap the edge.
Now here's the trick: all box collision handlers return false, but they toggle flags on the colliding object (turning flags on OnCollision, and off OnSeparation). The OnCollision method for the edge body then processes the collision based on which flags are set.
Just make sure that the colliding body always passes through a box before it can touch an edge. That should be straightforward.

Keeping Direction of a Vector Constant while Rotating Sprite

I'm trying to make a game where the sprite will always move to the right when hit by an object. However since the Sprite rotates constantly and the zero radians rotates with the Sprite causes my calculated magnitude to go the opposite direction if the sprite is facing left and hits the object. Is there a way to keep the direction of the magnitude always pointing to the right even if the zero is facing left?
// referencePoint = upper right corner of the frame
let rightTriangleFinalPoint:CGPoint = CGPoint(x: referencePoint.x, y: theSprite.position.y)
let theSpriteToReferenceDistance = distanceBetweenCGPoints(theSprite.position, b: referencePoint)
let theSpriteToFinalPointDistance = distanceBetweenCGPoints(theSprite.position, b: rightTriangleFinalPoint)
let arcCosineValue = theSpriteToFinalPointDistance / theSpriteToReferenceDistance
let angle = Double(acos(arcCosineValue))
let xMagnitude = magnitude * cos(angle)
let yMagnitude = (magnitude * sin(angle)) / 1.5
Not sure if this works for you:
I would use an orientation constraint to rotate the sprite. The movement can be done independent from the orientation in that case.
I made an tutorial some time ago: http://stefansdevplayground.blogspot.de/2014/09/howto-implement-targeting-or-follow.html
So I figured out what was going on.
It seems like the angle doesn't rotate with the Sprite like I originally thought and the vector that I am making is working with the code above. THE problem that I had was that I also set the collision bit for the objects which is wrong. If I only set the contact bit for the objects against the sprite the my desired outcome comes true.

Can I set anchor point of SKPhysicsJoint outside node?

Let's say I have two circles respectively at (0,0) and (0,1).
I have a SKPhysicsJoint between them and it is working good, now I want to separate them with a distance of 2 on runtime, meaning while physics are working in-game. How can I achieve this?
I've tried setting anchor points to (0,0) and (0,2) but something is bugged, although I see the joint it doesn't have any affect.
I want the circles smoothly push each other, as if the length of the spring has increased.
Everything works if I make a circle 'teleport' to a distance of 2 and then anchor the spring to it, but making a physics object teleport cause other bugs as you can guess.
Before adding the joint I 'teleported' the second object to the desired position, then added the joint and then 'teleported' back to the original position.
Here is the code piece:
SKSpriteNode* node1 = [_bodies objectAtIndex:loop];
SKSpriteNode* node2 = [_bodies objectAtIndex:loop-1];
CGPoint prev1 = node1.position;
CGPoint prev2 = node2.position;
node1.position = [((NSValue*)[positions objectAtIndex:loop]) CGPointValue];
node2.position = [((NSValue*)[positions objectAtIndex:loop-1]) CGPointValue];
[self AttachPoint:node1 secondPoint:node2 pos1:node1.position pos2:node2.posiiton] ;
node1.position = prev1;
node2.position = prev2;
it is working as it is, but I'm not sure how efficient this is. I wish SKPhysicsJointSpring had a 'length' parameter that can be changed over time.

Issue with GLKVector2's

I'm having trouble setting up vectors for an object in my code. I tried modeling my code similarly to the answer in this question: Game enemy move towards player except that I'm using GLKVector2's. I thought my implementation seemed correct, but it's really only my first time using vectors with GLKit and in general I haven't used them too much before.
My current code looks something like:
GLKVector2 vector = GLKVector2Make(self.player.position.x - self.target.position.x, self.player.position.y - self.target.position.y);
float hypo = sqrt(vector.x*vector.x + vector.y*vector.y);
float speed = 0.25;
vector = GLKVector2Make(vector.x/hypo, vector.y/hypo);
vector = GLKVector2MultiplyScalar(vector, speed);
GLKVector2 sum = GLKVector2Add(vector, self.target.position);
self.target.moveVelocity = sum;
Is it possible that my logic just isn't correct here? I'd appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks!
EDIT: just for clarification since I didn't really explain what happens.. Basically the "enemy" shapes either stutter/jump or just stick. They aren't moving toward the other object at all.
EDIT 2:
If I try using GLKVector2Normalize, then nothing moves. If I do something like:
GLKVector2 vector = GLKVector2Make(self.player.position.x - self.target.position.x, self.player.position.y - self.target.position.y);
float speed = 0.10;
// float distance = GLKVector2Distance(self.player.position, self.target.position);
// vector = GLKVector2Normalize(vector);
vector = GLKVector2MultiplyScalar(vector, speed);
self.target.moveVelocity = vector;
Then the movement works toward the player object, but only updates the one time even though it should be updating every second.
Two things:
There's no need to calculate the magnitude of the vector and divide yourself -- GLKit has a GLKVector2Normalize function, which takes a vector and returns the vector in the same direction with length 1. You can then use GLKVector2MultiplyScalar (as you do) to change the speed.
Your target's velocity should be set to vector, not sum, assuming that in the target's update method (which you should call once per timestep), you add self.moveVelocity.x to self.position.x and self.moveVelocity.y to self.position.y each timestep. As it is now, your sum variable will hold the position that your target should have one timestep in the future, not its velocity.

Jumping effect in games

I'm currently trying to make a basic platformer with XNA and I'm wondering how to create a "jumping effect." I currently have basic keyboard input which allows for sideways movement, but I would like my sprite to slowly progress into a jump rather than instantly teleporting there (right now I have something like Rectangle.Y += 40 every time I jump, making the sprite instantly appear there). Does anyone have any insight?
I'm not totally across how to implement this in XNA/C#, but in Flash games I've made I just added a vertical velocity property. I'll try write everything as C# as I can..
Example; create the velocity property:
float verticalVelocity = 0;
Vertical velocity should be constantly reduced (by gravity). Set up a gravity property somewhere accessible from your player:
float Gravity = 2.5;
And in your update() method for the player, increment the verticalVelocity by Gravity. Also increment the Y position of your player by the verticalVelocity. This will simulate falling:
verticalVelocity += Gravity;
Position.Y += verticalVelocity; // this may be -= in XNA, not sure where the y axis beings
When you hit a surface, the velocity should be reset to 0.
And finally, to jump, simply subtract a given value from verticalVelocity:
public void Jump(float height)
{
// Only jump if standing on a surface.
if(verticalVelocity == 0)
verticalVelocity -= height;
}
You'll eventually want to add gravity and possibly other forces to your game, so I highly recommend you save yourself a lot of pain and implement some kind of basic force system. This can be done using Vector2s, as you can just add them to the speed of your character. Then just apply an instantaneous force to your character to push it up.
If you really don't want to use a physics engine, you can make a Vector2 with the high point of the jump for the Y and the characters X, and then use the Vector2.Lerp method to interpolate between the characters position and the end point of the jump.
This is generally a very bad system to use, and I highly recommend you either use an existing physics engine, or make your own simple one.
use a sinusoidcode should look something like this:
float ground = 0.0f;
float angle = 330.0f;
jump(){
if(ground == 0.0f)ground = Rectangle.Y;
if(Rectangle.Y <= ground)
{
Rectangle.Y+=Math.Sin(angle/(Math.Pi*180));
angle++;
}
}
You can accurately create a gravity effect if you modify the ySpeed dynamically, as opposed to just adding 40.
You want to declare a ySpeed
ySpeed = 0;
Then you want to use an acceleration variable
acceleration = 0.25;
Okay, now that we've done that, let's add gravity, provided that our player isn't touching the floor.
if(playerLocationY + playerHeight > floorLocationY)
{
gravity = false;
}
else
{
gravity = true;
}
if(gravity)
{
ySpeed += acceleration;
}
Now that we've got that down, we want to include something that allows us to jump.
if(KeyPressed == UP)
{
ySpeed -= acceleration;
}
This will move our player in the upward direction
We now want to make sure we actually move, so let's add one last line and we're done.
playerLocationY += ySpeed;
Congratulations, you made it.

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