In my app before, I was using box2D methods to move my bodies around but now I changed it so that I am controlling my CCSprites directly. Anyway I have this code:
myBody->ApplyForce(b2Vec2(AccelPoint.x, -40.0f), myBody->GetPosition());
myBody was a b2Body. And AccelPoint.x was the x value so my body could moves around controlled by the UIAccelerometer only on the X axis.
Also, the -40 was a constant for gravity.
So, what would be the equivalent in Cocos2D code?
Thanks!
You will need to store a velocity for the sprite, and every time step add a little bit to that velocity in the direction of the force. Then just move the sprite by the velocity each time step.
Related
I have made a game using SpriteKit and Swift 3 and have figured out all aspects of the game except the speed of the ball node in the game. Im confused with the different function applyImpulse() and ball.physicsBody.velocity, as I have tested both and don't seem to really understand what the speed I'm actually programatically settings is. Any clarification on what I should be using would be great?
Also whilst testing (by printing the ball's velocity to the console every collision) I would see sometimes the ball's speed would simply go to some long and random decimal value when it hit other nodes such as a paddle which I hadn't specifically coded anything to happen with the ball's speed in the case of a collision with it.
In summary I would appreciate:
Just general clarification regarding speed of the ball in SpriteKit and how I should approach it (what method/function I should use)
How I would make it so the ball's speed doesn't got to these very long random decimals
Thanks
In regards to the values, there is not really a set rule of what the values are for impulses and forces. It depends on how big your sprites physics body are etc. An impulse of 80 might be a perfect jump value for 1 sprite size, but than make it half the size and that 80 is suddenly way to high. There are also factors such as gravity, mass etc than can have an effect on this.
So you usually just play around with the values until you get the desired result.
In regards to the collision with the paddle, you need to check your bit mask values and your dynamic properties. SpriteKit by default sets collisions to all objects, so if you dont specifically tell your paddle/ball to ignore each other they will collide.
There are also things such as restitution, friction, damping etc that can have an effect on how you sprites behave when colliding.
There are loads of tutorials on google about SpritKit physic/collisions or read the apple documentation.
In regards to the difference between velocity and impulses/forces, as per apples documentation
"First, you can control a physics body’s velocity directly, by setting its velocity and angularVelocity properties. As with many other properties, you often set these properties once when the physics body is first created and then let the physics simulation adjust them as necessary. For example, assume for a moment you are making a space-based game where a rocket ship can fire missiles. When the ship fires a missile, the missile should have a starting velocity of the ship plus an additional vector in the direction of the launch.
When a body is in the simulation, it is more common for the velocity to be adjusted based on forces applied to the body. Another source of velocity changes, collisions, is discussed later."
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/GraphicsAnimation/Conceptual/SpriteKit_PG/Physics/Physics.html
So basically the general rule of thumb is this:
1) Only set the velocity property when you create the physics body. I never needed to do this for my games yet.
The only time I really use the velocity property is for things such as double jumping where I need to set it to 0 to have a consistent double jump
...velocity.dy = 0
...applyImpulse(
2) When you are playing the game already than
a) If you are trying to continuously move your ball you should use
applyForce...
in something like the update method of your SKScene.
b) If you want to make your ball jump, so basically a short 1 time thing, you should use
applyImpulse...
Hope this helps
I am making a basic app that pushes shapes across the screen and detects collision with Sprite Kit. My first attempt was using moveTo on the nodes. The issue I had was with collision, the objects would rotate around each other instead of bounce.
Therefore I found I need to use applyForce OR applyImpulse.
In this situation I have a circle for example that is position off screen at its start of life. We then determine a target exit point, and want to 'flick'/'push' the node in that direction.
I cannot figure out how to applyImpulse towards the target end position I have as a CGPoint. I need to get this to a CGVector but I am not sure what needs to be done. I had a look around and found some Ray tuts but they just show applyForce or moveTo. I am not sure how to calculate this.
I found a site that explains 2D physics well.
http://www.rodedev.com/tutorials/gamephysics/
With this I worked out what the angle needed to be and have a speed that I can control and it works well.
You can move an object by changing manually the x and y position so you can reach your end point. In the update function you change yourObject.position.x and yourObject.position.y if I have understood correctly your question. If not please be more explicit. Hope that helps.
I have working implementation of drag and drop feature written in Cocos2d + Box2d for iOS. I need to port it to Sprite Kit. The logic is pretty basic:
when user touching the screen, find sprite under the finger
create mouse joint between found sprite and the scene's physics body, set joint's target to position of touch
when touches moved, update joint's target to new position
when touches ended, remove the joint
Everything is working quite well. I like the way physics is simulated when touches ends - the dragged shape has velocity dependent on dragging speed and direction, so when I left my finger from the screen while moving the sprite, it will continue moving in the same direction, but now affected by gravity and damping.
Unfortunately, I'm not able to reproduce the same effect using Sprite Kit. There is no such joint like mouse joint, but I have tried using other joint types. I almost succeeded with SKPhysicsJointFixed - I'm creating new sprite and joint between it and dragged sprite, when touches moving I'm moving the newly created sprite. Unfortunately it doesn't work like mouse joint in Cocos2d + Box2d - while dragging the sprite, its velocity always equals zero. So, every time I left my finger from the screen, the dragged sprite stops immediately and start falling affected by gravity. No matter how fast I move the finger when dragging, after releasing dragged shape, it behaves exactly the same way.
My question is how to implement mouse joint in Sprite Kit, or how to implement drag and drop feature that works like described above?
Update:
This is a box2d mouse joint example that could give you more clear view on what I am trying to implement using Sprite Kit:
http://blog.allanbishop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Box2DJointTutorial1.swf
I'm pretty new to iOS development so I guess this might not be the best way, but this is how I solved it and it seems to work pretty smooth actually.
I'm using a UIPanGestureRecognizer to handle the touch event. I set this one up in my didMoveToView: with this code:
UIPanGestureRecognizer *gestureRecognizer = [[UIPanGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:#selector(handlePan:)];
An UIPanGestureRecognizer is passed to handlePan: and I check with recognizer.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded if the touched stopped. This is where I want to "release" the object and "let it fly away". For doing so I needed to calculate a few things, first of all I get the velocity of the finger/touch with this code:
CGPoint velocity = [recognizer velocityInView:recognizer.view];
(I use the same method (handlePan:) with other statements for getting the right object when touch starts, and letting the object be under the finger all the time by setting the position of the object to the location of the touch when moving)
Now I know the velocity, but I still don't know how much force I need to apply to the object. You should be able to calculate the force by this formula: Force = mass * acceleration. We know the mass (object.physicsBody.mass) and we know the velocity. To get the acceleration we need the time as well because acceleration = velocity / time.
In my update: method that is called every time a new frame is to be rendered I calculate the difference between the last time a frame was about to be rendered by doing something like this:
self.delta = currentTime - self.lastTime;
self.lastTime = currentTime;
I now can calculate which force that is needed to get the object moving in the velocity I'm "dragging it in". To do this I do the following:
[self.currentNode.physicsBody applyForce:CGVectorMake(velocity.x/self.delta * self.currentNode.physicsBody.mass, -velocity.y/self.delta * self.currentNode.physicsBody.mass)];
I take velocity divided with the difference in time since last frame (self.delta) to get the acceleration, and then multiply it with the mass of the object to get the force needed to keep (or actually getting) the object moving in the same direction and in the same velocity as it was moved by my finger.
This is working for me at the moment and I hope it helps other people too, and please tell me if I got something wrong or if there is a better solution. So far I have not found any "native solution".
If the only issue is velocity, then that is simple to fix.
Subtract the current touch position from the previous touch position to get the velocity between the last and current touch. Use applyForce: to apply this velocity to the body.
In order to prevent the body from moving on its own while dragging, read out the new velocity from the body after calling applyForce: and keep it in an ivar and set the body's velocity to zero.
When the touch ends, set the body's velocity to the one you keep as an ivar.
If this doesn't work, try using applyImpulse: and/or setting the velocity before calling any of the two methods, ie:
sprite.physicsBody.velocity = bodyVelocity;
[sprite.physicsBody applyForce:touchVelocity];
bodyVelocity = sprite.physicsBody.velocity;
sprite.physicsBody.velocity = CGVectorMake(0, 0);
That way you can keep the body's velocity without losing control over it while dragging.
I'm pretty new to Box2D and cocos2d. I'm trying to do something which I thought would be pretty simple, but it is turning out to be more difficult than I had expected and I cannot find a working answer anywhere.
Basically, I want to move a b2body and rotate it to a certain point with animation.
I can get it to the correct position and rotation with:
targetBody->SetTransform(b2Vec2(10.0f,1.0f),10);
But I have no idea how to animate it there over time. I tried using cocos2d animation on the sprite used for the body, but that doesn't do anything. Any ideas?
There are a couple of ways you could do this.
You could use SetTransform every time step to update the position of the body gradually over time, in effect performing the animation yourself. The drawback with this method is that the body is 'teleporting' to the new position rather than moving, so it has no momentum, which means you can get odd results if it hits anything along the way. Still, if you know it will not hit anything or does not need to react to a collision this would be ok.
The other way is to SetLinearVelocity and SetAngularVelocity to give the body proper movement. This will keep the results of a collision realistic, and you don't need to keep updating anything every timestep. On the other hand, you will need to detect when the body has arrived at the desired position and then set the velocities back to zero, otherwise it will just keep moving. For dynamic bodies you will also need to counter gravity somehow, either by setting the gravity scale of the body to zero, or by applying an upwards force to balance gravity, or by changing the body type to kinematic during the move.
In general, you use Box2D to simulate the physical behavior of objects in relation to each other. The rules of mechanics implemented by Box2D dictate how your cocos2d CCSprites move if you continuously update the translation and rotation of your sprites according to their corresponding Box2d b2Body. You will have some kind of repeatedly invoked tick: method in which you step your Box2d world along in time, and in which you update your sprite positions according to simulation results of Box2d.
This pattern corresponds to b2Bodys of type b2_dynamicBody. Physical laws dictate the motion of the body in this case, and your sprites will follow these simulation results. This is why setting a conflicting position of a sprite by means of a CCAction or even directly will be undone almost instantaneously with the next tick:.
Solution 1: kinematic body type
However, there do exist other modes for a b2Body, and one of these is b2_kinematicBody in which the translation is no longer governed by the world but by the velocities or angular speeds you dictate through setters. So it would be one solution to work with body type b2_kinematicBody as in:
b2BodyDef bdef;
bdef.type = b2_kinematicBody;
With this you would manipulate the velocity and angular speed of a b2Body explicitly. In this case, Box2d is still responsible for moving bodies around, but according the velocities you dictate, and without any force effects of collision or gravity applied to this particular body. Also with this strategy, your CCSprites will follow b2Bodys. Setting conflicting positions for your sprites directly or by applying a CCAction would not make sense for the same reason as described above.
Solution 2: decouple sprites from Box2d
An alternative way to animating sprites would be to fully decouple those sprites from Box2d. In this case, you would simply not have any b2Body that governs the position of the sprite you are going to animate. Now, in this case, only you will dictate the position and rotation of your CCSprite, i.e. directly either through its position property or by applying a CCAction.
I have tried many different techniques of applying a realistic looking gravity feature in my game but have had no luck so far. I plan on offering a 100 point bounty on this for someone who can show me or (share) some code that applies gravity to a CCSprite in Cocos2D.
What I have done so far has just been ugly or unrealistic and I have asked in many different places on what the best approach is but I just have not found any good looking gravity techniques yet.
Anyway, can anyone offer some tips/ideas or their approach only applying gravity to a CCSprite in Cocos2D without using a physics engine?
Thanks!
A effective approach without having to explicitly use any physics engine is to step the velocity and position of your sprite manually in your update loop. This is essentially Euler Integration.
// define your gravity value
#define GRAVITY -0.1
// define a velocity variable in the header of your Game class/CCSprite Subclass (neater)
float velocity_y;
-(void) update: (ccTime) dt
{
// Step the y-velocity by your acceleration value (gravity value in this case)
velocity_y += GRAVITY *dt; // drop the dt if you don't want to use it
// Step the position values and update the sprite position accordingly
sprite.position.y += velocity_y* dt; // same here
}
In the code snippet above, I defined a velocity_y variable to keep track of my sprite's current velocity along the y-direction. Remember to initialize this value to 0 in your init method.
Next comes the crux of Euler. At every time step:
Advance your velocity by your acceleration (which is your gravity) multiplied by dt to find your new velocity.
Advance your position by your newly computed velocity value multiplied by dt to find your new position.
You can experiment whether using delta-time or not (see LearnCocos2D's excellent comment on the cons of using it) works for your game. While multiplying by delta-time allows your object motion to more accurately take into account varying framerates, as LearnCocos2d pointed out, it might be wise to avoid using it in a real-time game where system interrupts (new mail, low battery, ads pop-out) can occur and subsequently cause the game simulation to jump forward in an attempt to make up.
So if you are dropping the dt, remember to tweak (scale down) your GRAVITY value accordingly to retain the right feel, since this value is no longer multiplied by the value of delta-time (which is ~ 1/60).
Aditional Tip: To apply an impulse to move the sprite (say via a swipe), you can affect the velocities directly by changing the values of velocity_x (if you have this) and velocity_y.
I have used this approach in my games, and it works very well. hope it helps.
This isn't trivial matter, you should try to see other posts. I'm sure other poeple already had this issue. Try to look at :
How to simulate a gravity for one sprite in cocos2d without a physics engine?
Cocos2D Gravity?
Or try our good friend google :
http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/ -> got to Math and Physics and then A Verlet based approach for 2D game physics
http://www.rodedev.com/tutorials/gamephysics/
In any case here are some tips :
Step 1, calculate the effective direction vectors
Step 2, calculate velocity
Step 3, project this velocity onto the two effective directions.
Step 4, generate an equal and opposite force for the two direction and call this the “response force”.