PhysX deformable objects

Question

Is there any way to model a deformable solid object using physx sdk? I have read in the internet that it is possible to do it using physx particle system. In the sdk's manual, it talks about rigid body and particles. So I imagined that the particles would be a way to simulate deformable objects with elasticity parameters and fractures on the object when a force is applied. But when I read the related part in the manual, it just talks about debris, smoke and liquid behaviour. I checked the code snippets in the sdk. But I didn't see anything related to deformable solid objects. There is the cloth simulation but that is not what I want.

I want something which I can simulate bending, cracking, cutting and various behaviour of an object when a certain force is applied. I know that there is Apex for fracture simulations. But it is only for Windows and I do not have an access to a windows computer with nvidia cards.

My aim is to use the simulation engine for estimating the next state of a manipulated solid object in real life in order to track it in real-time by setting the right properties. Do you think Physx is the right way to go?

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of deformable body you want to have.

If the body is elastically deformable and you are able to empirically determine inflection points then you can simulate this kind of deformation using a set of joined rigid bodies and a mesh, skinned on skeleton. Examples are human body, mattress, tree trunk, et.c.

The approach above is less applicable for non-elastic deformations but only because simulated joints are elastic by default. There are several workarounds: using joint spring and damper, using joint limits, using multiple joints of different kind. You can simulate deformable car body using this approach.

And finally, if you want to have amorphous body then you better to use particle system and some kind procedurally generated mesh. Unfortunately, I can't say much about this kind of deformable bodies.