Verlet Integration (C)

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Synopsis

This is an implementation of Verlet Integration, a numerical method commonly used for approximating trajectories. It's made with the C programming language and OpenGL, a popular API for GPU rendering. See here for the Python version (outdated).

Key Features

  • Simulate thousands of particles (at 60 FPS) experiencing real-time collisions, arbitrary forces, constraints, and linking.
  • First person camera that can be controlled using the mouse and keyboard or animated along a path (Bézier curve).
  • Custom OBJ file parser to import models from external applications and convert mesh data into an OpenGL-friendly data structure.
  • Substeps, mathematical approximations, and sampling for improved simulation accuracy and stability.
  • Algorithms to generate structures like recursive Icospheres.
  • Mouse picking with a custom frame buffer to interact with objects in a 3D scene.

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Optimizations

References

  1. Math module by Felipe Ferreira da Silva for working with vectors, matrices, and common mathematical functions.
  2. Implementation of KD-Tree spatial partitioning by John Tsiombikas.
  3. GLEW for "wrangling" OpenGL functions and GLFW for window management.

Applying/releasing an attractive force w/ the Keyboard

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Linking particles into a "Net"

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Icosphere which maintains its pressure using Ideal Gas Law

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System Specs.

  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)
  • Chip - Apple M1
  • Memory - 8 GB
  • OS - Monterey Version 12.1

I have no idea if this will run on your machine but you're welcome to try by calling make in the root directory followed by ./app