Simulating the Cumulative Effects of Multiple Impacts using 'Fracture Maps'

Abstract

Abstract Much research has been carried out within the computer graphics community to simulate the effects of collisions between deformable and rigid bodies, but little has been proposed to take into account the effects of one collision, on later impacts. We present a novel approach to model and retain information regarding specific impacts that can be used to better approximate the results of future collisions, taking into account non-visible effects caused as objects collide within a scene. We propose the notion of fracture maps to store and evaluate stress and strain factors for polygonal meshes in order to accommodate the cumulative effects of impacts, even if these effects are not immediately visible to the human eye. We describe the initial work carried out towards this research, including the methodology to create and update these impacts and how they can be used to determine both deformation and decimation of meshes from multiple impacts. We discuss requirements for completing the research, and future directions we would extend the concept further.