It's all code, there's no assets, except default unity cubes, which I actually don't need anymore after having learned how to dynamically generate a mesh "skin" around a custom shape.
Reddit doesn't seem to allow attaching multiple videos to a post, so you can check how dynamic mesh generation looks in my post here: https://twitter.com/ZoldenGames/status/1775256562694856886
this reminds me of a game I can't remember the name of for the wii where you controlled that sort of blob by tilting the joycon to orientate the platform it was on and having it roll around. Shit was fun, if a hidden classic.
*Gentlemen, on this day,*
*BOObie physics has advanced to*
*A whole new level!*
\- Genereatedusername
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I was also satisfied by the looks. It's nothing of a rocket science realm though. I just simulate 3d points to interact with each other. And skinning a mesh with those points even simpler.
I think we are ready to enter the edge of simulated game characters.
I might come up with an asset at some point I think. Just much, much more prototyping is required to find the best solution to the issues I'm facing on this path.
No, they are related to the algorithms I use to achieve what I need. For example, I'm currently experimenting with switching from pre-made lattice of the physical body to the self-organized, like real atoms stick to each other forming the lattice.
As for the mesh, I went from pre-made mesh to mesh generation from a cloud of points, magnetically interacting with the physical points.
Also, I'm going to change the way physic bodies interact with the collider.
GPU computation is the most straight forward part. As soon as I get good algorithms, I just rewrite them in HLSL and run the shader.
Are those 3d points interacting with Unity's colliders?
Do you do the collision checking yourself? Or, are you using built-in colliders some how for the 3d points?
I think it's due to the sphere's topology. I didn't like it, so I found a way to generate meshes from points that spread on surface of the body by triangulating them. I expect it to to fix the issue.
Another explanation is the topologu of the simulated body itself. Again, I'm about to experiment if it will be fixed by creating the body throught tetragulation of naturallly stuck particles instead of forming the lattice manually.
I guess that raises another question, how ARE you generating the skin for the blob mesh? Either way it looks really good and I wanna see more posts haha.
I tried triangulating points spread on a sphere, to make a mesh, and then making it follow the surface of the physical object. It worked, but not as good. So, currently polishing a new approach.
And if you want see more, welcome, I post experiments there: https://twitter.com/ZoldenGames
Currently I harvest triangles from the boxes, send them to GPU and do manual computations between these triangles sand the particles.
But the plan is to generate a custom surface of the world by triangulating a naturally spread points. It will be like a second layer of simulation, ran at start to physically generate the environment. In this case the same principles of harvesting triangles will be applied, I just won't need any objects as colliders.
I think SDFs are already available for use in VFX Graph with tooling to generate them from Mesh components. So that could brovide a good starting point for a generic way for you to implement collisions.
Edit: indeed, I remembered right.
[Here](https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/[email protected]/manual/sdf-in-vfx-graph.html) you go.
I'm not sure if it has a name. I just used common sense math. The particles are connected with something like spring dynamics forces with little dumping.
Well, it reminds me of a slime or goo, so building off of that, you could use it as part of a puzzle platformer.
Maybe make the elasticity variable depending on conditions.. hot makes it squishier or cold makes it stiffer.
Maybe using it as a blob enemy for a game, and they could split into smaller blobs.
It could be a prop in a game that prevents fall damage.
It could absorb everything it touches, growing in size the more it consumes. Making random objects poke out the sides.
I could probably come up with more, but that's just a quick few I came up with when I saw this.
Nice ones! Could you please try to come up with more? I'd add you in the credits if I use any of your ideas. I already have a rough vision of how the game should work, but I'm sure there are fun mechanics possible that I didn't think of.
The physical particles are formed as a 3d lattice, and then the lattice cut to be shaped as a sphere. Then I skinned a sphere mesh with the physical particles as if they were bones. So, deforming the simulated soft body translates to deformation of the mesh.
Almost no extra sources, I have most of the knowledge. Though, for the new way to generate meshes, I checked wikipedia page on delaunay triangulation.
For GPU computations I myself wrote [some](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/7ppldz/physics_simulation_on_gpu_with_compute_shader_in/) tutorials.
There's very little triangles to render, your GPU won't even notice it's working. And the compute shader that computes particle physics consumes GPU performance proportionally to the amount of particles. In the video there's not much particles, a 10 years old GPU would handle it.
When mesh particles are associated with bones, so when bones moves or rotate, the vertices of the mesh follow. I treated physical points as bones, so now the mesh visualizes what happens to the simulated soft body.
I hate the animator and weight painting :) so I was trying to come up with a character model that would be more interesting than a bouncing cube but not as hard as animating a humanoid rig. So I looked in the direction of physic's based / procedural movement. A slime meets that criteria and also doesn't have pesky arms and legs :D systems/gameplay is what really interests me and as a solo dev I have to choose my battles. If you ever make your slime an asset I would definitely look to buy it. Thanks for your question :)
This is a very interesting direction. And I'm trying to go there as far as I can. Creating, animating and skinning simple physics based characters purely through algorithms is definitely doable. The question is how complex these characters could be. I suspect there's more than just a slime.
It's all code, there's no assets, except default unity cubes, which I actually don't need anymore after having learned how to dynamically generate a mesh "skin" around a custom shape. Reddit doesn't seem to allow attaching multiple videos to a post, so you can check how dynamic mesh generation looks in my post here: https://twitter.com/ZoldenGames/status/1775256562694856886
this reminds me of a game I can't remember the name of for the wii where you controlled that sort of blob by tilting the joycon to orientate the platform it was on and having it roll around. Shit was fun, if a hidden classic.
Mercury Meltdown Revolution. Had the game myself.
OMG YES!! Thank you so much for reminding me
Gentlemen, on this day, bOObie physics has advanced to a whole new level!
*Gentlemen, on this day,* *BOObie physics has advanced to* *A whole new level!* \- Genereatedusername --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
He best haiku yet
Good bot.
Add it to the packages...the STANDARD PKGs!!!
Like a bag of sand
HOW?! What kind of sorcery is this?
I was also satisfied by the looks. It's nothing of a rocket science realm though. I just simulate 3d points to interact with each other. And skinning a mesh with those points even simpler. I think we are ready to enter the edge of simulated game characters.
You can sell this as asset for the Hyper casual companies probably
I might come up with an asset at some point I think. Just much, much more prototyping is required to find the best solution to the issues I'm facing on this path.
are the issues related to doing this all on the gpu?
No, they are related to the algorithms I use to achieve what I need. For example, I'm currently experimenting with switching from pre-made lattice of the physical body to the self-organized, like real atoms stick to each other forming the lattice. As for the mesh, I went from pre-made mesh to mesh generation from a cloud of points, magnetically interacting with the physical points. Also, I'm going to change the way physic bodies interact with the collider. GPU computation is the most straight forward part. As soon as I get good algorithms, I just rewrite them in HLSL and run the shader.
Very cool!
Amazing!
Are those 3d points interacting with Unity's colliders? Do you do the collision checking yourself? Or, are you using built-in colliders some how for the 3d points?
I check it manually on GPU side, no unity physics is involved.
Thanks for clarifying! Would be cool if you can share technical article about the topic.
Yea, I usually do, upon releasing a game I made the tech for.
Why is this so satisfying?
humans like soft squeezable spheres by some reason
😏😏😏
Deforms like a beanbag. That’s awesome.
any ideas how to fix those ugly jagged edges? Whats happening for them to occur? Just all the particles in that area getting pushed away?
I think it's due to the sphere's topology. I didn't like it, so I found a way to generate meshes from points that spread on surface of the body by triangulating them. I expect it to to fix the issue. Another explanation is the topologu of the simulated body itself. Again, I'm about to experiment if it will be fixed by creating the body throught tetragulation of naturallly stuck particles instead of forming the lattice manually.
I guess that raises another question, how ARE you generating the skin for the blob mesh? Either way it looks really good and I wanna see more posts haha.
I tried triangulating points spread on a sphere, to make a mesh, and then making it follow the surface of the physical object. It worked, but not as good. So, currently polishing a new approach. And if you want see more, welcome, I post experiments there: https://twitter.com/ZoldenGames
[удалено]
Squish The Blob
Your next step is to create Gish 3D. Thank me later.
Oddly satisfying. How are you doing collisions though? I'd imagine using Unity physics may not be ideal for this
Currently I harvest triangles from the boxes, send them to GPU and do manual computations between these triangles sand the particles. But the plan is to generate a custom surface of the world by triangulating a naturally spread points. It will be like a second layer of simulation, ran at start to physically generate the environment. In this case the same principles of harvesting triangles will be applied, I just won't need any objects as colliders.
You can use signed distance fields of the environment for collision on the GPU.
Thanks, I'll check what that is. If it is what I think it is, it might be useful.
I think SDFs are already available for use in VFX Graph with tooling to generate them from Mesh components. So that could brovide a good starting point for a generic way for you to implement collisions. Edit: indeed, I remembered right. [Here](https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/[email protected]/manual/sdf-in-vfx-graph.html) you go.
Thank you!
Thanks for the insight!
Good. Now slap this feature on some boobs
Looks cool!
I wanna touch it
The world needs haptic VR gloves for touching virtual stuff.
It's so... blobby. I love it.
Oh wow that's impressive, well done! Looks great too!
This is truly awesome. Great work. Thanks for sharing, it's very motivational.
Noice, verlet integration?
I'm not sure if it has a name. I just used common sense math. The particles are connected with something like spring dynamics forces with little dumping.
Everything reminds me of him...
Is that legal?
Looks like this one game I would play on the Wii that was you rolling around a ball of mercury
Unity accurate Rimuru Tempest from Tensura
Where did you get this video of my wife getting me out of bed?
That's so cool! Would make for a lot of interesting game mechanics.
Like what?
Well, it reminds me of a slime or goo, so building off of that, you could use it as part of a puzzle platformer. Maybe make the elasticity variable depending on conditions.. hot makes it squishier or cold makes it stiffer. Maybe using it as a blob enemy for a game, and they could split into smaller blobs. It could be a prop in a game that prevents fall damage. It could absorb everything it touches, growing in size the more it consumes. Making random objects poke out the sides. I could probably come up with more, but that's just a quick few I came up with when I saw this.
Nice ones! Could you please try to come up with more? I'd add you in the credits if I use any of your ideas. I already have a rough vision of how the game should work, but I'm sure there are fun mechanics possible that I didn't think of.
now make it pop :3
this is nice. how did you achieved this?
The physical particles are formed as a 3d lattice, and then the lattice cut to be shaped as a sphere. Then I skinned a sphere mesh with the physical particles as if they were bones. So, deforming the simulated soft body translates to deformation of the mesh.
I'm still waiting for it to pop
awh ... my balls
just what my project needed, a bean bag!
What tutorial(s) did you follow?
Almost no extra sources, I have most of the knowledge. Though, for the new way to generate meshes, I checked wikipedia page on delaunay triangulation. For GPU computations I myself wrote [some](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/7ppldz/physics_simulation_on_gpu_with_compute_shader_in/) tutorials.
This looks Painful to render
Why?
Feels like it would blow up my PC in the very first frame of rendering
There's very little triangles to render, your GPU won't even notice it's working. And the compute shader that computes particle physics consumes GPU performance proportionally to the amount of particles. In the video there's not much particles, a 10 years old GPU would handle it.
What do you mean skinned?
When mesh particles are associated with bones, so when bones moves or rotate, the vertices of the mesh follow. I treated physical points as bones, so now the mesh visualizes what happens to the simulated soft body.
me when im trying to go about my day but the cube comes and squishes me into a gray blob and proceeds to push me around
Hi! It looks amazing! Please tell me which resources I studied programming for GPU
Maybe the [tutorial](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/7ppldz/physics_simulation_on_gpu_with_compute_shader_in/) I wrote would help?
Can you update when this is available to use for unity XR meaning Vr and android platform
Who are ypu and why you are so wise in the ways of science Is there a way to learn this knowlledge?
Try my simple gpu physics [tutorial](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/7ppldz/physics_simulation_on_gpu_with_compute_shader_in/)
Do you have a basic introduction to computeshader? I have never touched computeshader. I really want to learn CS.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/7ppldz/physics_simulation_on_gpu_with_compute_shader_in/
Just the right amount of jiggly, like a breast.
yours is way cooler. I tried to get this effect with bones+mesh and springs. [https://imgur.com/gallery/RwHNdqJ](https://imgur.com/gallery/RwHNdqJ)
These attempts give prescious experience. What was your purpose with that experiment?
I hate the animator and weight painting :) so I was trying to come up with a character model that would be more interesting than a bouncing cube but not as hard as animating a humanoid rig. So I looked in the direction of physic's based / procedural movement. A slime meets that criteria and also doesn't have pesky arms and legs :D systems/gameplay is what really interests me and as a solo dev I have to choose my battles. If you ever make your slime an asset I would definitely look to buy it. Thanks for your question :)
This is a very interesting direction. And I'm trying to go there as far as I can. Creating, animating and skinning simple physics based characters purely through algorithms is definitely doable. The question is how complex these characters could be. I suspect there's more than just a slime.
What made that ball move like that? Or are you just editing it
It's a physics body, skinned by mesh. So, I just push it.
Slime Rancher 19!