«
Dylan Weeks
Software Development
Rope Simulation on the CPU and GPU Using Position-Based Dynamics
This thesis study presents a rope simulation for games using Position Based Dynamics ( PBD ) on both the CPU and GPU . This PBD solution strictly uses distance , bending , and collision constraints to accurately simulate the rope . Collisions constraints can be generated for sphere-based or capsulebased collisions against convex polygons . All collision detections are performed using a broad phase bit-bucket spatial partitioning algorithm and narrow phase bounding disc checks .
I chose this thesis topic because gameplay features like a rope simulation might not be a major game-changing feature , but if done correctly , it helps to create an overall dynamic user experience that provides realism to a user ’ s gaming experience . This realism and dynamic
user experience is something that I particularly value in games and is the reason why I chose to pursue this thesis topic .
By choosing to create this rope simulation , I have been able to expand my knowledge of physics simulations commonly used in games and generalpurpose GPU programming , as well as how to properly utilize the GPU to maximize occupancy and the performance of its parallel computing capabilities .
Overall , this project was completed in 10 months of development , and took 430 hours of work to complete .
80 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT