ODE is an open source, high performance library for simulating rigid body dynamics. It is fully featured, stable, mature and platform independent with an easy to use C/C++ API. It has advanced joint types and integrated collision detection with friction. ODE is useful for simulating vehicles, objects in virtual reality environments and virtual creatures. It is currently used in many computer games, 3D authoring tools and simulation tools.

Russell Smith is the primary author of ODE.

Please donate to the ODE Project

News

• 12/05/07: The ODE mailing list has moved to a different provider. Resubscribe here. The old archives are here.
• New ODE book (in Japanese) - Robot Simulation - Robot Programming with Open Dynamics Engine.
• Visit ODE's new Wiki, a community-supported website with lots of extra information.

The Benefits of an Open Source Physics Engine

• ODE's BSD license allows you to use the source code free of charge in your commercial products.
• ODE gives you more control over your product.
• ODE can be more easily integrated with your own software and tools.
• If you want to create your own physics engine, you can use the pieces of ODE as a reference!

Find Out More

If you don't know what rigid body dynamics is, check out What is a Physics SDK?. Also, some useful simulation references are on Chris Hecker's rigid body dynamics page.