[ODE] Botworx VR 0.01 available for download!

[Kurtis Fields]

Botworx is pleased to announce the first release of Botworx VR - Version 
0.01.

Botworx VR is a Virtual Reality framework written in C++ that ties 
together the Open Dynamics Engine (ODE) physics framework with the OGRE 
3D engine.

The reference application "Buggy Bots" demonstrates the usage of both 
static and dynamic bodies, realistic missiles and explosions, plus 
layout capabilities such as stacks, rows, grids and matrixes.

The main focus so far has been to efficiently and realistically animate 
multiple objects rather than running over pretty terrain. So 
mesh-collision support will have to wait until the next version.

Joint manipulation is simplified by the implementation of a Motor, Gear 
and Rod mechanical subsystem, where the rods eventually tie into the 
axis of Joints.

Optimizations such as taking motionless objects off the animation list 
and waking them back up during collisions are supported, as are 
proximity tests to cut down on more costly collision testing. Octree 
support is planned for the future but is not an issue right now since 
stepping the ODE world is currently the main bottleneck.

A major architectural decision was to implement my own version of spaces 
rather than use those in ODE. This just makes it easier to write and 
debug the framework as a whole, and it seems just as fast although I 
haven't done any serious benchmarking yet.

The whole purpose of this project was to provide a simulation 
environment for conducting experiments in Artificial Intelligence, 
therefore a major part of the next development effort will be to 
implement a Messaging system that will connect the most popular (and 
free) AI engines with Botworx VR.

User and developer participation is required to make this project succeed!

Please join me at http://www.botworx.org