Blog

Jul 21

Written by: DigitalRune Team
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 

This blog post contains our collection of references for Collision Detection: website links, a list of collision detection libraries, list of books. This post will be updated from time to time.

If you know other useful links, please let us know and we will include them in this blog post.

Collision Detection Websites

This is a collection of various links about collision detection and related topics.

Note: Many physics engines have their own collision detection functions. A list of physics engines will be posted in this blog.

• Collision Detection on Wikipedia
• GAMMA research group
  Website contains a brief description of several libraries.
• Geometry Algorithms
  Collection of geometry algorithms: clipping, intersections, etc.
• Molly Rocket GJK Forum
  Forum about collision detection. There is also a video explaining the GJK algorithm. - Nice.
• realtimecollisiondetection.net
  Homepage accompanying the book "Real-Time Collision Detection" by Christer Ericson.
• http://www.pfirth.co.uk/
  Introduction to collision detection. The Minkowski difference and the collision detection algorithms are explained with nice applets. 
• http://www.realtimerendering.com/intersections.html
  This page gives a grid of intersection routines for various popular objects, pointing to resources in books and on the web.

Collision Detection Libraries

Here is a list of libraries dedicated to collision detection tasks.

• D-Collide
  Open Source (BSD-style)
• DEEP
• DigitalRune Geometry
  A .NET collision detection library supporting the Microsoft XNA Framework.
• FAST
  Interactive Continuous Collision Detection for Non-Convex Polyhedra, based on SWIFT++.
• FreeSOLID
• GIMPACT
  Open Source (LGPL, BSD or ZLib). Integrated into Bullet an ODE.
• H-COLLIDE
  For haptic interaction.
• I-Collide
  For convex polyhedra. SWIFT provides more functionality and should be used instead of I-Collide.
• IMMPACT
  Partitioning and handling massive models composed of millions of geometric primitives.
• OPCODE
• OZCollide
• PIVOT
  Using GPU acceleration.
• PQP
• QuickCD
• RAPID
• SOLID
• SWIFT SWIFT++
  Extension of SWIFT.
• V-Clip
  Free for non-commercial use.
• V-Collide
• XenoCollide
  XenoCollide is an algorithm for detecting collision among a limitless variety of convex shapes. It is based on a new technique called Minkowski Portal Refinement (MPR).

Collision Detection Books

Here is a list of collision detection books that we have read. The first two books are must-haves for every 3D game programmer.

Note: Several books about physically-based animation and rigid body physics contain useful chapters about collision detection. A list of books about game physics will be available in this blog.

Real-Time Collision Detection

by Christer Ericson Best book about collision detection that we have found. Check out the companion website for this book: http://realtimecollisiondetection.net/

 

Collision Detection in Interactive 3D Environments

by Gino van den Bergen Gino is the author of the collision detection library SOLID, which is included on the CD-ROM of the book. The book explains basics like Minkowski Sums, basic primitive tests, implementation of the GJK algorithm and more (Separating Axes Tests, Sweep and Prune, etc.). The final chapter explains the design and implementation of SOLID. Additional information, papers about the algorithms in SOLID and slides from the GDC tutorials "Physics for Games Programmers" are available on the SOLID website: http://www.dtecta.com/

 

Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics

by Philip Schneider and David H. Eberly This book gives you a good foundation for various geometric challenges: distance computation, intersection and other problems in 2D and 3D.

 

History

2010-05-26 – Initial post.
2010-07-21 – Added new collision detection library link: DigitalRune Geometry.