This tutorial will focus on the physical principles of kinematics and dynamics. After explaining the basic equations for point masses and rigid bodies a new approach for the dynamic simulation of multi-linked models with wobbling mass is presented, which has led to new insight in the field of biomechanics, but which has not been used in computer animation so far.
Physical based animation can be generated by performing a complete dynamical simulation of multi-body systems. This leads to a complex system of differential equations which has to be solved incorporating biomechanical results for the physics of impacts. Motion control is achieved by interactively modifying the internal torques. Realtime response requires the distribution of the workload of the computation between a highspeed computerserver and the graphics workstation by means of a remote procedure call mechanism.
