I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but RL really needs to bring back full support for PhyisX

I'm doing my head in trying to get the PhisX toolbox to work predictably and/or properly on iC7, particularly when it comes to animating my own Sketchup model cars. According to the tutorial videos it should be easy. But it's next to useless on anything above iC5. You can't tweak settings such as friction on the floor/terrain surface, so the vehicles spin wheels for the first second before moving and then slide forward for another second after hitting stop on the controller. Not to mention various other unpredictable gliches like steering doing it's own thing, taking of with the wheels turned when you have it in straight ahead position. It's next to impossible to get the vehicle to go where you want it to go.

Last response I got from RL on this, is you need to load the prop into iC5 to tweak the PhysiX settings!
This is far from satisfactory. First, iC5 refuses to load a prop that has been already saved/modified in iC7 or 3D Exchange 7, second why should I have to re-install a long obsolete version of iClone to tweak settings on a prop I am using in the current version. Major disruption to workflow!. I ended up having to re-install my old 3D Exchange 4, iClone 5. Then import the original Sketchup model of my car into Exchange 4, create all the subprops again, import into iC5, tweak the PhysiX settings, and then import back into iC7. And even after doing that, the animation results are highly unpredictable and unstable. Sometimes it works, other times it half works, other times it outright refuses to work.

I'm confused about why RL abandoned full functionality of PhysiX back in iC6, yet still continue to release packs such as the 'Interactive Modern Vehicle pack' which continue to use the Physix bullet engine, yet it hasn't been fully supported since iC5.

Bottom line is, I'd like to have a system that allows relatively easy manipulation & animation of custom vehicles, I don't really care how it's achieved, whether it be by bringing back full support for the Physix engine or something else all together. I'm just asking for something like the old Body Shop to work as it does on the tutorial video on iC7. Only additional request I'd like to make is offer the option for the vehicle to follow a path. The real time controller isn't the easiest thing to use.

I like car movies, and would love to use iClone to create them. And let's face it, many movies include cars. But this is a major road block for me. I have literally spent hours on end trying various different methods to animate (with some sort of realism such as steering front wheels) my own chosen vehicles with very little success. It's fairly much brought my current project to a standstill.

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Only additional request I'd like to make is offer the option for the vehicle to follow a path.   ?????
I have NO PROBLEM creating a path, setting the car to follow that path in IC 7. Not sure what you are doing wrong.
It does work properly. Perhaps you need to ask HOW before you criticize.



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Can you explain how you figure 'Only additional request I'd like to make is offer the option for the vehicle to follow a path' is criticising ? Sounds a lot like a request to me....

The subject was in regards to animating with the PhysiX toolbox
So perhaps once you demount from your high horse, you could explain how you get a vehicle to follow a path whilst the wheels & steering are being animated by the PhysiX toolbox ?

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Hi Darren,

Thank you for the feedback. I will pass this on for review.

The Physics Toolbox was originally released for iClone 5 and uses the Bullet Physics engine. In iClone 6/7 we now use the PhysX engine but still support Bullet Physics in "Playback" only mode. This means that packs like the Interactive Modern Vehicle Collection work perfectly fine in iClone 7.

Obviously the easiest solution would be to release an updated Physics Toolbox for iClone 7, but this is not as easy as it may seem. Because the two engines (PhysX and Bullet) are two completely different things, it would require a major rewrite rather than a simple update.

So sadly as things stand the Physics Toolbox can still be used in iClone 6/7 as is, but editing the properties of any physics props will need to be done in iClone 5 and then transferred over to iClone 7.


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

thanks for your reply Peter,

if the Interactive Modern Vehicle pack works properly, is there any chance they could release a version that allows fitting custom vehicles bodies imported from Sketchup to be adapted - like Body Shop allowed ? I don't want to be limited with just the vehicles that are provided in the pack

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Hi Darren... I will certainly put forward your suggestion for consideration. 


                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Hi Peter,
I bought the physics toolbox 2 days ago.  I couldn't get it to work, and only now finding out this product is partially obsolete in iClone 7.  Why is this product not discontinued in the content store?  I am working on a client project to simulate the operation of a industrial equipment comprised of several moving components, and I could really use the functionalities of the physics toolbox.  How and where can I download a copy of iClone 5? 

Peter,
there is even an easiest solution to this issue:
What changed after v5 is that the interfaces allowing editing Bullet parameters for an item have been stripped from iClone. It is just a matter to put it back while still using Bullet. Should be easy enough.

Even if, ideally, a new generation of the "Physics Toolbox" working with the PhysX engine would be appreciated, there is no reason, meanwhile, why the editing tools and properties interfaces for items using the Bullet engine have been stripped from iClone (I would even say "stolen" from us).

After all, Reallusion still has to maintain the Bullet engine along the PhysX engine in iClone just for backward compatibility with Props created with the Physics Toolbox. I understand removing Bullet creation and editing tools is to discourage users to create new "Physics Toolbox"/Bullet powered Props but see, there is still a need for those and Physics Toolbox users (who paid for it, do not forget it) have to resort to iClone v5 in order to use it. What a mess : /

Btw:
https://www.reallusion.com/FeedBackTracker/Issue/Physics-updates/1/toolbox

--
guy rabiller | GOETZIWOOD STUDIOS
"N.O.E." (Nations Of Earth) Sci-Fi TV Show, Showrunner.

could you build a prop in Iclone7 with the Bullet set save it amd use it as normal with the PhysX ?