News Roundup: Three Excellent Physics Toys
Anyone who spends a lot of time swimming in the tubes has probably come across these already, but for those who haven’t:
Line Rider
Line Rider is a great Flash-based physics toy by “~lsk”. You paint down lines, which define the collision, and then launch a guy on a sled. People have done some amazing things with it (try a YouTube search for “line rider”). Below is just one example.
Line Rider is available for free on deviantart. There are two versions available: the web version, and a download version (better framerate, particularly if you’re running Firefox).
MIT Sketching
Or, check this out–a similiar concept, but something more academic. I’d love to play around with a system like this:
Working Model 2D
And finally we have Working Model 2D, which is a general-purpose 2D physics engine designed to be used for a variety of applications. Not least of which is bored SA forum members creating random, brutal physics contraptions:
Thanks to Micah and Creath for the links!
Related Posts:
- Line Rider, America’s Favorite New Hobby
- Line Rider Coming to Consoles!
- Ride, Brave Pegasus-Pony! Ride!
- List of MacOS Physics Games
- Physics-Based Observable Motorcycle Trials
My name is Matthew Wegner, and this site is dedicated to physics games.
(4.24 out of 5)
on October 8th, 2006 at 2:06 am
i knew about line rider, but i cant wait to try the others
Thanks MATT. :)
on October 8th, 2006 at 2:19 am
oh my god! i knew there was a catch…
You HAVE to buy the licence, which starts at aroun £274 !!!!!!!!!!
Fuck That! i just wanted to draw some ragdolls and throw them around for a bit…….. I anit happy :(
on October 8th, 2006 at 7:31 am
What is 274 U.S.? And i wanted to make a ragdoll get hung!
on October 8th, 2006 at 10:40 am
oh maan… that working model looked cool….
on October 8th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
You can get a demo edition, its kinda hard to understand though
on October 8th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
I saw that MIT sketching thing over at facepunch. Really impressive stuff.
on October 8th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
I WANT IT NOW!!!! xD
on October 8th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
2D working model has to be the best. I got the evaluation demo, its downloading now. A few questions about Line Rider, how do people do such outrageous stuff with it if there isn’t even a line eraser? Why isnt there a line eraser?
on October 8th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Working Model 2 is awesome i must say! They just need in-editor tutorials!
on October 9th, 2006 at 12:51 am
That was sweet. I liked it how you can draw stuff then the program recognizes all those things and go’s. Great website. £274 is $600 Australian dollars.
on October 9th, 2006 at 3:10 am
Wow that working model video takes me back… I discovered the program years and years ago (been very interested in physics, especially in games, for a long time, I used to constantly say it’d be the next big thing in gaming), and used to do much of the same sort of silliness, building weird vehicles and creating entertaining scenarios… I think at one point there was a lite or free version of it? I can’t remember.
I even used working model to create animations for some crappy 2d games I used to make (I’d render out a scene with basic shapes, then draw over them).
on October 9th, 2006 at 3:18 am
Ta for the links! The MIT sketching thing was adopted by Microsoft and released as Physics Illustrator. Good news is that its open source, you can download here
http://research.microsoft.com/research/downloads/Details/aeee3085-a219-47d6-88fc-a2501f00800d/Details.aspx
on October 9th, 2006 at 7:17 am
I think that stickmen killingvideo (third one) is made with Pintar interactive mechanics (something like that)….
on October 9th, 2006 at 7:18 am
Correct me if im wrong
on October 9th, 2006 at 7:24 am
where can i find tutorials to find what i just saw in that video? I can do some of that, but some of it is unknown to me.
on October 9th, 2006 at 11:18 am
What is the cool music from that SomethingAwful Physics video? It is the best.
on October 9th, 2006 at 11:51 am
is from the matrix
on October 9th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
How many people here a from Facepunch? I know -SAH- is, but everyone else? Working model 2 is hard to make ragdolls with, help please?
on October 9th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
I’ve downloaded the link for the Physics Illustrator and it says it is for Tablet PCs would it work with just a standard Windows XP?
on October 9th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
GIVE US THE PRECIOUS!!!
That made me laugh.
on October 9th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
where do i get teh working model demo :S
on October 9th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Confused: If you download and compile/run from visual c# express 2005 (free) it runs fine from Windows xp although controlling using a mouse aint as good. If you install using the powertoys exe, it winges and wont install.
on October 9th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Ragdolls are easy to make. Just use circle for the head, rectangles for the limbs, and a square for the body. Connect the limbs with the pin joint tool. If someone could show me how to make cars, that would be cool, i have no idea!
on October 9th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Whoa, never mind i figured out how to make cars.
on October 9th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
How exactly do you compile/run it through that program?
I have tried but am confused…
on October 9th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Dylan, tell me how to make cars please, I want to make a person get ran over and over and over again!
on October 9th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Where can I get that modeler demo? That looks like a great stress reducer.
on October 9th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
I wish this program had a forum of some sort. anyway, you need to make the body of the car from a free-form plygon. Then add wheels, but make sure that the middle of the wheel is aligned with the bottom line of the polygon, or it won’t work. Then connect the wheels with pin joints. To make the wheels motorized you need to add a motor to the back wheel. double click the motor to change the volicity(speed of wheel rotating) Thats it! now i need to learn to make a balancing segway.
on October 10th, 2006 at 12:04 am
Ye, you are right, the SA Physics video was made with Pintar Mechanics.
on October 10th, 2006 at 9:47 am
[…] Fun-Motion had a great article recently about Line Rider. This physics app can create some fun interactions using simple line art. As you can see from the video below, many folks have gone wild with it, and produced some amazing videos. Searching for Line Rider on YouTube and watching the vids can take up the better part of a day! There are over 140 videos posted so far. […]
on October 10th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Nice, *Nice*, and Bwahaha!
on October 10th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
What are you talking about? I thought it was made with Working Model 2D?
on October 12th, 2006 at 6:55 am
If you meant that stickmen killing video (:D)
Then no, It’s made wit pintar mechanics
on October 12th, 2006 at 9:24 am
HELP!!! i have downloaded Physics Illustrator, but it wont work. as well as this, i have been looking for a physics simulation like working model for AGES, but havent been able to find one. could someone tell me if there is a free simulator like working model at all?
thx
on October 13th, 2006 at 4:40 am
why is the working model so choppy when i press play? I mean simulation is choppy? (laggy, choppy whatever)
(btw im finnish and not so great at english…. but try to understand what i mean)….
on October 13th, 2006 at 5:51 am
JJ, Pintar VirtuaLAB Mechanics, (Google it)
Ye, Working Model sucks, get Pintar VirtuaLAB Mechanics.
on October 13th, 2006 at 6:12 am
I have it but i though ill use working model cause it has some features that pintar virtuaLAB Mechanics dont….
I’ve made over 100 scenes with pintar :D
on October 13th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Nothing on PhysicsIllustrator is a runable file! HELP!
on October 13th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
how do you run physics illustrator, visual studio thing tried to convert but 2 file are missing or something. give me step by step
on October 22nd, 2006 at 5:22 am
heh, I succeded in running physics illustrotor… and I can tell you… your not missing much, its buggy and hard to work with, at least on a desktop computer, I dont know how it functions on a tablet PC.
I would compile it into an exe for you guys, but I dont know how :/ .
on October 22nd, 2006 at 6:24 pm
The SA video was amazing!
There are ways to draw straight lines with Line Rider. You can use a ruler with a tablet, or something like pressing the left mouse button, then right mouse button, then releasing them both, and then clicking the left mouse button where you want the line to end.
Line Rider 2 has a straight line function built in. It should be out real soon. See http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40255643/
on October 23rd, 2006 at 5:23 am
Will there be eraser in LR2? Please make it, its frustrating when you accidently draw line somewhere and it ruins the …. track….hill…whatevar
on October 23rd, 2006 at 10:00 am
GREAT THERE IS!!! :D
on October 29th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Damn i laughed so hard to the third video that i got a hiccup, damn you SA :P
on October 29th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Also, i can make cars easy but they lack all friction and won’t move properly o..o; that, and for those who ask, you can find the demo at the link above the video, it just has different name than ”demo”. (Which is evaluation version) And another thing about it is that it lags, alot.
on October 30th, 2006 at 5:34 am
You can change the accuracy of simulation from “world”…. Panel?
Or something
on November 5th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Man! I thought I was the only one who used working model sadistically to brutally injure ragdoll people! It used to take hours just to render the animation, but waiting for that next frame.. it was sweet glory. I should bust out my old comp and make a video of my different contraptions…
on November 6th, 2006 at 12:23 am
You forgot about Garry’s Mod for Half Life 2 and the Havoc Physics engine…. you can do all sorts of funky stuff with that too… check it out at http://gmod.garry.tv/
on November 8th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
In case you’re wondering, the song from the “Working Model” video is “Navras” by Juno Reactor.
on November 22nd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Man, that music is the ownage, someone please tell me exactly the name of it!
on March 27th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
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on June 21st, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Hey,
The last video isn’t available. Does anyone have a mirror or the original SA forum link (though I don’t have an account there)? I’d like to see it again but it just isn’t on youtube.
on August 9th, 2007 at 3:05 am
You people want Physics Illustrator? Here, I went and compiled it for you (with one change for custom material colors).
http://www.zshare.net/download/30558854bd62bd/
(Here’s how to draw springs, ropes, and rods. For a rod, connect two objects with a straght line. For a rope, make it a curvy line. For a spring, make it loop a few times.
Also, to anchor objects draw a medium-sized L in them.)
on August 9th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
UPDATE: I’ve made rods easier to draw now, and removed the Help menu item until I can make a help file. Draw rope using 90 degrees or more curvature in your stroke.
http://www.zshare.net/download/30621508c52054/