Because there hasn't been really any developments in terms of moving a character around using physics (they always seem to fall over, etc), I would like to move my character around without physics, and just collision detect with the physics nodes. Is this a feasible solution or should I try something else?
You can do similar things, Trussel: use a static physics node for you character and set all contacts in the callback to 'ignore'. Then handle them yourself by applying forces to the other physics objects.
Hmm, good idea. thanx irrisior 
btw, out of shear morbid curiosity did you peek at the code I gave Trussell? And if you did, did it send cold shivers down your spine? (I know the approach I took there may seem convoluted or even a BAD idea but it started as a 'test' and seemed to work pretty nicely…)
You might want to take a look at this page:
http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/OgreOde_Walking_Character
It helps set up a character with OgreODE- not sure how much of it can be implemented in jME-physics though.
If you get anything working, it would be nice if it were included as a demo in jME-physics Most games nowadays use physics and avatar-based gameplay so it would be very useful.
:mrgreen:
That is almost EXACTLY like what I am doing, but just loading the model then I just use a jMEPhyics Node and place the character where the pNode is. (although I am just using a simple capsule now, there might be some benefits to using the capsule over sphere thing). Thanx for posting, makes me feel like the approach I used is somewhat on the right track.
Momoko_Fan said:
You might want to take a look at this page:
http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/OgreOde_Walking_Character
It helps set up a character with OgreODE- not sure how much of it can be implemented in jME-physics though.
Yes should work smoothly. (As basixs kind of proved, seemingly)
But it's not what Trussel would like to have, I guess.
Momoko_Fan said:
You might want to take a look at this page:
http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/OgreOde_Walking_Character
It helps set up a character with OgreODE- not sure how much of it can be implemented in jME-physics though.
If you get anything working, it would be nice if it were included as a demo in jME-physics :) Most games nowadays use physics and avatar-based gameplay so it would be very useful.
Interesting. I hadn't thought of doing something quite like that, so far I've just been applying forces to the character but that just makes it fall over. I'll have to experiment with this. Thanks.
so far I've just been applying forces to the character but that just makes it fall over.
hint: make sure you are ignoring gravity on the pNode...
Makes it harder to jump off of things, fall, etc.
just handle the gravity yourself
as far as physics equations go, it doesn't get much simpler than:
velocity=mass*acceleration (where: acceleration = g ~= 9.81 m/s2)
The only hard part is determining how much distance a meter actually is in your world…