MSPhysics
MSPhysics is a real-time physics simulation extension for SketchUp.
MSPhysics allows doing physics simulation of groups and component instances, where each object can be assigned a specific shape, specific states, density, contact properties, magnet properties, script, and more. These features allow complex interactions between objects and the physics world. The parameters of the physics world, such as gravity, update timestep, and solver model, can too be adjusted.
MSPhysics also allows interconnecting objects with joints (constraints) for establishing mechanical interactions between objects. MSPhysics has 14 joints: Hinge, Motor, Servo, Slider, Piston, UpVector, Spring, Corkscrew, BallAndSocket, Universal, Fixed, CurvySlider, CurvyPiston, and Plane. Each joint can be assigned its specific properties, such as minimum and maximum position/angle limits, as well as controllers for controlling position, angle, speed, linear or angular friction, and other. The controllers themselves can be stimulated with a use of a slider controller, keyboard key(s), joystick, and/or a desired script. This flexibility allows creating and inventing many things, such as vehicles, robots, and instruments.
MSPhysics also comes with a reliable Replay animation tool, which allows recording simulation and exporting to SkIndigo, KerkyThea, or a sequence of images.
In many ways, MSPhysics resembles its predecessor SketchyPhysics. First of all, MSPhysics is not a new version of SketchyPhysics. MSPhsyics is written entirely from scratch, integrating the latest Newton Dynamics Physics SDK and heavily basing on a C++ extension. Both are capable of achieving same things, in one way or the other; however, MSPhysics is significantly faster and goes further, especially with a lot of the features described above. MSPhysics has a by far more advanced and a well documented scripting API, allowing users to write more proficient scripts for their models. Another difference is having advantage over user input. In SketchyPhysics there was a struggle in creating keyboard and mouse controlled games. Whenever simulation would run, there had to be an active control panel window to redirect user input, that is to prevent the interference of SketchUp's keyboard shortcuts. In MSPhysics, however, the control panel is not necessary. MSPhysics utilizes AMS Library, which on the Windows side, allows taking control over user input and switching SketchUp fullscreen. Imagine playing FPS games in SketchUp, in fullscreen mode, without having various keyboard commands taking control over the simulation. All that is possible with MSPhysics.
Huge credit goes to Julio Jerez for writing the Newton Dynamics physics engine; as well as, to those who contributed in making this project a reality.
Aside from the ToDo list, the only part that needs heavy working on is the demonstrations and tutorials.
Useful Links
PituPhysics YouTube Channel
Compatibility and RequirementsMicrosoft Windows XP or later / Mac OS X 10.6+
SketchUp 6 or later. SU2017 64bit is recommended!
AMS_Library 3.5.0+
Download
Refer to the list below for various download links:Current version can downloaded and installed through PluginStore or Extension Warehouse
An RBZ format of the current version is also available at Google Drive
Development activity can be found at GitHub
Prior versions can be found at Google Drive
If encountering errors with overwriting, remove original AMS Library and MSPhysics versions prior to installing the new ones. Refer to the Uninstallation Instructions section for details.
Refer to the video below for a walk-through guide on downloading and installing MSPhysics:
You can instead, refer to MSPhysics Installation Guide installing, uninstalling, and troubleshooting issues.
Recommended Extensions
- Shapes loader by István Nagy: Allows loading and resizing box, sphere, cone, cylinder, pyramid, capsule, and torus shapes with a click of a mouse. MSPhysics on its own doesn't come with a shapes adder tool, like SketchyPhysics did. This extension fills in the missing tool.
- [url=http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46319:r51kbmny]SPGears[/url:r51kbmny] by jgrundman: Even though this plugin was initially intended for SketchyPhysics, it works just fine with MSPhysics as well. Manually drawing gears is not something that one must do, as in the end result, all geometry making up the gears must be distributed into convex subgroups. That is, for the collision to generate properly, each tooth must represent a separate subgroups/subcomponent. SPGears plugin does just that. It draws gears suitable for the collision generation algorithm.
- [url=http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323%26amp;t=61145:r51kbmny]Convexify[/url:r51kbmny] by Fredo6: Splits groups into convex shapes. For dynamic concave shapes to have proper collision shapes, the geometry making up the concave shape must be split into convex subgroups. Until an automatic internal convex decomposition algorithm is developed, this is the right kind of plugin to rely on. This tool is also suitable for fracture effects.
Installation Instructions
Refer to the steps below to install the plugin:
Download ams_Lib_x.y.z.rbz and MSPhysics_x.y.z.rbz
Open SketchUp
Select (Menu) Window->Preferences
Navigate to Extensions section within the System Preferences dialog.
Click Install Extension... button, select ams_Lib_x.y.z.rbz, and click Open.
Repeat the same step for MSPhysics_x.y.z.rbz
Ensure that both AMS Library and MSPhysics extensions are checked.
Uninstallation Instructions
Refer to the steps below to uninstall the plugin:Navigate to your plugins folder:
For Windows
For SU8 and below the plugins folder is located in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp #
For SU2013 the plugins folder is located in
C:\Program Files (x86)\SketchUp\SketchUp 2013
For SU2014 and later the plugins folder is located in
C:\Users[User Name\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 20##\SketchUp]
%appdata%\SketchUp\SketchUp 20##\SketchUp
C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 20##\SketchUp\Plugins
For Mac OS XFor SU8 and below the plugins folder is located in
[YOUR USER NAME/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp #/SketchUp/plugins]
For SU2013 and later the plugins folder is located in
> Library > Application Support > SketchUp # > SketchUp > Plugins
- Select ams_Lib folder, ams_Lib.rb file, MSPhysics folder, and MSPhysics.rb file and delete them.
Credits
- Julio Jerez for the NewtonDynamics physics engine.
- Chris Phillips for ideas from SketchyPhysics.
- István Nagy (PituPhysics), Faust07, and many others for testing.
