Realism and You.

[Mystery]

This is a tutorial designed to explain some concepts of making your scenes more real.
It has come to my attention more and more scenes are cutting corners, sure it looks pretty and might lag slightly less but it completely defies the laws of physics.

Remember Algodoo is an educational program, at the end of the day sure you can make a game in Algodoo that rocks your socks but if it has nothing to do with physics why make it in Algodoo?

Section 1: Research
Research is a vital aspect to any good scene, research is the sole most important part of making a good scene.
Firstly your going to want to know what your designing, for the sake of this tutorial lets say your making a f-22 raptor.
A little background information never hurts but isn't overly necessary for what were doing firstly we should know its characteristics. There are a few ways to do this personally i use
Wolfram|Alpha i type in f-22 this is what it gives me

crew | 1 person
length | 18.9 meters
height | 5.1 meters
wingspan | 13.6 meters
maximum weight | 36290 kg (kilograms)
40 short tons
operational ceiling | 19800 meters

Too easy, right?
Not only that but it gives me a few links on this side like Wikipedia and a Google search for subject.


Next comes materials not necessarily essential for the f-22 but in general, something very important.
Again put in your desired material, i'm going to do "steel alloy"
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=steel+alloy
For the density it gives me
density | 7.85 g/cm^3 (grams per cubic centimeter)
There are two problems with this.
1. it is in g/cm, Algodoo is in Kg/M
2. it is in cubic form

Belive it or not those two problems cancel each other out.
1g/cm^3 is equal to 1kg/m^2
Essentially you can just copy and paste "7.85" into the density box in Algodoo
Too easy, right?

Section 2: Design
Ever notice things built primarily to work only in Algodoo look nothing like things that would work in real life.
There are two reason for this.
1. Real life has one extra dimension then Algodoo.
2. In real life you need to assemble your creation in real time and with pre-made parts (Try and make something in Algodoo only using parts that are pre-made and with simulation running, notice it beginning to look more like the junk you make in real life?)

The lesson in this isn't to try and make your creations in the hardest possible way, but to remember Algodoo is different from real life.

There are two ways to go about this
1X. Create you scenes in a way to would work in real life, no shortcuts (I.E inertiamultiplier = +inf, using glitches)
2X. Don't create your scene in a way that would work in real life but would work in Physics.

Let me remind you, Algodoo is a physic simulator, at the end of the day what you make has nothing to do with physics why make it with algodoo?

Extending on this:
Some examples...
...for 1X. Creating a car with proper support structures, correct gear usage, engine use and some soft body wheels.
... for 2X. Creating a density motor to simulate a rockets jet. (This is a good example of good physics, sure it breaks some rules (Conservation of energy) but it displays many more)

Section 3: Thyme
Thyme is a phunners most powerful arsenal. When used correctly it can be a weapon of mass destruction (e.other.density = 0 if i do remember correctly ).

Thyme is like a gun, It can be used for good ("Good" being a metaphor for realistic) but it will be used for evil.

Kilinich displays exceptional use of his crime fighting gun.
An example.

Mi-24 Sim

Kilinich

Rating:
Filesize: 1.87 MB
Comments: 62
Ratings: 39

Using thyme he can simulate the effects of the prop creating lift (an example of 1X), using thyme he can simulate chemical reactions (Those pretty explosions).
Thyme fills in the gaps of Algodoo, an in built modding tool more then anything.

Section 4: Show your working
Ok now i'm quite literally off topic in my first post. This has less to do with realism but more to do with the whole "Algodoo is a [educational] physics simulator" train.



In short. Show how your scenes works, simply making some of the exterior translucent or showing what makes the piston go up and down (No more invisible parts )

Again, lets have a look at kilinich.

Top Race

Kilinich

Rating:
Filesize: 255.38 kB
Comments: 30
Ratings: 32

It shows you all the parts, the engine, the differential, the drive shaft.
It actually gives your a good look at how a car works.
And just like that you've done what no teacher can do, you taught me something

[Under Ground]

Brilliant tutorial! Ima' use this!

[Rrobba]

Whilst some of this is common sense, I like the tutorial. It makes you think about what you are doing and check that it is at least slightly realistic.

[Dakta]

I am surprised at how much we can agree in this regard

[Nxdt]

Useful tutorial.
I really like that search engine, i searched for the traffic on algodoo.com and got this which is pretty cool.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=www.algodoo.com+traffic

[Mystery]

You should remember to check the source. Alexa isn't very reliable IMO. To get proper sample survey results you need to select the participants completely randomly. Alexa gets its results from morons that download their spyware invested toolbar.

[Nxdt]

Oh okay, I kinda figured it couldn't be very accurate anyway. Good to know that.

[Dakta]

And again, WlframAlpha is nit a search enhine! It is a knowledge engine that parses questions and gives answers.

[Under Ground]

According to Wolfram the Algodoo community is very slowly Dying! Quickly, recruit everyone you know to join the forums!

[Dakta]

According to Wolfram the Algodoo community is very slowly Dying! Quickly, recruit everyone you know to join the forums!

There is no entry on Phun/Algodoo.

[Mystery]

I think he is meaning algodoo.com
Again it is just forwarding the information to you. Information from Alexa.
All it is really telling you is people who are currently using the Alexa toolbar are coming to Algodoo less and less.