You are here:  home > courses > comp259

Comp 259 is UNC's physically based modeling, simulation, and animation course. It covers topics in geometry, mechanics, and numerical computing including collision detection, particle dynamics, and the numerical solution of differential equations. Various techniques for modeling the physical and mechanical behavior of objects in a graphical simulation or a virtual environment are presented. Class assignments appear below. Click the links for more information.

Programming Assignment 1:  ODE's and Particle Dynamics
This assignment concerns the physically based simulation of particle systems. More generally, it deals with the solution of a system of ordinary differential equations (ODE's) via numerical integration. Implement two applications: a ballistic motion simulator and a spring-mass simulator. In each application, implement at least two integration methods and compare their numerical accuracy and stability (e.g. Euler vs. fourth-order Runge-Kutta).

Programming Assignment 2:  Rigid Body Collision Detection
Write a program to detect collisions among many sphere-like objects of different sizes flying inside a confined region (e.g. a cube). Each object is given an initial random velocity and angular velocity. The velocity stays the same unless an object hits an obstacle (e.g. a wall or another object), in which case a component of the velocity should be flipped so that the object stays within the confinement. State your assumptions about the objects.

Programming Assignment 3:  Rigid Body Dynamics
Simulate a scene with 10 balls moving on a bounded 2D plane (e.g. a box). Apply an impulse on one ball and simulate its interaction with other balls in the scene using rigid body dynamics. For collision detection, use the scheme from Programming Assignment 2 for objects of the same size.

Final Project:  Real-Time Deformation with Fracture
My final project involves simulating deformable objects at interactive frame rates. Specifically, I am interested in adding material fracture to the work presented in the "Stable Real-Time Deformations" paper by Müller et al.