I-Collide

I-Collide is an interactive and exact collision detection library for large environments composed of convex polyhedra . Many non-convex polyhedra may be decomposed into a set of convex polyhedra, which may then be used with this library. I-Collide exploits coherance (the property of a simulation to change very litle between consecutive time steps) and the properties of convexity to achieve very fast collision detection which is exact to the accuracy of the input models. We've tested the library in both an architectural walkthrough and multi-body simulations , impulse-based simulations and the time required for collision detection is typically small compared to the time to generate the graphics for these simulations.

For a description of the algorithms used in I-Collide, see:

Papers and Technical Reports

For a demonstration of real-time collision detection MPEGS, see:

MPEG demonstration of real-time collision detection

If your input consists of non-convex or polygon soup models, you should check out the RAPID or V-Collide collision detection systems, also developed at UNC. Differences between these systems are available.

The SWIFT package provides the same functionality as I-Collide and more. It is also faster and much more robust and should be used instead.

The latest I-Collide source code, version 1.3, was released on May 12, 2004. This is a minor update that affects only the demo application and not the core collision library. The previous library update, version 1.2, was released on July 7, 1996. Please use this request form to download the latest version. It contains the collision detection library along with a sample application, and is freely available for non-commercial use. If you put it to good use, let us know about it.

I-Collide Developers