Intuitive Control of Deformable Object Simulation Using Geometric Constraints

This paper describes an effective and intuitive method to control deformable objects using geometric constraints. To achieve a natural and plausible interaction with deformable objects and to setup the desirable initial conditions of simulation, users should be able to define and control the geometric constraints intuitively. Users should be able to utilize the simulation as a problem solving platform by experimenting various simulation situations without major modification of the simulator. The proposed constraint-based simulation system solves the problem using a non-linear FEM approach to represent deformable objects and constraint forces are generated by defining geometric constraints on the nodes of the object to apply the restriction. It allows users to define and modify geometric constraints and an algorithm converts these geometric constraints into constraint forces which seamlessly integrate controllability to the simulation system. Simulator can handle linear, angular, inequality based geometric constraints on the objects. Our experimental results show that constraints are maintained in the tight error bound and preserve desired shape of deformable object during the entire simulation.