The magic of compound objects with Box2D

You can call it complex shapes, compound shapes, complex objects, compound objects or even poisoned underpants, but you all want to create complex “things” with Box2D.

Despite the “complex” word, it’s very easy to create one.

You just have to add multiple shapes to a body.

If you followed my latest Box2D tutorials, you will find the whole code I am going to show you very familiar, with some exceptions I will explain.

But first let’s take a look at what I am going to create: a perfect tile based maze, made with small squares representing the tiles and managed as a single object.

Here it is: if you drag the maze, you will see it’s a single object made (compound) with small tiles – the real objects, used as primitives.

Here it is the code:

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package {
	import flash.display.Sprite;
	import flash.events.Event;
	import Box2D.Dynamics.*;
	import Box2D.Collision.*;
	import Box2D.Collision.Shapes.*;
	import Box2D.Common.Math.*;
	import Box2D.Dynamics.Joints.*;
	import flash.events.MouseEvent;
	public class HelloWorld extends Sprite {
		var body:b2Body;
		var mouseJoint:b2MouseJoint;
		var m_world:b2World;
		var m_iterations:int=10;
		var m_timeStep:Number=1.0/30.0;
		var maze:Array = [[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],[1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1],[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1],[1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1],[1,0,1,0,1,0,1,1,1],[1,0,1,0,1,0,0,0,1],[1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1],[1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1],[1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1]];
		public function HelloWorld() {
			addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, Update, false, 0, true);
			stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, createMouse);
			stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, destroyMouse);
			var worldAABB:b2AABB = new b2AABB();
			worldAABB.lowerBound.Set(-100.0, -100.0);
			worldAABB.upperBound.Set(100.0, 100.0);
			var gravity:b2Vec2=new b2Vec2(0.0,10.0);
			var doSleep:Boolean=true;
			m_world=new b2World(worldAABB,gravity,doSleep);
			// debug draw start
			var m_sprite:Sprite;
			m_sprite = new Sprite();
			addChild(m_sprite);
			var dbgDraw:b2DebugDraw = new b2DebugDraw();
			var dbgSprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
			m_sprite.addChild(dbgSprite);
			dbgDraw.m_sprite=m_sprite;
			dbgDraw.m_drawScale=30;
			dbgDraw.m_alpha = 1;
			dbgDraw.m_fillAlpha=0.7;
			dbgDraw.m_lineThickness=1;
			m_world.SetDebugDraw(dbgDraw);
			// debug draw end
			var bodyDef:b2BodyDef;
			var boxDef:b2PolygonDef;
			// lower static object
			bodyDef = new b2BodyDef();
			bodyDef.position.Set(8.5, 13);
			boxDef = new b2PolygonDef();
			boxDef.SetAsBox(8.5, 0.5);
			boxDef.friction=0.3;
			boxDef.density=0;
			body=m_world.CreateBody(bodyDef);
			body.CreateShape(boxDef);
			body.SetMassFromShapes();
			// objects
			bodyDef = new b2BodyDef();
			bodyDef.position.Set(1, 3);
			body = m_world.CreateBody(bodyDef);
			for (var j=0; j<9; j++) {
				for (var i=0; i<9; i++) {
					if (maze[j][i]==1) {
						boxDef = new b2PolygonDef();
						boxDef.SetAsOrientedBox(0.5,0.5,new b2Vec2(i, j), 0);
						boxDef.density=1.0;
						boxDef.friction=0.5;
						boxDef.restitution=0.2;
						body.CreateShape(boxDef);
					}
				}
			}
			body.SetMassFromShapes();
		}
		public function createMouse(evt:MouseEvent):void {
			var body:b2Body=GetBodyAtMouse();
			if (body) {
				var mouseJointDef:b2MouseJointDef=new b2MouseJointDef;
				mouseJointDef.body1=m_world.GetGroundBody();
				mouseJointDef.body2=body;
				mouseJointDef.target.Set(mouseX/30, mouseY/30);
				mouseJointDef.maxForce=30000;
				mouseJointDef.timeStep=m_timeStep;
				mouseJoint=m_world.CreateJoint(mouseJointDef) as b2MouseJoint;
			}
		}
		public function destroyMouse(evt:MouseEvent):void {
			if (mouseJoint) {
				m_world.DestroyJoint(mouseJoint);
				mouseJoint=null;
			}
		}
		private var mousePVec:b2Vec2 = new b2Vec2();
		public function GetBodyAtMouse(includeStatic:Boolean=false):b2Body {
			var mouseXWorldPhys = (mouseX)/30;
			var mouseYWorldPhys = (mouseY)/30;
			mousePVec.Set(mouseXWorldPhys, mouseYWorldPhys);
			var aabb:b2AABB = new b2AABB();
			aabb.lowerBound.Set(mouseXWorldPhys - 0.001, mouseYWorldPhys - 0.001);
			aabb.upperBound.Set(mouseXWorldPhys + 0.001, mouseYWorldPhys + 0.001);
			var k_maxCount:int=10;
			var shapes:Array = new Array();
			var count:int=m_world.Query(aabb,shapes,k_maxCount);
			var body:b2Body=null;
			for (var i:int = 0; i < count; ++i) {
				if (shapes[i].GetBody().IsStatic()==false||includeStatic) {
					var tShape:b2Shape=shapes[i] as b2Shape;
					var inside:Boolean=tShape.TestPoint(tShape.GetBody().GetXForm(),mousePVec);
					if (inside) {
						body=tShape.GetBody();
						break;
					}
				}
			}
			return body;
		}
		public function Update(e:Event):void {
			m_world.Step(m_timeStep, m_iterations);
			if (mouseJoint) {
				var mouseXWorldPhys=mouseX/30;
				var mouseYWorldPhys=mouseY/30;
				var p2:b2Vec2=new b2Vec2(mouseXWorldPhys,mouseYWorldPhys);
				mouseJoint.SetTarget(p2);
			}
		}
	}
}

You can find the maze at line 16 (yes, I did not create it dynamically, feel free to do it if you want), and now let’s look at the difference between a normal and a compound object.

A normal object, like the green static floor, after the CrateShape method at line 51, has a setMassFromShapes that finalizes the object itself.

If you look at the maze, inside the two cycles at lines 57-58, I only have CreateShape calls while a single setMassFromShapes is called after I completed the cycles.

This way, I am getting all objects merged in one big, compound, object.

And that’s all…

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This post has 17 comments

  1. JeanPier

    on December 12, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    Very good post… as usual.
    Thanks Emanuele for this.

  2. Josh of Cubicle Ninjas

    on December 12, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    If we end up with a Box 2D platformer (with level editor) I think you should sell the source. People can make it off of your tutorials if interested, but I think there would be a big market to sell this as well. :)

  3. Orion

    on December 12, 2008 at 9:41 pm

    ;o, I can’t see anything on my own flash oO with the same code.

  4. sathoro

    on December 12, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    This could be a cool game idea if there is a ball at one end of the maze and you have to pick up and rotate the maze to get the ball to the end.

  5. sathoro

    on December 12, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    Sorry I meant start the ball at the beginning and then have it go to the end.

  6. anlik

    on December 13, 2008 at 3:56 am

    up up up, I hope that i can see Box2D tutorial everydayO(∩_∩)O,Thanks

  7. Nathan

    on December 13, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    I was thinking the same thing as sathoro. I’ve been trying to do one of those for a long time. Now I think I know how!

  8. ruslan

    on December 14, 2008 at 2:18 am

    How do you visualize the shapes(boxes)??

  9. Pippo

    on December 14, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    using debugsrite

  10. samuvagyok

    on December 15, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    Good article!
    Have you ever tried to use “custom” polygons?
    When I created one in box2d it seems it doesn’t use the physics – no gravity, no collision etc. and I still can’t find any helpful post in the box2d forum. Maybe I missed something that is in the setAsBox method…
    Would you write an article about custom shapes?
    Thanks, and best regards!
    S

  11. Understanding custom polygons in Box2D : Emanuele Feronato

    on December 19, 2008 at 7:41 pm

    [...] week I explained The magic of compound objects with Box2D, now it’s time to understanding custom [...]

  12. Justin Edmond

    on June 6, 2009 at 8:02 pm

    I’m getting the same issue as some other people where nothing is showing up…

    I’m digging around the code but I can’t find a reason why it should be doing this.

  13. Real world catapult prototype using Box2D : Emanuele Feronato - italian geek and PROgrammer

    on April 7, 2010 at 10:44 pm

    [...] and uncommented code, but a lot of useful information about compound objects, revolute joints and [...]

  14. pbear

    on April 15, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    For those getting no result, you need to add a line to set the flags. It was apparently dropped from the previous version. Right before these lines:

    m_world.SetDebugDraw(dbgDraw);
    // debug draw end

    Add:
    dbgDraw.m_drawFlags = b2DebugDraw.e_shapeBit | b2DebugDraw.e_jointBit | b2DebugDraw.e_coreShapeBit | b2DebugDraw.e_aabbBit | b2DebugDraw.e_obbBit | b2DebugDraw.e_pairBit | b2DebugDraw.e_centerOfMassBit;

    And you should be able to see what is going on.

  15. wouter

    on September 3, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    for those who find this usefull.
    i made an editor for drawing complex shapes for box2d.
    in this version you can grab the generated xml from te process xml button.

    find it at:

    http://www.nuvorm.nl/start/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83:box-2d-complex-shape-editor&catid=40:experiments&Itemid=53

  16. Zerchan

    on June 1, 2011 at 6:38 pm

    How can I render textures movieClips in the compound object ?

  17. Zerchan

    on June 1, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    for(var currentBody:b2Body = world.GetBodyList(); currentBody; currentBody = currentBody.GetNext()){
    if(currentBody.GetUserData()){
    if(currentBody.GetUserData().skin){
    currentBody.GetUserData().skin.x = currentBody.GetPosition().x*worldScale;
    currentBody.GetUserData().skin.y = currentBody.GetPosition().y*worldScale;
    currentBody.GetUserData().skin.rotation = currentBody.GetAngle()*(180/Math.PI);
    }
    }

    The render loop it’s the same??