Simulating a Web Joint in Android

I got interested in this demo after I saw the Java demo of Box2D physics in Jbox (look in Joints). Moreover my interest in this demo was heightened as the Disney game ‘Cut the rope’ possibly uses some elements of a web joint.

Take a look at the simulation Simulating a Web Joint in Android on Youtube
You can clone the entire project from GitHub at WebJoint

The first task was to create & place Animated Sprites(face) at the corners of a rectangle. I also added distance Joints between them.

Vector2 v1 = new Vector2(p1[0]/PIXEL_TO_METER_RATIO_DEFAULT,p1[1]/PIXEL_TO_METER_RATIO_DEFAULT);

Vector2 v2 = new Vector2(p2[0]/PIXEL_TO_METER_RATIO_DEFAULT,p2[1]/PIXEL_TO_METER_RATIO_DEFAULT);

distanceJoint.initialize(body1, body2, v1, v2);

distanceJoint.collideConnected = true;

distanceJoint.dampingRatio = 1.0f;

distanceJoint.frequencyHz = 10.0f;

this.mPhysicsWorld.createJoint(distanceJoint);

}

I also had to draw connecting lines to represent the joints between the faces The challenge is to update these lines in real time as the bodies oscillate about their mean based on the damping constant. Fortunately I had done this in of my earlier demos “Creating a blob with an attitude”. The key to this is to update the connecting line to the attached bodies through the onUpdate method

@Override

publicvoid onUpdate(finalfloat pSecondsElapsed) {

super.onUpdate(pSecondsElapsed);

if(connectionLine != null)

connectionLine.setPosition(faceA.getX(),faceA.getY(),faceB.getX(),faceB.getY());

}

}

While the Animated Sprites are dynamic bodies I also created 4 pegs (static bodies) that attach to these 4 animated sprites which are suspended in a rectangle formation.

I also added a onAreaTouch listener to enable me to remove bodies interactively. This is a deviation from the demo where the user has to press a key which will remove the bodies in a pre-determined fashin.

To remove the bodies using onAreaTouch was a challenge. So when I remove an Animated Sprite I have to

1. Remove all connecting lines to the body

2. Destroy all the joints between the body and other bodies

TO remove the connecting lines I first tried the following

private void removeFace(AnimatedSprite face) {

if(connectionLine1 != null && connectionLine1.collidesWith(face)){

this.mScene.detachChild(connectionLine1);

connectionLine1.dispose();

connectionLine1 = null;

}

if(connectionLine2 != null && connectionLine2.collidesWith(face)){

…

..

But this did not quite work and it would remove only some of the lines. Then I changed it as follows based on the animated sprite that is being removed in which I specifically remove the connecting lines

if(face.equals(face1)){

Log.d(“Yes”,“Yes”);

destroyLine(connectionLine1);

destroyLine(connectionLine4);

destroyLine(connectionLine5);

}

where destroyLine() is as follow

if(line.isDisposed() == true)

return;

this.mScene.detachChild(line);

final PhysicsConnector linePhysicsConnector= this.mPhysicsWorld.getPhysicsConnectorManager().findPhysicsConnectorByShape(line);

this.mPhysicsWorld.unregisterPhysicsConnector(linePhysicsConnector);

line.dispose();

line = null;

}

To destroy all the distance joints which the bodies has we have to iterate through all of the joints as follows

// Determine all joints connected to Animated Sprite & destroy

ArrayList<JointEdge> jointsEdge = facePhysicsConnector.getBody().getJointList();

for(int i=0; i < jointsEdge.size(); i++){

Joint j = jointsEdge.get(i).joint;

this.mPhysicsWorld.destroyJoint(j);

j=null;

}

Finally the face is removed as follows

this.mPhysicsWorld.unregisterPhysicsConnector(facePhysicsConnector);

this.mPhysicsWorld.destroyBody(facePhysicsConnector.getBody());

this.mScene.unregisterTouchArea(face);

this.mScene.detachChild(face);

Anyway occasionally I do get a SIGSEGV in update thread if I remove face as follows lower right, lower left, upper left. Some orders work well for e.g. Upper left, lower left, lower right etc.

If you figure out what I am missing do let me know.

Take a look at the simulation Simulating a Web Joint in Android

You can clone the entire project from GitHub at WebJoint

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