Simulating Stuff

Main Required Features:

• Constraints
• Fast (probably requires good guessing using Verlet_integration)
• Collision detection and stuff

Modelica is a great option, because it does all of the integrating and equation solving for you. Evidenced in this pendulum harmonic motion blog post. Great free book, with interactive javascript examples.

• You can easily change the details of the problem, and Modelica will compile the equations quickly and reduce them to the minimum necessary.

Not sure what state space is all about. However, CMU docs and Xogeny book to the rescue.

Solve heat flows using PDE in Modelica (Youtube lecture). Another stackoverflow thing, suggesting burgers equation. Modelica can only do ODE, but can do discrete space by setting up multiple ODE's.

Run omedit (for your respective platform) to get the full GUI running

(Gravity, collision, etc, simple stuff)

• Verlet.js is simple option, and fast.
• Box2D and derivatives seem very fast too, as well as Google's LiquidFun which adds fast particle stuff.
  • Emscripten compiles C++ to Javascript automatically! w00t. Main port is Kripken box2d javascript, and gotchas to get working are here.

Many that are based on Three.js (forced to be 3d) are super slow for me on a normal laptop/desktop for some reason.

Live Coding implemented somewhat at Khan Academy here and updated here.

HTML5 now has built-in support for range sliders w/ live preview…and probably knobs too.