Overview
The 1.1.0 release of LiquidFun adds support for new platforms, speeds-up
the simulation, and documents the particle simulation algorithm with a fun,
visual presentation. Some highlights:
- iOS support.
- JavaScript support via Emscripten.
- Improved Java support via more SWIG bindings.
- An Inside LiquidFun presentation explaining the particle simulation
algorithm. - ARM optimizations using NEON.
- Stability and collision improvements to the particle simulation.
- More ways to inspect particle contacts.
- A LiquidFun logo to use in your splash screens and documentation, if you
like.
The API Modifications are minimal in this release,
but please review them carefully before upgrading your project.
LiquidFun now supports Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and browsers. Note
that LiquidFun code is portable C++98, so you should be able to compile it for
other platforms too.
Your program can use LiquidFun if it is written in C++, Java, or JavaScript.
LiquidFun 1.1.0 is based on Box2D revision 280, the 2.3.0 release of
Box2D.
New Features
- Translated LiquidFun into JavaScript using Emscripten. Please see Box2D/lfjs
for the JavaScript bindings and a JavaScript version of the Testbed. - Added iOS XCode projects for the Testbed application and EyeCandy demo.
- Added b2ParticleSystem::SplitParticleGroup, which finds disjoint blobs of
particles, and puts each into its own b2ParticleGroup. - Added several accessor functions that use only int32s, float32s, and void
pointers. These accessors are wrapped in the
LIQUIDFUN_EXTERNAL_LANGUAGE_API preprocessor define. They enable binding
with other languages--for example, via SWIG. - Particle indices can be represented with 16-bits instead of 32-bits. This
is a nice optimization if you know you will have less than 32k particles
per simulation. - b2ParticleSimulation::UpdateContacts has been rewritten to take advantage
of NEON SIMD. The original implementation remains, for reference, and for
platforms that do not support NEON SIMD. The NEON SIMD version requires
16-bit particle indices.
API Modifications
- b2ParticleContact's members are now accessed via Get and Set functions.
- b2ParticleSystemDef now has members for strictContactCheck, density,
gravityScale, radius, and maxCount. You can still set these values after
b2ParticleSystem creation, however, for example via
b2ParticleSystem::SetDensity.
Other Changes
- Added b2ParticleSystem::GetAllParticleFlags,
b2ParticleSystem::GetAllGroupFlags, and
b2ParticleGroup::GetAllParticleFlags, which OR-together all the flags in
a particle system or group. - Expose the contact weight buffer. The weight represents how closely two
particles overlap. - Expose particle pairs and triads for reading. These arrays indicate which
particles are interacting. - Added b2ParticleGroup::GetLinearVelocityFromWorldPoint, which returns the
average velocity of a particle group with respect to a position. The
position is used to calculate the angular velocity of the group. - Added b2World::CalculateReasonableParticleIterations to give a good
estimate of the number of particle iterations you should pass into
b2World::Step.