Skip to main content
Log in

VoxColliDe: Voxel collision detection for virtual environments

  • Published:
Virtual Reality Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Collision detection is fundamental in achievingnatural dynamics in virtual environments, but current algorithms are too slow, causing a major bottleneck in processing and hindering the building of interactive simulation environments. This paper provides an overview of the collision detection problem and current attempted solutions. A voxel-based approach to rigid-body collision detection is presented, with its potential high performance explained.

Voxel collision detection takes place on a pair-wise basis, involving two additional representations of a polygonal object, a Voxmap and a Point Shell. These are constructed in a pre-processing step and allow fast collision detection through a simple look-up reference of points into voxels. Collision performance depends upon the number of points in the shell, and can trade accuracy for speed. A range ofpruning techniques, needed to cut down the number of objects undergoing collision testing, are reviewed and implemented. These allow most effective use of the voxel collision detection algorithm in multi-body simulations, such as virtual environments.

Performance evaluations demonstrate the voxel collision detection algorithm's ability to achieve interactive rates (above 20 Hz) for both high precision pair-wise collision tests, and for large numbers of objects in multi-body environments. The voxel collision detection algorithm is suitable for parallel, hardware implementation. This provides the potential for great enhancements to already extremely high performance, rendering the voxel-based approach to collision detection all the more promising.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  1. Logan IP, Wills DPM, Avis NJ, Mohsen AMMA, Sherman KP. Virtual environment knee arthroscopy training system. Society for Computer Simulation, Simulation Series 1996; 28(4): 17–22

    Google Scholar 

  2. McNeely WA, Puterbaugh KD, Troy JJ. Six degree-of-freedom haptic rendering using voxel sampling. In: Computer Graphics Proceedings, Siggraph'99,8–13 August 1999; 401–408

  3. Ward JW, Wills DPM, Sherman KP, Mohsen AMMA. The development of an arthroscopic surgical simulator with haptic feedback. Future Generation Computer Systems 1998; 14: 243–251

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ellis SR. What are virtual environments. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 1994; 14(1): 17–22

    Google Scholar 

  5. Heeter C. Being there: the subjective experience of presence. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 1992; 1(2): 262–271

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hendrix C, Barfield W. Presence in virtual environments as a function of visual display parameters. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 1996; 5(2): 274–289

    Google Scholar 

  7. Johnson-Laird PN. Mental models. In: Foundations of cognitive science. Posner MI, ed. Cambridge University Press, 1983; 469–493

  8. Johnson-Laird PN. The computer and the mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  9. Norman DA. The psychology of everyday things. Basic Books, New York, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  10. Barfield W, Hendrix C, Bjourneseth O, Kaczmarek KA, Lotens W. Comparison of human sensory capabilities with technical specifications of virtual environment equipment. Presence 1995; 4(4): 329–356

    Google Scholar 

  11. Zeltner D. Autonomy, interaction and presence. Presence 1992; 1(1): 127

    Google Scholar 

  12. Kennedy RS, Lane NE, Lilienthal MG, Berbaum KS, Hettinger LJ. Profile analysis of simulator sickness symptoms: application to virtual environment systems. Presence 1992, 1(3): 293–301

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hettinger LJ, Riccio GE. Visually induced motion sickness in virtual environments. Presence 1992; 1(3): 306–310

    Google Scholar 

  14. Pausch R, Crea T, Conway M. A literature survey for virtual environments: military flight simulator visual systems and simulator sickness. Presence 1992; 1(3): 344–363

    Google Scholar 

  15. Cohen JD, Lin MC, Manocha D, Ponamgi MK. I-COLLIDE: an interactive and exact collision detection system for large-scale environments. In: Proceedings of ACM International 3D Graphics Conference 1995; 189–196

  16. Hubbard PM. Collision detection for interactive graphics applications. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphcis 1995b; 1(3): 218–230

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hubbard PM. Approximating polyhedra with spheres for time-critical collision detection. ACM Transactions on Graphics 1996; 15(3): 179–210

    Google Scholar 

  18. Jiang H, Vanecek G. Jr. N-body collision detection based on lazy evaluation. Extended abstract, Department of Computer Science, University of Purdue, W. Lafayette; presented at SIVE 1995

  19. Moore M, Wilhelms J. Collision detection and response for computer animation. Computer Graphics 1988; 22(4): 289–298

    Google Scholar 

  20. Vanecek G. Jr. Back-face culling applied to collision detection of polyhedra. The Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation 1994; 5: 55–63

    Google Scholar 

  21. Palmer IJ, Grimsdale RL. Collision detection for animation using sphere-trees. Computer Graphics Forum 1995; 14(2): 105–116

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hubbard PM. Interactive collision detection. Technical Report, Department of Computer Science, Brown University. In: Proceedings of the 1993 IEEE Symposium on Research Frontiers in Virtual Reality, October 1993; 24–31

  23. Hubbard PM. Real-time collision detection and time-critical computing. Workshop on Simulation and Interaction in Virtual Environments, July 1995a; 92–96

  24. Gottschalk S, Lin MC, Manocha D. OBB-tree: a hierarchical structure for rapid interference detection. Technical Report TR96-013, Department of Computer Science, University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill. In: Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH '96; 171–180

  25. Hudson TC, Lin MC, Cohen J, Gottschalk S, Manocha D. V-COLLIDE: accelerated collision detection for VRML. In: Proceedings of VRML97, 24–26 February 1997. Monterey, CA: ACM Press; 119–125. Available from URL: http://www.cs.unc.edu/∼geom/collide.html

    Google Scholar 

  26. Vanecek G. Jr, Gonzalez-Ochoa C. Representing complex objects in collision detection. SIVE 95, Ewa City, IA. Available from URL: www.cs.uiowa.edu/ncremer/sive95.html

  27. Lin MC, Canny J. Efficient collision detection for animation. Proceedings of the Third Eurographics Workshop on Animation and Simulation 1991, Cambridge, UK.

  28. Lin MC, Manocha D. Efficient contact determination between geometric models. Technical Report TR94-024, Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina, Berkley, NC, 1994

    Google Scholar 

  29. Lin MC, Manocha D. Fast interference detection between geometric models. The Visual Computer 1995; 11: 542–561

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ponamgi MK, Manocha D, Lin MC. Incremental algorithms for collision detection between solid models. In: Proceedings of ACM/Siggraph Symposium on Solid Modeling 1995; 293–304

  31. Jones MW. The production of volume data from triangular meshes using voxelisation. Proc. of EuroGraphics '96, Computer Graphics Forum 1996; 15(5): 311–318

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kaufman A. An algorithm for 3D scan-conversion of polygons. In: Proceedings of Eurographics '87, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 197–208

  33. Glassner AS. An introduction to ray-tracing. London: Academic Press. 1989

    Google Scholar 

  34. Watt A. 3D computer graphics. Suffolk, UK: Addison-Wesley, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  35. Rule K. Crossroads 3D. Homepage and freeware download at URL: http://www.europa.com/∼keithr/crossroads/, 1997

  36. Baraff D. Issues in computing contact forces for non-penetrating rigid bodies. Algorithmica 1993; 10: 292–353

    Google Scholar 

  37. Baraff D. Fast contact force computation for non-penetrating rigid bodies. In: Computer Graphics Proceedings, SIGGRAPH '94, 24–29 July 1994; 23-34–38

  38. Baraff D. Curved surfaces and coherence for non-penetrating rigid body simulation. Computer Graphics 1990; 24(4): 19–28

    Google Scholar 

  39. Hahn JK. Realistic animation of rigid bodies. Computer Graphics 1988; 22(4): 299–308

    Google Scholar 

  40. Kammat W. A survey of techniques for simulation of dynamic collision detection and response. Comput. & Graphics 1993; 17(4): 379–385

    Google Scholar 

  41. Thibault WC, Naylor FB. Set operations on polyhedra using binary space partitioning trees. Computer Graphics 1987; 21(4): 153–162

    Google Scholar 

  42. Baraff D. An introduction to physically based modelling: rigid body simulation II — non-penetration constraints. SIGGRAPH '95 & '97 Course Notes on Physically Based Modelling 1997. Available from URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/baraff/www/pbm/pbm.html

  43. Wagner L, Fusco M. Fast n-dimension extent overlap testing. In: Graphics gems III. Kirk D. ed. Boston, MA: Academic Press, 1991; 240–243 and 527–533

    Google Scholar 

  44. Sedgewick R. Algorithms in C++. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992; 93–105

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. P. M. Wills.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lock, S.M., Wills, D.P.M. VoxColliDe: Voxel collision detection for virtual environments. Virtual Reality 5, 8–22 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01418972

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01418972

Keywords

Navigation