CIS552 Final Project - Jason Eaton Instructions There are two different modes to operate this program in. Edit Mode and Simulation Mode. The program starts in Edit mode. To switch between modes, click the button at the upper right corner of the screen, labeled "Start" and "Stop". Simulation Mode In Simulation Mode there are only two actions. You may stop the simulation with the "Stop" button, or you may click a node and drag it to exert an outside force on that node. Edit Mode Menu The first button on the menu switches program modes. The "Load File" button will load what ever file is entered into the text area just above the "Load File" button. The "See Raw Data" button will dump the raw data that represents the current configuration of springs shown to the left of the menu. When a spring, node or box is selected, a text area will allow you to change the properties of the object selected. When a spring is selected, it allows you to change the coefficient of the spring. When a box is selected, it allows you to change the angle the box is oriented at. When a node is selected, it allows you to change the mass of the node, and adds a check box that lets you set the node an anchor node. Just under those fields is the option to select the type of integration used. What ever one is selected will be used once the "Start" button is clicked. The "Clear" button will clear all of the nodes and springs. The "Help" button displays this screen. Edit Mode Buttons Single Click - Will select a spring, node or box. You may hold down the click to drag nodes or boxes to new positions. If empty space is clicked, and the mouse is dragged, a new box will be created. The size of the box can be set at this time by dragging the mouse as the mouse button is held down. Double Click - If a node is double clicked, a new spring will be created attached to that node. You must then click another node to attach it to in order to complete the spring creation. A double click any where else will create a new node at the position double clicked. Spacebar - Spacebar will delete whatever node, spring or box is currently selected. Possible Improvements One improvement for this program would be to add a relaxation step to the simulation. This would prevent springs from getting to short or long, causing a large force to be brought into the system and making the simulation explode. Otherwise the system would need variable time steps and increment in smaller steps as the forces exerted on the system get larger. The most common cause of explosion in this program is collisions will walls. One more addition that could be made would be to constrain the spring links themselves, so they didn't pass though walls. Test Files This program comes with ten spring configuration files. To make you own files, just press "See Raw Data", then copy and paste the Raw Data text area into a text file. To load these files, just type the full filename into the text area above the "Load File" button, then hit the "Load File" button. rope.txt - A simple rope with rigid springs bridge.txt - A rope with both ends anchored particle.txt - Triangle spring particles that fall though a series of walls box.txt - A simple box made of springs cloth.txt - A grid of nodes connected by springs to make a cloth mouse.txt - Looks like mickey mouse ears wedge.txt - A wheel shaped spring object sliding down a ramp rope2.txt - A rope that gets caught in a bunch of walls box2.txt - A more complicated box thing.txt - An interesting thing made of springs stiff.txt - a rope attached with rigid springs blob.txt - poorly attempting to do blobs, try number 1 blob2.txt - poorly attempting to do blobs, try number 2 blob3.txt - poorly attempting to do blobs, try number 3