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I am working on a simple 3D space simulator that makes use of the Bullet physics engine. The spaceships are rigid bodies that have a mass and hitbox so that they can be considered for collisions. At the same time, I am trying to implement simple steering A.I. as detailed in numerous tutorials across the web. However, all of these tutorials assume zero-size points in 2D space with no orientation.

For the most part, I have succeeded in implementing the behaviors by applying a force to the rigid body in the direction of desired steering. The spaceship moves, turns, and accelerates smoothly and correctly navigates to the desired position in 3D space:

currentVelocity = body.getLinearVelocity();
tempVector = body.getWorldTransform().getTranslation();
desiredVelocity = targetPosition.sub(tempVector).normalize().scale(maxVelocity);
steeringForce = desiredVelocity.sub(currentVelocity);

body.setGravity(steeringForce); *[see footnote]

However, the spaceship does not change its orientation at all. The problem I am trying to solve is simple - to make the spaceship face in the direction that it is currently travelling.

From my research, it seems that simply setting the orientation of the object to face the direction of its velocity is really bad when using a physics engine because it may cause a rigid body to become stuck inside another one. On the other hand, using a more realistic navigation system based on thrusters is prohibitively (and needlessly) complex because the number of spaceships will be very high.

What is the best way of overcoming this problem?

Edit: Also of note is that the Bullet physics library does not allow setting the orientation of a body.

*Note: I used the function setGravity() instead of applyForce() as suggested by an admin at the Bullet physics forums because applying a force is dependent upon frame-rate. On the other hand, gravity is applied evenly according to Bullet's simulation steps, not to mention that gravity otherwise unused in a space simulator.

I am working on a simple 3D space simulator that makes use of the Bullet physics engine. The spaceships are rigid bodies that have a mass and hitbox so that they can be considered for collisions. At the same time, I am trying to implement simple steering A.I. as detailed in numerous tutorials across the web. However, all of these tutorials assume zero-size points in 2D space with no orientation.

For the most part, I have succeeded in implementing the behaviors by applying a force to the rigid body in the direction of desired steering. The spaceship moves, turns, and accelerates smoothly and correctly navigates to the desired position in 3D space:

currentVelocity = body.getLinearVelocity();
tempVector = body.getWorldTransform().getTranslation();
desiredVelocity = targetPosition.sub(tempVector).normalize().scale(maxVelocity);
steeringForce = desiredVelocity.sub(currentVelocity);

body.setGravity(steeringForce); *[see footnote]

However, the spaceship does not change its orientation at all. The problem I am trying to solve is simple - to make the spaceship face in the direction that it is currently travelling.

From my research, it seems that simply setting the orientation of the object to face the direction of its velocity is really bad when using a physics engine because it may cause a rigid body to become stuck inside another one. On the other hand, using a more realistic navigation system based on thrusters is prohibitively (and needlessly) complex because the number of spaceships will be very high.

What is the best way of overcoming this problem?

Edit: Also of note is that the Bullet physics library does not allow setting the orientation of a body.

*Note: I used the function setGravity() instead of applyForce() as suggested by an admin at the Bullet physics forums because applying a force is dependent upon frame-rate. On the other hand, gravity is applied evenly according to Bullet's simulation steps, not to mention that gravity otherwise unused in a space simulator.

I am working on a simple 3D space simulator that makes use of the Bullet physics engine. The spaceships are rigid bodies that have a mass and hitbox so that they can be considered for collisions. At the same time, I am trying to implement simple steering A.I. as detailed in numerous tutorials across the web. However, all of these tutorials assume zero-size points in 2D space with no orientation.

For the most part, I have succeeded in implementing the behaviors by applying a force to the rigid body in the direction of desired steering. The spaceship moves, turns, and accelerates smoothly and correctly navigates to the desired position in 3D space:

currentVelocity = body.getLinearVelocity();
tempVector = body.getWorldTransform().getTranslation();
desiredVelocity = targetPosition.sub(tempVector).normalize().scale(maxVelocity);
steeringForce = desiredVelocity.sub(currentVelocity);

body.setGravity(steeringForce); *[see footnote]

However, the spaceship does not change its orientation at all. The problem I am trying to solve is simple - to make the spaceship face in the direction that it is currently travelling.

From my research, it seems that simply setting the orientation of the object to face the direction of its velocity is really bad when using a physics engine because it may cause a rigid body to become stuck inside another one. On the other hand, using a more realistic navigation system based on thrusters is prohibitively (and needlessly) complex because the number of spaceships will be very high.

What is the best way of overcoming this problem?

*Note: I used the function setGravity() instead of applyForce() as suggested by an admin at the Bullet physics forums because applying a force is dependent upon frame-rate. On the other hand, gravity is applied evenly according to Bullet's simulation steps, not to mention that gravity otherwise unused in a space simulator.

I am working on a simple 3D space simulator that makes use of the Bullet physics engine. The spaceships are rigid bodies that have a mass and hitbox so that they can be considered for collisions. At the same time, I am trying to implement simple steering A.I. as detailed in numerous tutorials across the web. However, all of these tutorials assume zero-size points in 2D space with no orientation.

For the most part, I have succeeded in implementing the behaviors by applying a force to the rigid body in the direction of desired steering. The spaceship moves, turns, and accelerates smoothly and correctly navigates to the desired position in 3D space:

currentVelocity = body.getLinearVelocity();
tempVector = body.getWorldTransform().getTranslation();
desiredVelocity = targetPosition.sub(tempVector).normalize().scale(maxVelocity);
steeringForce = desiredVelocity.sub(currentVelocity);

body.setGravity(steeringForce); *[see footnote]

However, the spaceship does not change its orientation at all. The problem I am trying to solve is simple - to make the spaceship face in the direction that it is currently travelling.

From my research, it seems that simply setting the orientation of the object to face the direction of its velocity is really bad when using a physics engine because it may cause a rigid body to become stuck inside another one. On the other hand, using a more realistic navigation system based on thrusters is prohibitively (and needlessly) complex because the number of spaceships will be very high.

What is the best way of overcoming this problem?

Edit: Also of note is that the Bullet physics library does not allow setting the orientation of a body.

*Note: I used the function setGravity() instead of applyForce() as suggested by an admin at the Bullet physics forums because applying a force is dependent upon frame-rate. On the other hand, gravity is applied evenly according to Bullet's simulation steps, not to mention that gravity otherwise unused in a space simulator.

I am working on a simple 3D space simulator that makes use of the Bullet physics engine. The spaceships are rigid bodies that have a mass and hitbox so that they can be considered for collisions. At the same time, I am trying to implement simple steering A.I. as detailed in numerous tutorials across the web.

For the most part, I have succeeded in implementing the behaviors by applying a force to the rigid body in the direction of desired steering. The spaceship moves, turns, and accelerates smoothly and correctly navigates to the desired position in 3D space:

currentVelocity = body.getLinearVelocity();
tempVector = body.getWorldTransform().getTranslation();
desiredVelocity = targetPosition.sub(tempVector).normalize().scale(maxVelocity);
steeringForce = desiredVelocity.sub(currentVelocity);

body.setGravity(steeringForce); *[see footnote]

However, the spaceship does not change its orientation at all. The problem I am trying to solve is simple - to make the spaceship face in the direction that it is currently travelling.

From my research, it seems that simply setting the orientation of the object to face the direction of its velocity is really bad when using a physics engine because it may cause a rigid body to become stuck inside another one. On the other hand, using a more realistic navigation system based on thrusters is prohibitively (and needlessly) complex because the number of spaceships will be very high.

What is the best way of overcoming this problem?

*Note: I used the function setGravity() instead of applyForce() as suggested by an admin at the Bullet physics forums because applying a force is dependent upon frame-rate. On the other hand, gravity is applied evenly according to Bullet's simulation steps, not to mention that gravity otherwise unused in a space simulator.

I am working on a simple 3D space simulator that makes use of the Bullet physics engine. The spaceships are rigid bodies that have a mass and hitbox so that they can be considered for collisions. At the same time, I am trying to implement simple steering A.I. as detailed in numerous tutorials across the web. However, all of these tutorials assume zero-size points in 2D space with no orientation.

For the most part, I have succeeded in implementing the behaviors by applying a force to the rigid body in the direction of desired steering. The spaceship moves, turns, and accelerates smoothly and correctly navigates to the desired position in 3D space:

currentVelocity = body.getLinearVelocity();
tempVector = body.getWorldTransform().getTranslation();
desiredVelocity = targetPosition.sub(tempVector).normalize().scale(maxVelocity);
steeringForce = desiredVelocity.sub(currentVelocity);

body.setGravity(steeringForce); *[see footnote]

However, the spaceship does not change its orientation at all. The problem I am trying to solve is simple - to make the spaceship face in the direction that it is currently travelling.

From my research, it seems that simply setting the orientation of the object to face the direction of its velocity is really bad when using a physics engine because it may cause a rigid body to become stuck inside another one. On the other hand, using a more realistic navigation system based on thrusters is prohibitively (and needlessly) complex because the number of spaceships will be very high.

What is the best way of overcoming this problem?

*Note: I used the function setGravity() instead of applyForce() as suggested by an admin at the Bullet physics forums because applying a force is dependent upon frame-rate. On the other hand, gravity is applied evenly according to Bullet's simulation steps, not to mention that gravity otherwise unused in a space simulator.