130 Chapter 7 Hard Constraints
Other Approaches to Resting Contact
The microcollision approach I’ve given here is only one of many possibilities. Resting
contact is one of two key challenges to get right in a physics engine (the other being
friction; in fact, the two often go together). There are many routes of attack, as well
as countless variations and tweaks.
My solution is somewhat ad hoc; effectively we sec ond-guess the mistakes of a
r ough impleme ntation, and then try to co rrect it after the event. This has the flavor of
a hack, and despite being easy to implement and suitable for adding in friction (which
we’ll do in Chapter 15), it is fro wned upon by engineering purists.
A more physically realistic approach would be to recognize that a