Real-Time Collision Deformations using Graphics Hardware

We present a method for efficiently simulating minor deformations that result from collisions. Our method alters only bump maps and leaves mesh geometry unchanged. It is well suited to games because although the results are not physically correct, they are plausible and are computed in real-time. In a real-time simulation the CPU already carries a high load due to game logic, I/O, and physical simulation. To achieve high performance, we move the deformation computation off the CPU. The task of computing surface deformations and collisions for physics is very similar to that of rendering computational solid geometry objects. We exploit this observation by “rendering” the intersection to an off-screen buffer using graphics hardware and parallel texture map operations.