Vehicle Simulation

The target for this session is to make a car simulation and to make a simple game involving a car simulation.

In the following tutorial a car body is made from two cubes and wheels are made from torus’s (the shape of a rubber ring is a torus).

From these simple shapes it is possible to make a car simulation. The method involves using Python scripts. The scripts look long and complicated but they only have to be changed, carefully, in a few places.

The effort is worth it because the car simulation is impressive and fun.

The steps have to be followed carefully, if you miss a step or make a mistake it won’t work (text is case sensitive and a different spellings won’t work, EBrake not Ebrake or EBreak)

You can download my finished file which proves that it works.

Files used and the finished file –

• getStTut1.blend – simple model of a car (with red stripe on wheels)
• CarSetup.py – for setting up the car (right click save target/link as)
• Powertrain.py – for controlling the car (right click save target/link as)
• getStTut7.blend – finished file
• allFiles.zip – all the above files zipped together

Once you have got the car simulation to work, then you can design a game for it. The following link takes you to a page that shows how to make a collecting game similar to the walk around collecting game –

Click here for the drive around collecting page

The next session will look at controlling more that one car, allowing for the development of a car racing game.