Introduction

Rodeo is based on the free physics engine ODE . Physics means that reality like, physics based behavior of objects is simulated. To get the most from the Rodeo plugin we need to deal a bit with physical units. For example, when simulating a cube falling onto the ground it makes quite a difference if the cube is 100x100x100 meters versus 100x100x100 centimeters. But this is already all we have to keep in mind when playing with Rodeo: scene scale.

Rodeo acts as a translator between ODE and EIAS Animator. In Animator the setup is built, in Rodeo we tweak and tune it which is then fed into ODE for calculation. Rodeo will then again translate the resulting simulation data (position and rotation) back to Animator. All animation data is written as custom frames to the related animation channels of all Rodeo animated objects. The simulation data can than be used together with your Xpressionist scripts. This also grants Renderama compatibility, since Rodeo is not required during render time.

The workflow of a Rodeo based physics simulation can be roughly broken into three steps: Setup, Tweaking, and Solving. This workflow reflects in the Rodeo interface. From left to right we have the Setup tab - for the general setup and assignment of groups to Rodeo, we have the Mesh tab, to tweak the setup of the meshes/objects that Rodeo uses for the calculation, next tab is the Joints tab where you can verify and tweak the linkage of objects, than we have the Advanced tab that holds all parameters for the simulation and finally the Solver tab where all the magic happens.

Start with the Quickstart section to get the basics of Rodeo. Start to experiment and come back to the reference section of this manual whenever you need additional information. For support please go here.