Obi roadmap

[josemendez]

Hi!
First I want to say that I picked up Obi Rope recently and it's been such a breeze to use. Well done!
The compute shader thing you mentioned seems interesting. I was curious as to what the scope of the limitations in functionalities will be. I understand that this is still in development and that this might not yet be fully cleared, but is there anything you can share regarding the functionalities that will be limited by this alternative simulation engine?

The compute-based backend is still WIP, but many basic features have already been implemented.

Its biggest limitations stem from the fact that bringing simulation data from the GPU back to the CPU is extremely costly. It can be done asynchronously (let the GPU know that you need the data, continue running things in the CPU, get the data a few frames later) but this introduces latency. So two-way rigidbody interaction is probably out the window, since you need data from the GPU, and you need it the same frame it's been produced. Also, many things you'd be able to do in CPU-based backends will be harder or outright impossible to do in the compute backend. So it will be mostly aimed at pure eye-candy, simulations where you don't need to retrieve data every frame for gameplay reasons.

You can see it in action here (in the context of fluids/cloth, though):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w2D2rYEk1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQzZzQMl7x8

Thanks in advance, and good job to you and your team for this great asset!

Though I do get help with forum/webpage maintenance, it's just me 95% of the time . Thanks!