15.08.2013 Category: Site news
Today we bring you a new suspension model for the short course trucks and upcoming buggy. The truck physics have had a major overhaul, to say the least. This new model is fully 3D and covers every part of the suspension right down to the spring preload nuts, hole selections, and washer adjustments. Videos speak louder than words, so check out the 3D suspension physics tech video.
As you can see, the suspension on the truck is now modelled as extensively as anyone could ever hope for. There are no visual tricks here like other sims often use. What you see here is coming directly from the physics engine. There are no animation bones or any of that kind of thing. Possibly for the first time in a sim, there is a 100% correlation between what you see on the screen and what the physics engine is actually using. The forces of the system and all resulting motion are being computed entirely by the actual steering and suspension geometry that you see here in the video. There are no animation tricks. What you see is what you get.
The tie rods, bell cranks, ARB link geometry, bumpsteer and inboard/outboard camber link washers, hole mount locations, anti-squat, you name it, it's all in there. Change the upper arm hole selection on the hub and you'll have to readjust the camber link to match. When you change ride height, the presence of bump steer will require you to change the tie rod lengths to keep your toe setting intact. That's right, you no longer set front toe angle directly on any new vehicles we develop from this day forward. This is now done directly with the tie rod adjustment.
Don't like the bump steer? Change it by adding some washers to angle the tie rod differently. On future vehicles we develop that have different tie rod mounting positions at the steering rack or the outboard end at the steering block, we'll have the option to choose which holes you want to use. This might change the ride height, camber and toe, so you'll have to readjust link lengths in order to keep your settings just like you do on your real R/C.
We're rendering all of the adjustable arms as three pieces each so everything stays connected just like it should. If you look closely you can see the two end pieces of the tie rods and camber links sliding back and forth along the central arm. When you adjust the spring preload, the nut on top of the spring actually moves to the correct location, compressing the spring and the little rubber boot the correct amount. All of these compress and move correctly along with the rest of the shock as the suspension moves. When you change hole settings in the setup screen, all of the pieces move to their new locations correctly. If you look really closely you can even see the driveshafts sliding in and out of their slots ever so slightly as the suspension moves and you tweak the settings. This is as real as it gets, folks..
Instead of rendering five parts per vehicle (truck + four wheels), we are now attempting to render a whopping 76 independently animated pieces of the suspension and steering system on the truck. We haven't quite figured out how to do this fast enough to run a full field of 10 cars just yet, so in the meantime the public version will not show all this, but we're working on it. You can rest assured that the physics model indeed takes into account the precise location and orientation of every single one of these pieces when determining how your truck is going to handle whether all of these parts are rendered or not. The physics are the same either way.
If you were to guess that the new truck has a lot more adjustability than it did before, you'd be right. There are five separate adjustments for the front camber link alone. Even the anti-rollbar (ARB) functionality has been expanded significantly. Instead of a simple 0-100% slider, you can now select the diameter of the wire in the workbench, adjust the position where the ARB link attaches to the lower a-frame, and even change the length of the link so you can level off the ARB after you're done with your adjustments. The installation geometry of the bar is now important and fully modeled. On future vehicles we could even let you remount the bar to different positions on the chassis or adjust the amount of end play where the bar connects to the links. The truck has three different adjustments for the bars alone. Future vehicles may have more.
You're now able to set the shock/damper position at the lower arm, and the camber links have a lot more tuning potential. On the truck's front link there are twenty different washer settings. Combine that with the two inboard hole selections and there are 40 different roll center choices you could make just with the camber link, and that's just at the front of the truck. The rear has three additional holes at the outboard end of the camber link too, giving a whopping 120 possible roll center and camber gain choices at the rear end alone.
We hope you enjoy the new truck physics. Buggies are in development now and we'll get that to you as soon as we can now that we have a suspension model and system that can render animated suspensions. We don't know when that will be yet, but we'll get it to you in the near future.
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MPEO V.MPE Organizer
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Physics is in a separate thread so it does not affect the frame rate.
The frequency of the physics updates on the truck has been reduced a lot, more than enough to make up for the added complexity of the new suspension. The physics share of the CPU on the truck is now lower than it was before as a result.
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Fred F
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Posted by: Brian Townsend (CA) on 16.8.2013 14:11:56 (UTC)
The graphics are essentially the same, but the physics are much more taxing now. Your CPU is getting hammered!
Are you sure of that ?
I almost did not play in the last four months, but made a quick try of the new suspension mode.
I only tested on one of my PC, and with the same graphic settings than before, I get the exact same FPS.
I will check it on other PC though.
Edited by author: 21.8.2013 19:25:46 GMT
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Esteban M.
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how can i set-up to reduce drift when braking? xD
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Rahmine A.
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hello
did any one made set up easy to drive?
with the 3DS originale set up i cant go quicker!!
litte bit hard to drive
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Pedro Jose L
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Great job Todd, now if it's funny, you just need a little time to adjust and understand the settings and how seda.Lo said, "great job."
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Martin W.15x VRC World Champion
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fantastic work!!!
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Petr S
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Je škoda, že neuvolníte nějaké tratě třeba na víkend, abych si ji mohl otestovat a případně koupit, když se mě bude líbit. Jezdím hlavně off-road 
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Gandhar K.
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Posted by: Brian Townsend (CA) on 16.8.2013 14:11:56 (UTC)
The graphics are essentially the same, but the physics are much more taxing now. Your CPU is getting hammered![/b]
I hope not since I'm using an Intel Core i3 540 @ 3.07 GHz. I'll be updating my PC soon so I hope the issues (if any) get sorted out.
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Josh V.
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I noticed quite a few peeps where having handling issues with the default setup and mod motors. Here is a mod setup that I built up quick,... if you are having difficult time getting your truck to handle, here is another good starting point for you to try. http://www.vrcworld.com/member/tip.aspx?member=20905&topic=60119&opt=1D1#detail
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anonymous
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Todd, you have done a brilliant job, it definitely feels a lot better in my opinion, and the video is a fantastic instructional tool on its own!
I am also really impressed about the differences to the collision control I feel I now have, unlike the previous hanging up/stuck on pipe borders which just did not feel right at all (and not at the cost of a single fps!)
Well done and thank you Team VRC.
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