Adaptive Physics Engine for Rendering Rigid Body and or Soft Body Physics for Virtual Objects in Contact with Voxelized Fluid

1 . A method for determining forces on a rigid body at least partially immersed in a fluid medium, comprising steps of:

(a) dividing the rigid body into a number of cells;

(b) calculating buoyancy force on each rigid body cell separately, taking into account properties of the fluid medium, situation as to submersion of each cell, and position of each cell in the rigid body; and

(c) integrating the separate buoyancy forces to determine the net force vector and any torque on the rigid body.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the resultant force and torque is used by a physics engine to determine incremental movement of the rigid body, and repeated calculations performed at new positions to determine further movement, which results are used to display movement of the rigid body in a virtual environment.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid medium is water.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid medium is air or another gaseous medium.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid medium is in motion and voxelized as well, and wherein additional steps are performed to determine forces exerted on each rigid body cell by the fluid medium, and these forces are included in the integration to determine the net force vector and any torque on the rigid body.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the voxels of the fluid medium have one or more of the properties of salinity, viscosity, depth, and flow velocity.