Simulation of Non-penetrating Elastic Bodies Using Distance Fields

We present an e cient algorithm for simulation of non-penetrating exible bodies with nonlinear elasticity. We use nite element methods to discretize the continuum model of non-rigid objects and the fast marching level set method to precompute a distance eld for each undeformed body. As the objects deform, the distance elds are deformed accordingly to estimate penetration depth, allowing enforcement of non-penetration constraints between two colliding elastic bodies. This approach can automatically handle self-penetration and inter-penetration in a uniform manner. We combine quasi-viscous Newton's iteration and adaptive-stepsize incremental loading with a predictorcorrector scheme. Our numerical method is able to achieve both numerical stability and e ciency for our simulation. We demonstrate its e ectiveness on a moderately complex animated scene.