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Deterministic fixed timestep simulation updates with state interpolation.
For a more thorough description of both the problem and solution(s), please see Glenn Fiedler's article upon which this implementation is principally based on.
The package provides a configurable TimeStep
class to manage
the update logic. To participate in these managed updates, the user must provide
state values/wrappers implementing the ITimeStep
interface for
the two main phases of the frame update:
-
integrate(dt: number, ctx: ReadonlyTimeStep): void: Depending on actual elapsed time and the configured timestep, this function might be called several times per update cycle to update the sim to its next desired state to:- Backup the current state of the sim (at the beginning of that function call). This backup is required for the second phase of the update.
- Update the state to the desired next state using the provided timestep
dt(ctxis only given for information).
-
interpolate(alpha: number, ctx: ReadonlyTimeStep): void: In this phase a previously backed up state should be linearly interpolated to the current state using the providedalphatween factor and the result stored separately such that it can be used for subsequent rendering/display purposes.
In other words, this means any updatable state value will require 3 versions: previous, current (next), interpolated. Only the interpolated version is to be used for rendering (or other userland purposes). For that reason, the package also provides wrappers for numeric and vector-based (arbitrary length and optimized 2D/3D/4D versions) state variables, illustrated in the following short example:
import { defTimeStep, defNumeric, defVector2 } from "@thi.ng/timestep";
import { maddN2 } from "@thi.ng/vectors";
// initialize with default options (i.e. dt = 1/60 = 60 fps)
// start time is given in milliseconds but will be converted to seconds
// see: https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/timestep/interfaces/TimestepOpts.html
const sim = defTimeStep({ dt: 1 / 60, startTime: Date.now() });
// define numeric state variable, increase using @ 10 units per second
const a = defNumeric(0, (x, dt) => x + dt * 10);
// define vector state variable, update by applying velocity of [-10, 20] (per second)
// also see thi.ng/vectors for hundreds of other useful vector operations...
// the update function MUST write its result in given vector (1st arg)
const b = defVector2([0, 0], (v, dt) => maddN2(v, [-10, 20], dt, v));
// even though the sim will update at a fixed (theoretical) 60 fps,
// the simulated render frame rate here is only 25 fps...
setInterval(() => {
// provide current time and an array of state values to update
// (any ITimeStep impl can be given here, incl. custom types)
sim.update(Date.now(), [a, b]);
// show current frame, num updates, time (relative to start) and interpolated state values
console.log(sim.frame, sim.updates, sim.current, a.value, b.value);
}, 1000 / 25);
// 1 2 0.042 0.253 [ -0.253, 0.506 ]
// 2 4 0.082 0.663 [ -0.663, 1.326 ]
// 3 7 0.124 1.073 [ -1.073, 2.146 ]
// 4 9 0.164 1.483 [ -1.483, 2.966 ]
// 5 12 0.206 1.893 [ -1.893, 3.786 ]
// 6 14 0.246 2.293 [ -2.293, 4.586 ]
// 7 17 0.288 2.713 [ -2.713, 5.426 ]
// 8 19 0.328 3.123 [ -3.123, 6.246 ]
// 9 22 0.371 3.543 [ -3.543, 7.086 ]
// 10 24 0.411 3.953 [ -3.953, 7.906 ]
// 11 27 0.452 4.353 [ -4.353, 8.706 ]
// 12 29 0.493 4.773 [ -4.773, 9.546 ]
// 13 32 0.534 5.173 [ -5.173, 10.346 ]
// 14 34 0.575 5.593 [ -5.593, 11.186 ]
// 15 37 0.617 6.003 [ -6.003, 12.006 ]
// 16 39 0.659 6.423 [ -6.423, 12.846 ]
// 17 42 0.700 6.833 [ -6.833, 13.666 ]
// 18 44 0.740 7.233 [ -7.233, 14.466 ]
// 19 46 0.781 7.643 [ -7.643, 15.286 ]
// 20 49 0.822 8.053 [ -8.053, 16.106 ]
// 21 51 0.861 8.453 [ -8.453, 16.906 ]
// 22 54 0.904 8.873 [ -8.873, 17.746 ]
// 23 56 0.944 9.283 [ -9.283, 18.566 ]
// 24 59 0.986 9.703 [ -9.703, 19.406 ]
// 25 61 1.028 10.113 [ -10.113, 20.226 ]
// ...Since the 25 fps render framerate is not a multiple of the 60 fps used by the sim, the output shows that for each render frame (1st column), there're either 2 or 3 sim updates performed (2nd column) to accommodate the 60 fps.
This should then also clarify why state interpolation is the final step of each update cycle: When multiple updates are performed in a single frame, the sim's state is technically ahead of the render time line and therefore we need to compute (interpolate) the correct state between previous and current, then use these interpolated values for rendering (in the abstract sense)...
The last row also shows that both a and b arrive at their expected values
after 1 second (25 frames)...
ALPHA - bleeding edge / work-in-progress
Search or submit any issues for this package
- @thi.ng/boids - n-dimensional boids simulation with modular behavior system
yarn add @thi.ng/timestepESM import:
import * as ts from "@thi.ng/timestep";Browser ESM import:
<script type="module" src="https://cdn.skypack.dev/@thi.ng/timestep"></script>For Node.js REPL:
const ts = await import("@thi.ng/timestep");Package sizes (brotli'd, pre-treeshake): ESM: 1.03 KB
One project in this repo's /examples directory is using this package:
| Screenshot | Description | Live demo | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Basic 2D boid simulation and spatial indexing neighbor lookups | Demo | Source |
TODO
If this project contributes to an academic publication, please cite it as:
@misc{thing-timestep,
title = "@thi.ng/timestep",
author = "Karsten Schmidt",
note = "https://thi.ng/timestep",
year = 2023
}© 2023 - 2024 Karsten Schmidt // Apache License 2.0