We have a series of VG onboarding tasks to show how to tackle different practical use cases using VirtualGrasp in a VR application. In VirtualGrasp SDK, they are packed in VirtualGrasp\Scenes\onboarding.

Task Description

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Interaction behaviors wanted

  • Initially the plate has ArticulationBody, and all other floating objects has Rigidbody.
  • After the user places the apple or other objects on the plate, we expect when the plate is moved, either by hand or through teleportation, the objects in the plate should follow stably along.

Tips for VR developers

  • How to let objects placed on plate to follow the plate stably without easily rolling and falling down due to physical reactions. Forming Fixed Joint once object drop on the container?
  • When to form this joint? Should object be fully released by all grasping hands? Check out OnObjectFullyReleased.
  • How to pickup the object from the container again? Check out OnObjectGrasped.

Solution

In VirtualGrasp SDK, we packed the solution of this task in VirtualGrasp/Scenes/onboarding.

VirtualGrasp/Scenes/onboarding/VG_Onboarding.unity

//VirtualGrasp/Scenes/onboarding/Scripts/ManageContainerObject.cs:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using VirtualGrasp;
using UnityEngine;

/** 
 * ManageContainerObject shows as a tutorial on how to use the VG_Controller.OnObjectFullyReleased
 * and VG_Controller.OnObjectGrasped combined with Unity's physical joints to manage a 
 * container object to hold the contained physical objects stably without falling off. 
 */
public class ManageContainerObject : MonoBehaviour
{
    /// A set off objects that are actively colliding with this one.
    private HashSet<Transform> m_collisions = new HashSet<Transform>();
    /// A map of objects with ArticulationBody to their original parents.
    private Dictionary<Transform, Transform> m_parentCache = new Dictionary<Transform, Transform>();
    /// A map of objects with Rigidbody to the fixed joints connecting to this container object
    private Dictionary<Transform, FixedJoint> m_attachJoints = new Dictionary<Transform, FixedJoint>();
    /// If dot product between velocity and down is large enough (ie. vectors are aligned).
    public float m_dropAlignment = 0.8f;

    private void Start()
    {
        // Register the some grasp event listeners
        VG_Controller.OnObjectFullyReleased.AddListener(OnObjectFullyReleased);
        VG_Controller.OnObjectGrasped.AddListener(OnObjectGrasped);
    }

    private void OnCollisionEnter(Collision collision)
    {
        // See if the object in collision is actually held by a hand (and is not a hand itself).
        bool valid_object = true;
        foreach (VG_HandStatus hand in VG_Controller.GetHands())
        {
            if (hand.m_hand == collision.transform)
                valid_object &= false;
            if (hand.m_selectedObject == collision.transform && hand.IsHolding())
                valid_object &= false;
        }

        if (valid_object && // If it's valid ...
            (collision.rigidbody != null || collision.articulationBody != null) && // and has a rigid body or articulation body ...
            Vector3.Dot(collision.relativeVelocity.normalized, Vector3.down) > m_dropAlignment) // .. and if the object is dropped from somewhat above.
        {
            Attach(collision.transform);
            m_collisions.Add(collision.transform);
        }
    }

    private void OnCollisionExit(Collision collision)
    {
        m_collisions.Remove(collision.transform);
    }

    private void OnObjectFullyReleased(VG_HandStatus hand)
    {
        if (m_collisions.Contains(hand.m_selectedObject))
            Attach(hand.m_selectedObject);
    }

    private void OnObjectGrasped(VG_HandStatus hand)
    {
        Unattach(hand.m_selectedObject);
    }

    void Attach(Transform attachedObject)
    {
        if(attachedObject.gameObject.TryGetComponent<Rigidbody>(out Rigidbody rb))
        {
            if (!attachedObject.gameObject.TryGetComponent<FixedJoint>(out FixedJoint joint))
            {
                joint = attachedObject.gameObject.AddComponent<FixedJoint>();
                m_attachJoints[attachedObject] = joint;
                if (transform.gameObject.TryGetComponent<Rigidbody>(out Rigidbody container_rb))
                    joint.connectedBody = container_rb;
                else if (transform.gameObject.TryGetComponent<ArticulationBody>(out ArticulationBody container_ab))
                    joint.connectedArticulationBody = container_ab;
            }
        }
        else if (attachedObject.gameObject.TryGetComponent<ArticulationBody>(out ArticulationBody ab))
        {
            if (transform.gameObject.TryGetComponent<ArticulationBody>(out ArticulationBody container_ab))
            {
                m_parentCache[attachedObject] = attachedObject.parent;
                attachedObject.SetParent(transform);
                ab.jointType = ArticulationJointType.FixedJoint;
            }
            else
                Debug.LogError("Can not attach object " + attachedObject.name + " with ArticulationBody to " + transform.name + " without ArticulationBody.");
        }
    }

    void Unattach(Transform attachedObject)
    {
        if (attachedObject.gameObject.TryGetComponent<Rigidbody>(out Rigidbody rb))
        {
            if (!m_attachJoints.ContainsKey(attachedObject))
                return;
            DestroyImmediate(m_attachJoints[attachedObject]);
            m_attachJoints.Remove(attachedObject);
        }
        else if (attachedObject.gameObject.TryGetComponent<ArticulationBody>(out ArticulationBody ab))
        {
            if (!transform.gameObject.TryGetComponent<ArticulationBody>(out ArticulationBody container_ab))
                return;
            if (attachedObject.parent != transform)
                return;

            attachedObject.SetParent(m_parentCache[attachedObject]);
        }
    }
}