Constraint Tutorials

Owned by Marc Lievin
Feb 12, 2024
NameLocation
Constraint<Vortex Studio Installation Folder>\tutorials\ExConstraint
Generic Constraint<Vortex Studio Installation Folder>\tutorials\ExGenericConstraint

The main focus of the ExConstraint tutorial is to demonstrate how to use some constraints, from a C++ application or extension.

Several parts are created and they are linked with several constraints. 

The ExGenericConstraint tutorial demonstrates how to implement a custom constraint type, using C++, in a custom application or extension.

Both tutorials' objects (VxDynamics::Part,  VxDynamics::Constraint and the custom MySpring and MyHinge) are considered as "runtime" and only live during the execution of the extension/application.

That means they cannot be  created nor modified via the Vortex Studio Editor, since they are created upon  start of playback via C++ code below.

CM Labs recommends to create content  (including parts and constraints) using Vortex Studio Editor. However, some special use cases require a different approach which can be implemented via a custom Dynamics extension or a custom application in C++.  This tutorial implements a dedicated application, but the same API can be used for Dynamics extensions.

See Vortex Studio SDK - Customizing Vortex for information about making plugins and custom extensions.

See C++ Tutorial 1: Plugins for a detailed example of making a plugin.

Using the tutorial

  1. Open the tutorials
  2. Set the desired project as the Start up project
  3. Build the Solution project
  4. Into the following folder (..\CM Labs\Vortex Studio 2021a\tutorials\bin):
    1. Confirm that the "ExConstraint.exe" file has been generated by the built
    2. Execute the "runExConstraint.bat"
  5. To go into detail, debug the project and follow the code execution step by step.