Physics2D/PhysicsProps

[flysi3000]

Couple of questions:

 

What's the real difference between the Physics2D and PhysicsProps plugins? What's the ideal use for each of those classes?

 

And related, is there a way I could use either of these classes to tween a large group of particles to a preset destination? I'm working on a logo animation, and the brief was essentially "I want it to look organic". I've been playing around with a few things, and it occurs to me that this might help me out, with a minimal processor hit.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

[GreenSock]

What's the real difference between the Physics2D and PhysicsProps plugins? What's the ideal use for each of those classes?

 

PhysicsProps is a more generic plugin that can tween any property of any object based on simple physics properties like acceleration, velocity, and friction whereas Physics2D is specifically for tweening the position (x/y properties) of DisplayObjects and has some extra convenient properties like angle, accelerationAngle, and gravity. If you're tweening the position of DisplayObjects, I'd definitely use Physics2D because it will perform slightly better and give you those extra conveniences.

 

is there a way I could use either of these classes to tween a large group of particles to a preset destination? I'm working on a logo animation, and the brief was essentially "I want it to look organic". I've been playing around with a few things, and it occurs to me that this might help me out, with a minimal processor hit.

 

No, if you have preset destinations then it's not an ideal situation for physics to be employed because you must define velocity, acceleration, and angle but you wouldn't know the appropriate values to plug in there unless you're good at math and figure it out ahead of time. In other words, imagine shooting a canon that you could control the velocity, acceleration, and friction of and you had to make it hit a spot that's exactly 100 meters away. You'd either have to do some experiments to tweak the numbers to get it to land where you want or you'd have to plug it into an equation to do the appropriate math.

 

You might want to look into using the bezier or bezierThrough plugins if you want a more organic feel while being able to control the precise end position. And for a rough transition, check out RoughEase at http://www.greensock.com/roughease/

[flysi3000]

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll mess around with some bezier curves and check out rough ease. I got a little bit more direction; my client envisions falling leaves or flower petals being pushed by a breeze. We'll see how that goes.