About the course

Are you ready to elevate your Unity development skills and master the physics integration?

Join our expert-led course designed specifically for developers who want to create high-quality game physics. This course, led by Anthony Yakovlev - an Ex-Tech Lead Unity Technologies with over a decade of experience, will give you practical skills and insider knowledge to avoid common pitfalls and speed up your workflow.

Key benefits:

Hands-on coding sessions with real-world examples you can immediately apply in your projects.
Practical exercises and downloadable materials to strengthen your skills.
Solutions to common physics issues and performance optimization strategies.
Pre-recorded video lessons: learn at your own pace, anytime you like, and revisit the material as often as you need.

Course format

Six hour-long lectures to cover the popular topics and to address the common pitfalls. All lectures include some basic theory and insight, followed by a practical session/coding and conclusions with a few exercises where applicable, as well as downloadable materials (code + Unity projects).

Course program

Lecture #1. Introduction/overview

A casual excursion to Unity’s PhysX physics solution, overview
Games physics - use cases
- Wild glitches, their origin and genesis
Exploring a classic demo: AngryBots
- Gameplay
- Physics and how it’s built using the Physics Debugger
Exploring another demo: Tanks!
- Gameplay
- Physics and how it’s built using the Physics Debugger
Hands-on time:
- Collider
- Rigidbody and Ragdolls
- Collision and Trigger events
- Queries
- Cloth
- Vehicles using WheelCollider

Lecture #2. Creating vehicles with the WheelCollider

Tutorial based on Anthony’s youtube video, we add dynamics to a free 3D model from the web
Examining a 3D model for potential issues
Preparing the model for simulation in Blender
- Fixing up issues
- Separating axles
- Cutting axles
Adding a basic controller
Positioning the visual wheels
Tweaking springs and masses
Reading PhysX source for more inspiration
Some mathematics behind the scenes
- The sprung mass model
- The forces equations
- Calculating the suspension forces
- Calculating the tyre forces
- Slip graphs

Lecture #3. Sensors and querying

Use cases, overview, motivation
Where to get all the information
- Reading the PhysX docs
- Reading the Unity Manual
Using a single hit query
- Using the Physics Debugger for extra insights
- Transform Sync
- Layers and Layer masks
Multiple hit query
Non-alloc query
Extra tips and tricks for performance
Coding time - making and optimising a Ghosts demo
- Set up & measure the baseline
- Using batch queries
- Preparing data for jobs
- Job chaining

Lecture #4. Collision detection

Collision detection: approaches
Stages of the physics pipeline
Broadphase types: Sweep-and-Prune, Multi-box Pruning
Changing the broadphase type
Using the collision layer matrix
Using the layer overrides
Using the pairwise collision ignorance
Using triggers
Reading contact pairs with OnCollision events
Delayed contact points
Understanding contact offset
Reuse Collision instances
Demo time: a simple contact point viz
- Naive approach - measure and baseline
- Another approach - using contact buffers
- Analysis
Using contact modification

Lecture #5. Mastering joints

Use cases, set up, motivation
Maximal coordinate joints in games
Reduced space joints in robotics
Maximal space vs reduced space - what to use
Notes on the direct solver
Using the FixedJoint
Mass ratios
Using the SpringJoint
Using the HingeJoint
Using the ConfigurableJoint
Using the ArticulationBody component - brief overview

Lecture #6. Troubleshooting

A collection of hints and practices for when things go south
Applying common sense
- Looking at a three cases from the forums
Looking for frame-rate or simulation-rate dependent code
Reading logs (demo: attached a concave object to Rigidbody)
Using the visual debugger, recap (demo: ball falling through the torus’ hole)
Looking at desyncs between graphics and physics
- Demo: interpolation
Using the builtin profiler, what is the most relevant information
Looking at the # physics simulations (“physics spiral of doom”)
Reading PhysX source for deeper insights
- Exploring a huge sphere rolling on top of a dense terrain

About the author

Hello, I’m Anthony!
I’ve been working on designing, implementing and supporting Unity’s PhysX integration as a tech lead and consultant of Unity Technologies for over a decade

Besides my corporate work, I have also contributed to indie projects. One of my VR indie games made it into the UK’s top 500 (~2016) and was featured by Google on the Daydream platform (Underwater VR).

I am a seasoned speaker, regularly presenting at international and local conferences such as White Nights, GDC, Unite, DevGAMM, 4C and others.

Over the years, I have also become a mentor and educator, leading various university programs and teaching specialized game development courses to students. In 2022, I mentored aspiring developers through Google’s GameUp Africa program, helping them master rapid prototyping for their game ideas.

Join me on this short course in the masterclass format to learn all the tips and tricks of using physics in your games, gain invaluable insights and pick up trends from the horse’s mouth.

Ready to take your Unity skills to the next level?

Enroll now and gain exclusive access to the best practices, tips, and tools from an industry expert. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your projects and stay ahead in the game development world.

COURSE ACCESS

€339

+VAT

Additional information

The course is conducted in English.ㅤ

If you have any questions or would like to customize the course and conduct it exclusively for your company, please get in touch with us at academy@wn.media. We will be happy to assist you!