Question by yoeyyutch · Aug 09, 2015 at 04:54 PM · material physic

Physic Materials: List of common material properties

I'm looking for a general reference that lists a variety of common real-world materials which provides Physic Material property values for each. While I wouldn't expect everyone to agree on the exact values for a given material, I think such a list would be useful as a starting point. I think it would be even more useful if it were available as some form of wiki, so that people could add material properties that they found to be effective, particularly when considering specific variations of a broad material category. Wood, for example, may have very different properties depending on the type of tree, roughness, finish, thickness, and variations in directional friction based on the grain structure.

I did a ten minute search on Google, UnityAnswers and the community wiki but didn't get any results beyond info pertaining to individual materials. Since I found nothing comprehensive I just wanted to throw this out there. Just because I didn't find it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist, so if someone does know where I may find a decent list, could you please share the link to it?

On a side note, when I typed 'Physic' into the wiki search I got aero search results. Would it be a worthwhile project to create a wiki page where people could look up materials as well as share the Physic Material properties that they use?

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Owen-Reynolds · Aug 09, 2015 at 06:59 PM 0

"Would it be a worthwhile project to create a wiki page where people could look up materials"

Probably not. I think most people want physics to act a certain way based on the needs of their game. I'd think they care less about whether something has the correct static friction for "rough pine" than whether it gives a fun spread when they toss a bunch of stuff onto it.

Setups (ridigbody mat + floor/wall mat) to get various practical effects might be more useful.

yoeyyutch · Aug 09, 2015 at 09:10 PM 1

Thanks for the comment. Yes this may be true for people who have enough experience to know what values will fit the needs of their game and make it fun. Even if they don't care about the static friction, they still need to input an appropriate value to get the results they want. I just think it would be useful to have a starting point to cut down on the time invested in trial and error. Its not necessarily that I'm looking for a reference for every conceivable material but more of a practical reference. Maybe a better reference would be based on real world objects rather than the specific materials they're made of, such as golf ball, basketball, stone, wet pavement dry etc... I really don't care about static friction either. That's basically why I asked this. I just want to plug something in that is tried and tested, and then tweak the values or write some code if necessary.

yoeyyutch · Aug 09, 2015 at 09:12 PM 0

Saint Paul, MN eh? Small world.