MultiServos - Target

The goal of a MultiServo is to reach a certain final relationship between the linked nodes. Therefore, the target is the most important setting and required to initialize the scene.

Target

A target consists of three coordinates for each spatial direction: X, Y and Z – no matter whether you want to describe a target distance or a velocity. The "character" of these values depends on the used MultiServo type, and the table below shows which units you have to use:

In terms of position, this means that the specified target coordinates are not the end position of the “MultiServo Position Linear” node's attached bodies, but it is the total distance they cover. For more information, please read the "Physical Interaction of Bodies Linked by a MultiServo" subchapter under → "MultiServos - Types".

Reaction time

As the name suggests, this is the time the MultiServo needs to react to a change of target: In other words: it is the time in seconds [s] that is needed to take a new target as a new objective. An example:

Imagine a car driven by a “MultiServo Linear Velocity” node with a target velocity of 14 m/s – this velocity is relative to a non-moving body, e.g. a ground object. The MultiServo in this case has very high forces and powers to achieve the target and the braking process.

Let's also say that, once your car has achieved the target velocity (14 m/s), you want it to break. To get this behaviour you set a new target of 0 m/s for your servo. Since the motor is very strong and powerful, the car will brake immediately. However, in real world, your car needs some time to decelerate before breaking. This is exactly what you can achieve with “Reaction time”. If the MultiServo should need 30 seconds (this means “Reaction time” = 30) to react to a new target, beginning from the moment you change the target from 14 m/s to 0 m/s, your servo takes this time to recognise that its new goal is to stop.

We can also say that this parameter allows you to smooth the MultiServo's target changes when you want to avoid sudden robot-like motions.

Overreaction delta

This parameter is directly related to the previous one. “Reaction time” describes the time a MultiServo needs to completely commit to a new target. “Overreaction delta” allows us to tell the MultiServo that, when it is at a certain distance from its new target, it must commit to it completely. Thus, “Overreaction delta” is measured in the same units as the servo target (meters, degrees, metres per second, degrees per second).

The default value works perfectly for most situations.