Bone channels and collision

This example turns physics collisions on a character into haptic feedback. It builds per body part colliders from simplified channels, attaches a collision handler to each, and uses a haptic material so that the strength of the feedback follows the collision impulse. The scene is TS/Examples/Scenes/Haptic/BoneChannels.unity.

What it demonstrates#

• Building colliders on a skinned character with TsSimplifiedCollisionBuilder.
• Converting collision events to haptics with TsHapticCollisionHandler.
• Driving impulse-based haptics from a moving object with TsHapticImpulseMaterialObject.

Scene setup#

The scene has two sides: the character that receives haptics, and a physical object that strikes it.

On the character, the TsSimplifiedCollisionBuilder is added to the same GameObject as the SkinnedMeshRenderer. In the inspector it is given:

Checking Build in the editor generates one convex MeshCollider per channel, parented to the matching bone, each carrying a TsHapticCollisionHandler already wired to the channel and the player. After building, the character is ready to receive collision events and produce haptics.

The striking object has a Rigidbody, a Collider, and a TsHapticImpulseMaterialObject. Its fields:

The key API pattern#

You do not call these components directly; Unity's physics events drive them. When the striking object touches a collider built by the builder, it looks up the handler and feeds it a normalized impact.

private void OnCollisionStay(Collision collision)
{
    var handler = collision.gameObject.GetComponent<TsHapticCollisionHandler>();
    if (handler != null && handler.HapticPlayer.Device != null)
    {
        var playable = handler.HapticPlayer.PlayerHandle
            .GetPlayable(m_hapticMaterial.Instance as IHapticAsset) as IHapticMaterialPlayable;

        // impact = collision impulse / maxImpulse
        handler.AddImpact(playable, collision.impulse.magnitude / maxImpulse, minCollisionDurationMs);
    }
}

A TsHapticMaterialAsset combines a haptic effect asset with a touch sequence asset, and is created from the menu Assets/Create/Teslasuit/Haptic/Haptic Material.

What to read next#

• TsSimplifiedCollisionBuilder reference: the build workflow and fields.
• Haptics & EMS concept: materials, effects, and touch sequences.