API

Collisions

What is it?

Collision events are often used in game development to trigger events or reactions based on collisions. For example, a collision between a player character and an enemy could trigger damage to the player, while a collision between a player and a collectible item could trigger a pickup event. Collisions can either cause a physical response (like pushing the player back), or not, in which case they are called trigger collisions. The collision event system uses the Observable and Observer system, which is also used in other parts of Babylon.js.

How to use

There are three types of collision events:

  • COLLISION_STARTED
  • COLLISION_CONTINUED
  • COLLISION_FINISHED

And two types of trigger events:

  • TRIGGER_ENTERED
  • TRIGGER_EXITED

To use collision callbacks, first, the body needs to enable it. This can be achieved with setCollisionCallbackEnabled, for the COLLISION_STARTED and COLLISION_CONTINUED events, or with setCollisionCallbackEnded for the COLLISION_ENDED event. Then, we need to obtain the collision Observable by calling getCollisionObservable or getCollisionEndedObservable on the body. You can have either a body-specific callback or a world-wide callback. The second option requires filtering for the correct body to process, but it is more performant.

// player is a PhysicsBody 
player.setCollisionCallbackEnabled(true);


// You have two options:
// Body-specific callback
const observable = player.getCollisionObservable();
const observer = observable.add((collisionEvent) => {
  // Process collisions for the player
});


// OR


// world callback
const observable = plugin.onCollisionObservable;
const observer = observable.add((collisionEvent) => {
  // Check if the player is involved in the collision
  if (collisionEvent.collider === player || collisionEvent.collidedAgainst === player) {
    // Process collisions for the player
    // ...
  } 
});

As for triggers, you need to mark the shape as a trigger by setting the property isTrigger to true, and then by creating a body for that shape. There is no body-specific callback for the triggers, only the world-wide callback.

shape.isTrigger = true;


// create a body with that shape
// const body = new BABYLON.PhysicsBody(node, ...);


const observable = plugin.onTriggerCollisionObservable;
const observer = observable.add((collisionEvent) => {
    if (collisionEvent.type === "TRIGGER_ENTERED") {
        // do something when the trigger is entered
    } else {
        // do something when trigger is exited
    }
});

Examples

Further reading

Forces
Learn all about applying physical forces in Babylon.js.
Forces