Bounding volume and how to create them

Abstract

In general, interference detection between two rigid bodies in urban simulation involves highly computational process. For example, collision detection process involving a car model with 10000 polygon surfaces and a building that has 40 polygon surfaces. Each polygon surfaces will be checked against the other object to determine if any parts of the car and the building intersect. In this case, the calculation may be completed in milliseconds. However, if a more complex environment that consists of multiple objects with thousands of polygon surfaces or more, longer time will definitely be required to complete the process. In order to overcome the situation, bounding volume was proposed by previous researchers with the aim to minimize the computational cost involved in interference detection. The purpose of using bounding volume is to reduce the computation complexity in detecting collision between objects. This can be achieved through enveloping highly complex object with simple bounding volume.