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Phun, 2D physics sandbox

Confuseling

Irreligious fanatic
C
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Feb 26, 2008
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Has anyone played with phun yet?



It's a sandbox for creating and playing with simple shapes, some support for liquids and mechanisms (motors, pumps etc).

Not open source yet, sadly, but apparently will be. Doesn't work on the Mac I'm currently using, but I've heard it's pretty good fun, and especially might be of use to educators.

Free download here.
http://www.acc.umu.se/~emilk/

(Mods, sorry if this should be in computers, figured it would be of interest to many of the wider science lot, so went on a limb...)
 
Darn, you beat me to it :P

Regrettably, I don't have the pleasure to play it yet, waiting for MacOs version impatiently...
 
Just downloaded it, will have to look at it after work. Looks neat already though.
 
Confuseling said:
<snip>

It's a sandbox for creating and playing with simple shapes, some support for liquids and mechanisms (motors, pumps etc).

Not open source yet, sadly, but apparently will be. Doesn't work on the Mac I'm currently using, but I've heard it's pretty good fun, and especially might be of use to educators.

<snip>
Click to expand...

Yeah, like Matlab is. Then employers can have the pleasure of interviewing graduates who have even less practical ability and engineering intuition than the last bunch of no-hopers.

Nice toy for those who already know the basics, but a bad idea if educators think it can replace real-world experimentation.
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
Yeah, like Matlab is. Then employers can have the pleasure of interviewing graduates who have even less practical ability and engineering intuition than the last bunch of no-hopers.

Nice toy for those who already know the basics, but a bad idea if educators think it can replace real-world experimentation.
Click to expand...

Unlike many here, I claim no mind-reading ability, so I am not sure what you were implying with that statement. I realize that your nom-de-plume is not based on actual engineering status, but there are many of us here who are in that field. So, if your intent is to bash Matlab, then expect the floodgates to be opened.

'Phun' looks like a neat piece of programming. Just from the video clip it looks as if it could be an interesting educational tool. Probably moreso than expecting Mario Bros to teach the finer skills of plumbing.

V.
 
Verde said:
Unlike many here, I claim no mind-reading ability, so I am not sure what you were implying with that statement. I realize that your nom-de-plume is not based on actual engineering status, but there are many of us here who are in that field. So, if your intent is to bash Matlab, then expect the floodgates to be opened.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, wonderful Matlab, where if you want to do anything more advanced than add two numbers together you have to purchase a plug-in. Don't waste your money; use Scilab instead.
 
Looks cool. Downloaded it so I can play with it tonight.

Anyone know the music in the youtube? I like it.
 
This thing is awesome!!! Has anyone figured out how to make the 'engines' work? I can't figure out how to give them enough power to turn anything.
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
Ah yes, wonderful Matlab, where if you want to do anything more advanced than add two numbers together you have to purchase a plug-in. Don't waste your money; use Scilab instead.
Click to expand...

Yes, Scilab is good. I use it at home. I also have Octave on one of my Linux machines, as it works well with most of my .m files.

Matlab doesn't use plug-ins, the correct term is toolboxes. And you can still do amazingly powerful stuff, without any of them.
No, I don't waste my money on it; my company pays for all that. The majority of industrial control systems around the world have been prototyped in Matlab. If you want to get into the business you had better be fluent in Matlab/Simulink, else you won't get your nose in the door.

V.
 
Sweet app!

I'm distributing it with some freebie refurbished PCs going out to the underpriviledged students here. Every chance to educate is a chance to set another Einstein free.
 
Looks like a good tool, I am not sure what grade level would use it, but the thrid graders have a simple machines unit.

Thanks!

I will also have to look at Scilab. :)
 
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Third Eye Open said:
This thing is awesome!!! Has anyone figured out how to make the 'engines' work? I can't figure out how to give them enough power to turn anything.
Click to expand...

Right click on the Hinge to open the options menu, open the "Hinges" sub-menu, and check "Motor". "Motor Strength" is also there. You can give it infinite strength, but even then it won't move fixed objects, so I guess that one is settled. ;)
 
Maybe I'll get a chance to fiddle with it a little more today when the kid leaves for school. After downloading it last night, I made the mistake of letting him have first go, and had to wait till he got up to go to the bathroom before I could even try it. He must have been at it for three or four hours. Pretty sure he completely blew off his homework. So far, it does look pretty fun, but I doubt if it will replace sodaconstructor as my all-time favorite.
 
:( I haven't got to play with it yet. But I've pimped it to a few people, many have downloaded it, and nobody's been disappointed yet :)

This shows you a little about the developmental history of it (supposedly an MIT project that went open source):



And this is the forum should you get confused: http://phun.cs.umu.se/forum/

Kahalachan said:
Anyone know the music in the youtube? I like it.
Click to expand...

That was written by the guy that coded the app (bloody polymaths :)). If you go to the youtube page, then hit 'more info', there's a link.
 
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robinson said:
I downloaded it and played around. Easy to use, but very limited. I've used working model for years and like it much better.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I hardly think you can say they're attempting to do the same thing :)

But yes - it certainly does have some major limitations, people have told me. I've heard it lags hugely, particularly when fluids are involved. Sort of thing that could benefit hugely from going open source, I'll wager. But in the meantime, looks... well... phun.

Incidentally, just to clear up, my statement that the MIT project noted above and this are directly related was from a messageboard and may be entirely untrue. But they do look uncannily similar...
 
A couple of years ago, I was playing with a more primitive version of this, a Physics Simulation, developed for the Tablet PC. It was fun in its own way, but not nearly as sophisticated!

I just downloaded this new version, and will try to play with it a little later!
 
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