Enhancing Bounding Volumes using Support Plane Mappings for Collision Detection

Abstract

In this paper we present a new method for improving the performance of the widely used Bounding Volume Hierarchies for collision detection. The major contribution of our work is a culling algorithm that serves as a generalization of the Separating Axis Theorem for non parallel axes, based on the well-known concept of support planes. We also provide a rigorous definition of support plane mappings and implementation details regarding the application of the proposed method to commonly used bounding volumes. The paper describes the theoretical foundation and an overall evaluation of the proposed algorithm. It demonstrates its high culling efficiency and in its application, significant improvement of timing performance with different types of bounding volumes and support plane mappings for rigid body simulations.