Today a new version of the Physics Helper library was released to CodePlex. This version adds a Camera Controller class and a couple of new demos: Camera with Rag Doll and Camera with Truck

Overview

The Physics Helper for Blend and Silverlight contains several user controls which allow you to draw objects in Expression Blend 2, and have those objects translated directly into Physics objects using the Farseer Physics Engine. You can even add Joints to your creations to create wheels and connect limbs. This can be a great timesaver for creating games, as it is traditionally difficult to line up underlying physics geometries with your Blend artwork.

Intro Video

Watch this short video to see how easy it can be to design physics using Blend 2, Silverlight, and the Physics Helper controls:

LAUNCH VIDEO (please give the video a few moments to display)

Download

Download from Codeplex (includes source and demos below)

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Demos

These demos were created with minimal or no coding using the Physics Helper (click images to launch demos):

What's New in Beta 3

1. A new Camera Controller has been added. Drop the Camera Controller on the same Canvas as your Physics Controller, and set the Body property to the object you want the Camera to follow. You can also optionally set ScrollSpeed and ZoomSpeed.

2. Two new demos have been added to show the Camera Controller in action.

3. Various other API changes and improvements

Known Issues

1. Elements that you want to have translated into Physics objects at run time must exist on the same Canvas as the Physics Controller. In the case of UserControls that are added dynamically, you need to have 1 instance of the UserControl on the Canvas at run time - other instances can be added through code.

2.  If you rotate or otherwise transform an object in Blend, the object will lose that rotation when running, and the Boundary determination will be incorrect.

3. This version does not work with Farseer Physics 2.0. I found that Farseer 2.0 has more tunneling issues (objects passing through each other and getting "stuck") when used with the Physics Helper, so I am sticking with Farseer 1.x for now. You can easily enough update the project to Farseer 2.0 if you need to (add a reference to the new Farseer assembly, and Resolve any namespace changes).