Contact

Contacts are objects created to manage collisions in worlds.

The lifetimes of Contacts are short. When you receive them in callbacks, they may be destroyed immediately after the callback returns. Cache their values instead of storing Contacts directly.

Functions

Contact:getChildren Gets the child indices of the shapes of the two colliding fixtures. Added since 0.9.0
Contact:getFixtures Gets the two Fixtures that hold the shapes that are in contact. Added since 0.9.2
Contact:getFriction Get the friction between two shapes that are in contact.
Contact:getNormal Get the normal vector between two shapes that are in contact.
Contact:getPosition Get the location of the contact point between two shapes. Removed in 0.8.0
Contact:getPositions Returns the contact points of the two colliding fixtures. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:getRestitution Get the restitution between two shapes that are in contact.
Contact:getSeparation Get the separation between two shapes that are in contact. Removed in 0.8.0
Contact:getVelocity Get the linear impact velocity of a contact. Removed in 0.8.0
Contact:isEnabled Returns whether the contact is enabled. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:isTouching Returns whether the two colliding fixtures are touching each other. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:resetFriction Resets the contact friction to the mixture value of both fixtures. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:resetRestitution Resets the contact restitution to the mixture value of both fixtures. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:setEnabled Enables or disables the contact. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:setFriction Sets the contact friction. Added since 0.8.0
Contact:setRestitution Sets the contact restitution. Added since 0.8.0
Object:release Immediately destroys the object's Lua reference. Added since 11.0
Object:type Gets the type of the object as a string.
Object:typeOf Checks whether an object is of a certain type.
World:setCallbacks Sets functions to be called when shapes collide. Added since 0.8.0

Supertypes

See Also

Examples

-- Demonstration of correct use of Contacts to avoid "Attempt to use destroyed contact."
-- Most relevant parts are physics.collisionOnEnter, love.update, love.draw.

local screen = {
    x = 500,
    y = 500,
}
local color = {
    blue = {0.23, 0.25, 0.59, 1},
    purple = {0.25, 0.09, 0.28, 1},
    white = {0.89, 0.91, 0.90, 1},
}

local physics = {
    normals = {},
}

-- Source: https://www.love2d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=17018&sid=5c8509cf6b97e3ce5aab1bc49e85acc5#p17018
local function draw_arrow(x1, y1, x2, y2)
    local head_length = 10
    local head_angle = math.pi * 0.2
    love.graphics.line(x1, y1, x2, y2)
    local a = math.atan2(y1 - y2, x1 - x2)
    love.graphics.polygon('fill', x2, y2, x2 + head_length * math.cos(a + head_angle), y2 + head_length * math.sin(a + head_angle), x2 + head_length * math.cos(a - head_angle), y2 + head_length * math.sin(a - head_angle))
end


function physics.collisionOnEnter(fixture_a, fixture_b, contact)
    local dx,dy = contact:getNormal()
    dx = dx * 30
    dy = dy * 30
    local point = {contact:getPositions()}
    for i=1,#point,2 do
        local x,y = point[i], point[i+1]
        -- Cache the values inside the contacts because they're not guaranteed
        -- to be valid later in the frame.
        table.insert(physics.normals, {x,y, x+dx, y+dy})
    end

    -- do not use contact after this function returns
end

function love.load()
    love.physics.setMeter(64)
    local can_bodies_sleep = true
    physics.world = love.physics.newWorld(0, 9.8, can_bodies_sleep)
    physics.world:setCallbacks(physics.collisionOnEnter)

    physics.geo = {}
    for y=0,1 do
        local side = {}
        side.body = love.physics.newBody(physics.world, screen.x/2, screen.y * y)
        side.shape = love.physics.newRectangleShape(screen.x, 50)
        side.fixture = love.physics.newFixture(side.body, side.shape)
        table.insert(physics.geo, side)
    end
    for x=0,1 do
        local side = {}
        side.body = love.physics.newBody(physics.world, screen.x * x, screen.y/2)
        side.shape = love.physics.newRectangleShape(50, screen.y)
        side.fixture = love.physics.newFixture(side.body, side.shape)
        table.insert(physics.geo, side)
    end

    physics.bouncers = {}
    for y=50,screen.y-50,50 do
        for x=50,screen.x-100,50 do
            local ball = {}
            ball.body = love.physics.newBody(physics.world, x, y, "dynamic")
            ball.shape = love.physics.newCircleShape(20)
            ball.fixture = love.physics.newFixture(ball.body, ball.shape, 1)
            ball.fixture:setRestitution(0.9)
            ball.body:setMass(50)
            ball.body:setLinearVelocity(100, 10)
            table.insert(physics.bouncers, ball)
        end
    end

    love.graphics.setBackgroundColor(color.blue)
    love.window.setMode(screen.x, screen.y)
end

function love.update(dt)
    -- Updating the world will trigger collisionOnEnter
    physics.world:update(dt)

    if love.keyboard.isDown("space") then
        for _,ball in ipairs(physics.bouncers) do
            ball.body:applyLinearImpulse(0, 1000)
        end
    elseif love.keyboard.isDown("escape") then
        love.event.quit()
    end
end

function love.draw()
    love.graphics.setColor(color.purple)
    for i,side in ipairs(physics.geo) do
        love.graphics.polygon("fill", side.body:getWorldPoints(side.shape:getPoints()))
    end
    for i,ball in ipairs(physics.bouncers) do
        love.graphics.circle("fill", ball.body:getX(), ball.body:getY(), ball.shape:getRadius())
    end

    love.graphics.setColor(color.white)
    love.graphics.printf("smoosh balls with space", 5,5, 200, "left")
    love.graphics.printf(string.format("%i contacts", #physics.normals), screen.x-100,5, 100, "right")
    love.graphics.printf("arrows show contact normals", 5,screen.y-20, 200, "left")

    -- Use our cached normals
    for key,args in pairs(physics.normals) do
        local x1, y1, x2, y2 = unpack(args)
        draw_arrow(x1, y1, x2, y2)
        physics.normals[key] = nil
    end
end


Other Languages