My first foray into Physics (questions/thoughts)

[OodlesOfDoodles]

Yesterday, after spending several hours trying to troubleshoot an issue with my mod list, I gave up. 

Something wasn't playing nicely, so I went all the way back to vanilla Skyrim, and spend several hours trying to decide which body replacer to use, and get breast physics into a place I'm happy with. 

Already grumpy, and maybe a little under the effects of the rum that mysteriously found its way into my coffee, I made the decision that shaped the rest of my day; "I'll customise my own XML". 

How hard can it be, right? 

 

After over 12 hours in JFF (and 24 hours awake), I actually reached a place I was happy with. 

Coming back to it after sleep, I'm still kind of happy with it. 

But to take it beyond "kind of happy with it" I need to do more than just figure it out as I go along.

 

First question! 

Is there a guide somewhere about the intricacies? 

I figured everything I have out by changing numbers and seeing what happens, but when it comes down to it I'm just poking at buttons without knowing what's going on "under the hood". Like, I'm guessing that the "pre-breast" objects are attached to part of the skeleton, and the "breast" is like a physics child. 

Also, I'm seeing things like "spring constant" "damping" "friction", and I'm sure I'm misusing some of them based on my assumption of what they do. 

 

Second question! 

Is it possible, through the XML, to affect more or less of the breast? 

I was trying to get more natural breast behaviour, and the inframammary fold that's modelled into most bodies looks kinda funky in a lot of non-standing positions. I think it should be possible to mitigate it a little, if I can just affect a slightly different area of it.  

 

Third question!  

A bit related to the second, "gravity factor" and "mass" for the "breast" object didn't seem to do anything that I could observe through experimentation, so is it possible via another means (or via that means and doing it right) to have a stronger gravity effect on the breast?  

As part of trying to make them behave right, I've been moving the "joints"  to position the breast as without gravity (angular and linear limits set to 0), then using gravity to form the inframammary fold naturally. That way the fold doesn't persist when supine or otherwise. 

 

Fourth question! 

Is there a reason that there isn't a lot of lateral (x) motion in all the breast animations and phsyics I've seen? 

I've made some progress on it, hit a few hurdles, but I'm not sure if I'm working on something that's not possible due to a technical issue.

 

That's all I have for now (need more coffee). 

Any pointers anyone can give would be monumentally appreciated. 

I'll try to attach the XML to this post, but I warn you, I'm terrible

hdtPhysicsExtensionsDefaultBBP.xml