The joint tool is a mechanical joint used to attach objects together on a pivot as a pin joint or on a single sliding axis as a sliding joint in the level editor. In the editor, pin joints appear as orange circles with two arrows around it, pointing in opposite directions. The sliding joint appears as two orange arrows both pointing in opposite directions. The player can either joint two objects together or to the background. If jointed to the background, the object will stay in place and rotate or slide around the joint.
To place a joint, the player must place either 1 or 2 unfixed objects together, and place it where one of the objects overlays the other one. The player can then move it anywhere, and an orange line will stick from the joint to the jointed objects. Where ever the pin joint is placed, the objects will rotate around it there. For example, the player can look at the pin joint like a star and the jointed objects are the planets. The objects rotate around it. An orange dotted line will show where a sliding joint will move once one is placed down.
Motors can be selected on joints which makes them rotate without the need for applied force.
Motor Torque is the power of the motor. A low motor torque can barely crush anything and can be stopped by anything heavier than it if it collides with it. A high motor torque however will not be stopped by anything and usually crushes through any destructible object. The minimum value for motor torque is 0 and maximum is 99999. The motor torque is shown as motor force for the sliding joint.
Motor Speed is the amount of speed the motor goes. A low value will make the object rotate very slowly. A high value will make it rotate very fast. A high motor torque and speed is very deadly, and will most likely crush the character in pieces, considering the width and height of the jointed object. If the player makes the motor speed value negative (add a "-" before the number), the motor will rotate clockwise while it will rotate counter-clockwise if it's not. The minimum value for motor speed is 0.001 (it's not possible through level editor, but you can edit XML) and maximum value is 20. The negative numbers work the same way, except you can't type in a thousandth (for instance, -0.001)
Other Options[]
Limit Rotation can be checked on joints and will stop the object from rotating at 2 certain angles. The higher angle and the lower angle are the two angles can be angled and the jointed object can't bypass the value of degrees they are set on.
Having Collide Connected checked makes the two jointed objects collide with each other. Have it unchecked and the 2 objects will go through each other when they touch.
The Axis Angle option is only applied to sliding joints, and this toggles the angle at which the joint slides.
Added in the v1.79 update, sliding joints allow an object to slide from one location to another, in a total of two directions. This type of joint allows for the easy creation of mechanics such as elevators and moving platforms. The "axis angle" determines the angle an object will move in degrees. For example, and axis of 0 will have the object move horizontally, whereas an axis of 45 will place have the object slide on a 45 degree angle. A sliding joint can have its allowed movement distance adjusted, and can also have a motor like the regular pin joint.
Gallery[]
2 in one. NPC punching and NPC getting crushed into pieces by the strong punch.
NPC explodes in touch, due to massive Motor Torque and Speed.
An NPC punches.
NPC holding an axe.
A Pin Joint glitch where items are pin jointed together, but they somehow come apart. Notice how the character's joints are glitching out.
Elevators are now very easy to make using the sliding joint. Here is an example of a simple working elevator.
2 cleavers pinned together to create a custom weapon called a chomper.
The old vs current pin joint icon for the tool bar in the Level Editor.
Trivia[]
Joints and jointed objects copied with another object that isn't
Old symbol is on the top while the new symbol is on the bottom. Both rectangles are the same size (160x20px).
jointed will result the joints gone after pasting.
The joints attached to two objects don't always rotate counter-clockwise even if the motor speed is a positive number and vice versa for negative numbers. This can be quite common when making custom vehicles.
The pin joint did not always look like what it does today. The old pin joint was bigger and the symbol was a circle inside a circle with an inner cutout, rather than the a circle between 2 arrows. It is possible that the reason why it got changed is because the old symbol was too big and the new symbol will tell people that the motor will (mostly) rotate the object(s) connected at a counter-clockwise direction when the motor speed is set to a positive number. The old symbol can still be found in the 1.10 demo.
When an object is attached to a joint and has reached the rotation/range limit, the joint's force will stop pushing the object and the object will fall asleep. The object will wake up and the joint's force will attempt to push the object again when anything slightly pushes the object in the opposite direction in which the joint's force was pushing the object. If this was done when the motor force and motor speed was set to a high value, the object will fidget powerfully.
Pin joints can be pinned to NPCs but not the playable characters.
Glitches[]
Sometimes, (usually when going at high speeds) pin-jointed objects may come apart, and the character's joints will start going crazy and glitching.
Pinning a jet with limits at 0 will turn all fixed shapes to black holes. Alongside this, if the melt glitch occurs, adding a pin joint will also turn all fixed shapes to black holes.
Click on the slider with "enable motor" unchecked, check "enable motor," and the speed will be set to "NaN." When the level is tested, the jointed object will rotate insanely fast (faster than 20). This glitch is known by the ultimate spin glitch.
If you set pin joint's motor speed parameter to 0.001, shape will not have collision to other shapes regardless collision option.
