Overview
Narrow phase collision detection computes exact overlap, contact points, normals, or penetration depth for objects that might collide.
CoreSource checked
Narrow Phase Collision Detection
Performs precise collision tests for candidate pairs found by broad phase.
Quick Facts
Compact metadata for implementation and discovery.
- Category
- Simulation
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Family
- Collision Detection
- Tier
- Core
- Status
- Verified
- Review
- Source Checked
- Sources
- 1
- Formulas
- 0
- Relationships
- 5
- Code example
- Ready
- Visualization
- Ready
Core Concepts
contact pointpenetration depthshape featurecollision normal
Quick facts
Complexity
Runtime and memory behavior at a glance.
Best
O(features)
Average
O(features)
Worst
O(features^2)
Space
O(contact count)
When to Use
- Use when physics simulation needs contact point.
- Use when the input matches the assumptions behind collision Detection.
When Not to Use
- Avoid when the time step, forces, or constraints make the system unstable for the chosen method.
- Avoid when a simpler algorithm gives the required result with less setup.
What It Does
- Performs precise collision tests for candidate pairs found by broad phase
- Uses contact point and penetration depth to guide the work.
- Produces updated state.
Use Cases
- Physics simulation
- Animation
- Interactive systems
Inputs
- Current state
- Forces or constraints
- Time step
Outputs
- Updated state
- Constraint corrections
- Collision results
Pseudocode
- 1.Prepare the inputs and state needed for Narrow Phase Collision Detection.
- 2.Apply the contact point step while the stopping condition has not been met.
- 3.Update intermediate state and discard invalid candidates.
- 4.Return updated state.
Canonical Example
- Input
- Narrow Phase Collision Detection input
- Output
- Updated state
- Explanation
- Narrow Phase Collision Detection applies contact point to produce updated state.
Implementation Notes
- Use deterministic update ordering when reproducibility matters.
- Keep the contact point step separate enough to test independently.
Common Pitfalls
- Changing the time step without retuning stiffness or damping can destabilize the simulation.
- Test boundary and adversarial cases, not only ideal inputs.
Interactive Mechanism Walkthrough
Iterative Convergence & State TrajectoryShow state updates, constraints, and error correction over simulation steps.
Step 1 of 4: Prepare the inputs and state needed for Narrow Phase Collision Detection.
simulation-mechanismNotes
Narrow Phase Collision Detection operates in O(features) time and O(contact count) space within the Collision Detection family. Often compared with Broad Phase Collision Detection and GJK Collision Detection.
Sources (1)
What each reference supports for this entry.
Real-Time Collision Detection
BookCollision-detection reference covering Narrow Phase Collision Detection geometric query stage, candidate filtering, or contact-generation role.
Explore Next
Good next jumps from the relationship graph, ranked for useful discovery.
Relationships
View full relationship pageDepends onBroad Phase Collision Detection
Narrow phase usually runs after broad phase finds candidate pairs.
GJK is a common narrow-phase method for convex shapes.
Related Algorithms
Tags
SimulationCollision DetectionNarrow PhaseGeometry