love.physics

Can simulate 2D rigid body physics in a realistic manner. This module is based on Box2D, and this API corresponds to the Box2D 2.3.0 API as closely as possible.

love.physics is not lightweight, and not even remotely simple to use. It's a ten-ton hammer designed for heavy-lifting (er...hammer...lifting?)

If you are just trying to make a character jump around on blocks or the likes, then move along, nothing to see here.

Types

Body Bodies are objects with velocity and position.
Contact Contacts are objects created to manage collisions in worlds.
Fixture Fixtures attach shapes to bodies. 0.8.0
Joint Attach multiple bodies together to interact in unique ways.
Shape Shapes are objects used to control mass and collisions.
World A world is an object that contains all bodies and joints.

Functions

love.physics.getDistance Returns the two closest points between two fixtures and their distance. 0.8.0
love.physics.getMeter Returns the meter scale factor. 0.8.0
love.physics.newBody Creates a new body.
love.physics.newChainShape Creates a new ChainShape. 0.8.0
love.physics.newCircleShape Creates a new CircleShape.
love.physics.newDistanceJoint Creates a DistanceJoint between two bodies.
love.physics.newEdgeShape Creates a new EdgeShape. 0.8.0
love.physics.newFixture Creates and attaches a fixture. 0.8.0
love.physics.newFrictionJoint A FrictionJoint applies friction to a body. 0.8.0
love.physics.newGearJoint Create a GearJoint connecting two Joints.
love.physics.newMotorJoint Creates a joint between two bodies which controls the relative motion between them. 0.9.0
love.physics.newMouseJoint Create a joint between a body and the mouse.
love.physics.newPolygonShape Creates a new PolygonShape.
love.physics.newPrismaticJoint Creates a PrismaticJoint between two bodies.
love.physics.newPulleyJoint Creates a PulleyJoint to join two bodies to each other and the ground.
love.physics.newRectangleShape Shorthand for creating rectangular PolygonShapes.
love.physics.newRevoluteJoint Creates a pivot joint between two bodies.
love.physics.newRopeJoint Creates a joint between two bodies that enforces a max distance between them. 0.8.0
love.physics.newWeldJoint A WeldJoint essentially glues two bodies together. 0.8.0
love.physics.newWheelJoint Creates a wheel joint. 0.8.0
love.physics.newWorld Creates a new World.
love.physics.setMeter Sets the meter scale factor. 0.8.0

Enums

BodyType The types of a Body.
JointType Different types of joints.
ShapeType The different types of Shapes, as returned by Shape:getType.

See Also

  • love
  • Tutorial:Physics
  • Tutorial:PhysicsCollisionCallbacks



World:getAllowSleeping
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/World

World:getAllowSleeping Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This method is not supported in earlier versions. Removed in LÖVE

2025-01-10 15:47:30
CircleShape:getWorldCenter
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Shape/CircleShape

CircleShape:getWorldCenter Removed in LÖVE 0.8.0 This method is not supported in that and later versions. Get the center of the circle in world

2025-01-10 15:47:30
Contact:setRestitution
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Contact

Contact:setRestitution Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This function is not supported in earlier versions. Sets the contact restitution.

2025-01-10 15:47:30
MouseJoint:setDampingRatio
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Joint/MouseJoint

MouseJoint:setDampingRatio Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This method is not supported in earlier versions. Sets a new damping ratio.

2025-01-10 15:47:30
Body:setAwake
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Body

Body:setAwake Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This method is not supported in earlier versions. Wakes the body up or puts it to sleep.

2025-01-10 15:47:30
EdgeShape:getNextVertex
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Shape/EdgeShape

EdgeShape:getNextVertex Available since LÖVE 0.10.2 This function is not supported in earlier versions. Gets the vertex that establishes a connection

2025-01-10 15:47:30
Fixture:setMask
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Fixture

Fixture:setMask Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This method is not supported in earlier versions. Fixture:setMask works

2025-01-10 15:47:30
Fixture:getMask
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Fixture

Fixture:getMask Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This method is not supported in earlier versions. Returns which categories this fixture should NOT

2025-01-10 15:47:30
Contact:setFriction
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Contact

Contact:setFriction Available since LÖVE 0.8.0 This function is not supported in earlier versions. Sets the contact friction.

2025-01-10 15:47:30
Shape:testPoint
  • References/Game Development/LÖVE/love.physics/Shape

Shape:testPoint This is particularly useful for mouse interaction with the shapes. By looping through all shapes and testing the mouse position with this function, we can find which shapes

2025-01-10 15:47:30