How to determine character's foot contact point on a uniform triangle mesh terrain?

Posted by xenon on Game Development See other posts from Game Development or by xenon
Published on 2013-04-28T19:54:06Z Indexed on 2013/10/21 16:12 UTC
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terrain

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heightmap

For a terrain that is modelled by a heightmap with a uniform triangle mesh, what are some techniques I could use to determine the contact point of the foot of a character standing on the terrain?

Since the terrain's Y values are altered by the heightmap, they won't be flat any more. As the character moves on the terrain, it has to know at which values of Y-value its foot should be. Conceptually, what are some methods and techniques to determine the contact point of the character's foot standing on the terrain?

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