Si, WeiguangGuenter, BrianMZoran Popovic and Miguel Otaduy2014-01-292014-01-292010978-3-905674-27-91727-5288https://doi.org/10.2312/SCA/SCA10/031-037Most current linear-time forward dynamics algorithms support only simple types of joints due to difficulties in computing derivatives of joint transformations up to order two.We apply the D* symbolic differentiation algorithm to a recursive formulation of forward dynamics to get a highly efficient linear-time forward dynamics algorithm supporting multibody systems with general scleronomic joints. With this new algorithm we can easily build a treetopology multibody system with complex joint models and perform forward dynamics efficiently. The source code for the algorithm is freely available for non-commercial use.Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism-Animation