Yes it's a bit disapointing you can't set the friction on joints. I was trying to do the exact same thing myself last week.
Also be warned that the amount of dampening you apply should also be multiplied by some delta-time factor! Else it will behave very differently on different types of systems.
Also add mass to the bodies in your chain/pendulum to give a more realistic behaviour - else it will almost look like they're floating in zero-gravity.
AND what also seriously affects it ofcourse is how (much) you update the simulator every frame. The wrong setting would make it slow and unrealistic - OR make it way too fast and start shaking..
Using the autoDisable options in ODE you can also tweak 'when' the pendulum/chain should evently 'stop' moving (dBodySetAutoDisableLinearThreshold and dBodySetAutoDisableAngularThreshold) - since you want it to come to rest nearly 'as soon as possible' but when the pendulum is coming to a stop you want to make sure it's hanging dead-straight, in stead of at a dodgy angle.
One advantage of using the Velocity functions (angular/linearVelocity) in stead of the Force functions is that the bodies keep their internal momentum. So if an external body should collide with the chain/pendulum, it will react properly...
Hope this helps,
Danny.
d.
Also be warned that the amount of dampening you apply should also be multiplied by some delta-time factor! Else it will behave very differently on different types of systems.
Also add mass to the bodies in your chain/pendulum to give a more realistic behaviour - else it will almost look like they're floating in zero-gravity.
AND what also seriously affects it ofcourse is how (much) you update the simulator every frame. The wrong setting would make it slow and unrealistic - OR make it way too fast and start shaking..
Using the autoDisable options in ODE you can also tweak 'when' the pendulum/chain should evently 'stop' moving (dBodySetAutoDisableLinearThreshold and dBodySetAutoDisableAngularThreshold) - since you want it to come to rest nearly 'as soon as possible' but when the pendulum is coming to a stop you want to make sure it's hanging dead-straight, in stead of at a dodgy angle.
One advantage of using the Velocity functions (angular/linearVelocity) in stead of the Force functions is that the bodies keep their internal momentum. So if an external body should collide with the chain/pendulum, it will react properly...
Hope this helps,
Danny.
d.