A 3D physics sandbox that runs in your browser.

What is VistaKine?

The VistaKine playground: a steel ball rolling through a 3D scene with its velocity and momentum vectors labelled — Captured in the playground: a steel ball with its velocity and momentum labelled.

VistaKine is a 3D physics sandbox: an open space where you put objects down, push them around, and watch what the physics does. It runs in a browser tab on a real rigid-body simulation, so things stack, slide, tip, swing and collide the way their mass and shape say they should.

The physics is not hidden. Turn on the force diagrams and every object shows what is acting on it: weight, normal force, friction and tension, drawn as labelled arrows that update as the scene moves. You get a sandbox to play in and the numbers behind it at the same time.

Net force and momentum labels drawn on a ball and the blocks around it in the playground — Net force and momentum, labelled on a ball and the blocks around it.

What can you do?

Build something silly: Stack blocks, line up dominoes, park a car on a ramp. Ropes, hinges and springs turn the pile into a pendulum, a seesaw or a wrecking ball.
Then wreck it: Hit things hard enough and they shatter. A steel ball helps.
Slow it right down: Drop time to a tenth of normal speed and catch the moment it all goes wrong.
See why it happened: Switch on the force arrows and every object shows its weight, friction and net force, with real numbers. This is the part your physics teacher will like.
Change the rules: Dial gravity down to the Moon's, up to Jupiter's, or switch it off.

For teachers

VistaKine works as a live demonstration on a projector. Build the textbook setup in front of the class, a block on a ramp or a mass on a rope, then turn on the force diagram and the numbers are there to read. Slow a collision to a tenth of its speed, or graph velocity against time while it happens.

Students can open the same page on their own devices. There is nothing to install and no account to create.

If you teach physics and there is something you wish it did, write to ki@vistakine.com.

Questions

Is it free?: Yes. The playground is free to use.
Do I need to install anything or sign up?: No. It runs in the browser, and you can use the playground without an account.
Will it run on my device?: It runs in current browsers on computers, tablets and phones. Crowded scenes are demanding, so older phones and Chromebooks may slow down. Lowering Visual Quality in the settings helps.
How accurate is the physics?: Objects are simulated in real time by the Rapier rigid-body engine, in metric units, and the force labels are calculated from the state of that simulation. A 20 kg block at rest shows a weight of 196.2 N and a normal force of 196.2 N. It is built for seeing how forces behave, not for engineering calculations.
Why 3D?: Many physics sandboxes are flat. In 3D, forces point where they really point, and you can orbit the scene to look at one from any side.

The quickest way to understand it is to use it.

Try Playground