ABSTRACT
Designing an efficient collision detection system is a bit like putting a puzzle together: a lot of pieces must be connected before the big picture starts to appear. In a similar fashion, the majority of this book is concerned with examining the individual pieces that go into different approaches to collision detection. The big picture will become clear over the course of the book. This chapter provides a quick overview of a number of issues that must be considered in selecting among approaches, and how the components of these approaches relate. This chapter also introduces a number of terms, defined and explained further in following chapters. More in-depth coverage of the items touched upon here is provided throughout remaining chapters of the book.
