Here we can discuss some of the ins and outs of Physics and Mechanical simulation programs.
Ion, have you done any work with Unity3d?
Technically it's a game engine, but for an intuitive modular framework to build from it's got great potential.
- high performance 2d AND 3d collision fameworks.
- multilanguage (C# and Javascript)
- simple, modular scripting
- Tons of 3d math 'helper' functions (impulses, forces, vectors, quaternions)
- 'free' (under 100k/yr, but can pay for addon packages and scripts)
- big audience: wide variety of tutorials and training videos/sites
I have been using it for making simple interactive diagrams, but for modeling something like Spin Conveyance or McFreey's NAR resonance models, I think it would be a gold standard. O0