   3D Collision Help, Starting off point
  I am working on a 3rd person 3D game using the XNA Framework. I am currently stuck on collision. I would like to create my own system for handling collisions to make sure it is optimized properly for the XBOX 360. Starting off I am trying to get basic player environment collision to work. I am curious to know what some of you are doing to implement collision. Here are a couple of questions to start off.1. My environments are being modeled in Maya. I am not using a terrain map. What is the best way to keep the player on the floor and in the walls? What type of solids do I need? In a course project our group implemented this type of collision by placing a ray at the player's feet to keep him on the group. We also place a sphere on his body to keep him in the walls. What are some of the things professionals do to keep a character in the level in 3rd person games?2. Now something a little more advanced. I would like to have steps in my environment. I do not want to have to create a new animation for each type of steps. My character has a single walk or run animation. How do I get it so that one foot is on one step and the other is on the other? What is that called? What would I search for in Google?Any insight would be appreciated. Internet articles would be helpful too. Thank you for any input.   
  1) In my collision as it sits so far, i've found a need for the following:ray/planeray/sphereray/aabbsphere/planesphere/spheresphere/aabbaabb/planeI'm also working on obbs but slowly, I've been sidetracked with my audio system, and this is enough for my purposes so far.what your group implemented is a fairly basic system. The ray might be overkill as sphere/plane will work for both. Alternatives would be aabbs, obbs, convex hulls, etc.2) Without a stair climbing animation, I don't think that it will look right. you wouldn't need a separate animation for each type of stair, as long as the steps are the same riser/tread ratio. I *believe* you are thinking of some type of kinematics. Terms such as Inverse kinematics, or IK animation would be a good start.;  Thank you for the suggestions. I will stick with the ground collide ray for now.   