NVIDIA has released the PhysX 3.0 SDK for developers and features a plethora of new improvements to the previous PhysX SDK. New features include support for streaming, larger levels, better multithreading support and more that you probably need to be a developer to understand. This is exciting though in hopes that we will start to see more PhysX features from this new 3.0 SDK implemented into games. Zogrim over at PhysXinfo has done a nice write up going a little but more in-depth about the new features of the 3.0 SDK, check it out here.
I am very pleased to announce the launch of a brand new version of the very popular NVIDIA PhysX SDK. The new PhysX 3.0 SDK is available to all registered developers on our developer support website located at: http://supportcenteronline.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=1949
PhysX is the world’s most pervasive physics solution for highly realistic and real-time simulation based effects for games, film and more. Version 3.0 of PhysX has been over three years in the making and features a new modular architecture and a completely rewritten PhysX engine. It provides a significant boost in overall performance, as well as efficient, reliable simulations across a broad spectrum of multi-core gaming devices – such as PCs, notebooks and gaming consoles, as well as emerging gaming platforms like handheld game devices, tablets, and smartphones.
PhysX 3.0 is available for all major gaming platforms, including PC, Xbox360™, PLAYSTATION®3, OSX, Linux and Android. PhysX 3.0 is designed to run on a variety of CPU architectures. Performance can be accelerated by any CUDA™-enabled NVIDIA GPU – including any GeForce 8-series or higher graphics card.
For more information on NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies, please visit: www.nvidia.com/physx.
PC Authority has published a fascinating article about why consoles and the technology they have inside, mainly the GPU are preventing developers from creating more and more games with the latest and greatest in technology such as DX11, and holding back the development of PC Games. The article details the fact that game developers are trying to target the widest range of users possible, for the time being these are the consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it’s 5 year old graphics hardware and technology. This same rule applies to why developers are not wanting to take full advantage of PhysX, because since it only runs on NVIDIA hardware they simply cannot reach the widest user base possible. Read the rest of the article here.
Even selling points such as NVIDIA’s hardware PhysX acceleration aren’t as impressive as they sound. Again, because developers need to target a wide range of end users they cannot integrate technology like PhysX too heavily into their games.
Make the game too reliant on NVIDIA-flavoured hardware accelerated physics and the huge number of people who own ATI cards are excluded from the customer base. This has led to PhysX being a means to add a little bit of extra eye candy to a game in the form of flowing cloth and extra debris, rather than being an integral part of the game’s design.
A cool new video has surfaced on YouTube from GDC 2010 showing Nvidia’s Sarah Tariq talking about and explaining a new DX11/CUDA demo running on the new Fermi cards that shows off realistic hair with over 18,000 strands being computed with CUDA all on the GPU. Pretty fascinating stuff, the hair color reacts realistically to light and in the demo different levels of wind can be applied to the face to show off how the hair reacts realistically. Can’t wait to see stuff like tis really implemented into games and hopefully NVIDIA releases this tech demo when the new Fermi cards are finally announced or released.
Hardwareforyou.it has posted a really nice and in-depth, 10 minute long video to YouTube with detailed steb-by-step instruction on how to setup a hybrid PhysX system if you are running an ATI card as your main graphics renderer and want to install a second NVIDIA video card and use it for PhysX. Check it out below.
Despite the blockade with the latest nVidia drivers that prevent the use of PhysX in the system are detected if non-nVidia cards on some forums there is a guide on how to patch the drivers to use PhysX with an ATI card. Our video will be a testimony that the block from nVidia did not do anything other than to damage the same company.
For comments or info, you can post on our forum at http://www.hardwareforyou.it/forum
Ever since we saw the Glowball PhysX demo and the Floating Castle Physics Demo running on Tegra 3 powered tablets we have been pretty excited about physics on Tegra powered devices. Back in November NVIDIA announced the released of their new Quad-Core mobile Tegra 3 chip that uses “four CPU cores and its new GeForceRead More
I know that Batman Arkham City has been out for awhile now and this is old news but as I have been extremely busy with work and finishing up school I never got a chance to post these. These are some cool Batman Arkham City PhysX comparison on/off videos from both EVGA and YouTube userRead More
Krishna Kumar – YouTube user krishx007 who runs gfxguru.net has made a pretty cool physics/PhysX demo level with Unity 3D called Physics Wonderland. The level is basically a huge playground with PhysX objects that you can destroy and play around with to show off the different PhysX features in Unity 3D. Check it out belowRead More
The Game Developers Conference 2012 is going to have a session that really interests us. The “Physics for Games Programmers” session/tutorial is going to cover the “tools and techniques developers should know when implementing physics in their games.” According to the information on the GDC 2012 site, the session will take place on Tuesday, MarchRead More
With all of the excitement about rumored hardware being used in the next-generation consoles, some very disappointing news has come today. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony has no plans to unveil the Sony Playstation 4 at this years E3 and is going to stick with the 10-year life cycle plan. If thisRead More
Here are some cool physics videos that have been uploaded to YouTube over the past week. Cryengine 3 Tornado Physics by club4ghz UDK – Destructible objects and Physics! by Shotbix07 Ice Engine Destruction Test by LordOfTheBytes
I came across a few cool Havok physics videos on YouTube. YouTube user kosteckip has made a pretty cool Castle Siege type demo using PhysX and Havok physics with physics based water, cloth, and destruction. Meanwhile, the official Havok Physics YouTube channel has uploaded a series of Havok Simulation videos and one interesting video showsRead More
Maximum PC has a nice article up about the top game engines being used to create today’s games. Along with the engines they also pointed out the top Middleware being used and PhysX and Havok were listed as the top physics Middleware. Check out the entire article here. From Gamers, Start Your Engines! 6 TopRead More
Phymec is making some cool physics tools for Bullet Physics and Blender to enable some awsome fracture and destruction effects. Two awesome videos showing this off have been uploaded to YouTube. The first shows off the creation of the fracture objects in Blender and the newer video is an awesome collection of fracture objects beingRead More
An interesting rumor has surfaced this past week that Microsoft is developing two next-gen Xbox 720 consoles. According to the rumor on TECHSPOT, Microsoft “is said to be developing an entry-level system as well as a true next-generation hardcore gaming console.” What is important to us for the future of physics is the reports thatRead More
I posted about this awesome level several months ago – Some Cool NVIDIA APEX Physics Tests Done with the UDK now mfsksa, who is the creator of this level, has given me the UDK files required to play the Apex PhysX test level he made. I made a cool video showing it off some moreRead More
Ever since we posted the Battlefield 3 Physics and Destruction Videos with the BF3 destruction video showing the Antenna in Caspian Border coming down we have been wondering how to do this or when it would be allowed through a patch. Today we have learned through an awesome YouTube Video that the main Antenna canRead More
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