The HavokEnthusiast YouTube channel has uploaded a series of videos that describes how to get started using Havok’s free PcXs SDK which includes Animation and Physics. One of the videos titled Dynamics Basics I – Physics Primer is a game physics engine overview that goes over what a game physics engine is, the services it provides to a game and how a game physics engine works. The video goes pretty in depth on things like the collision detection algorithms. After watching this video you should have a good basic understanding of what exactly physics engines do for games. Check it out below. And check out the other videos here.
PC Games Hardware has done a nice technical interview with Markus Mäki, Chief Technical Officer at Remedy about the upcoming PC version of Alan Wake. The interview covers the details about the Alan Wake engine and how a lot of the settings can be turned up for the PC version. What is interesting to us is when Markus is asked about the physics used in the game. Alan Wake will be using a dedicated Thread for Havok Physics and had some very interesting things to say about GPU Accelerated physics such as PhysX. According to Markus “GPU accelerated physics can be great for special effects, but it’s harder to make these physics objects have an impact to the game world – it’s mainly a visual benefit.” Read the rest of the interview here.
PCGH: The Physics in the games is based on the popular Havok middleware, is that correct? Does Havok use a dedicated CPU core or is physics calculation done via multithreading? What is your personal option about GPU accelerated physics effects like Nvidias PhysX in case e.g. Batman Arkham City or even accelerated gameplay physics via GPU?
Markus Mäki, Remedy: Yes, Alan Wake uses Havok Physics and Animation to great effect. Havok uses dedicated thread fort he physics processing.
I think GPU accelerated physics can be great for special effects, but it’s harder to make these physics objects have an impact to the game world – it’s mainly a visual benefit. Whereas the CPU physics are integral part of the players’ interaction in the world.
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 shows off a Havok Physics-Based Leopard 2 Tank with physics based “wheels, its suspension, chassis, treads and the external forces affecting the model.”
Castle Siege. 3ds Max Physics (PhysX + Havok):
Havok Physics-Based Leopard 2 Tank:
Powered by Havok Vision Engine and Havok Physics, these physics-enabled fully articulated vehicles provide the extra realism required to simulate the tank, including each wheel, its suspension, chassis, treads and the external forces affecting the model.
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.
While most of the heavy graphical lifting is relegated to full engines like the six we’ve already covered, more and more specialized processing and rendering is being offloaded to a variety of middleware utilities. Middleware is a broad term, and these mini-engines specialize in just about everything, from tree creation, to audio utilities, to physics modeling, to video compression. Here’s a sampling of some of the most used middleware solutions used in game development.
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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