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.
An interesting video game physics project is underway. “.:..:” over at the OldUnreal.com forums is using the PhysX SDK to implement and mod PhysX into the original Unreal and Unreal Tournament Classic to bring “Unreal NVidia PhysX support”. As you can see from the videos of this in action we embedded below this is some very early work but it is clearly stated that “Futher plans include soft bodies, vehicles and possibly ragdolls”. Also interesting to note is the reason PhysX was chosen over Havok Physics, according to .:..: “is because NVidia released headers and libaries for PhysX while Havoc is still all closed source unless you buy some license for them (and because PhysX is relatively easy to implement in Unreal Engine 1).”
Any kind of Physics in video games is fascinating stuff so this is a project we will definitely be keeping an eye on.
Zogrim over at PhysXinfo.com has put together a nice write up taking a look at PhysX over the past year and what progress has been made in games,development and PhysX hardware. Read the entire article here.
Finally, it’s time to tally up a total – here is our brief summary on what PhysX Technology has achieved over the past year.
To be honest, situation with GPU PhysX games was not as good as Nvidia promised us previously. Far from “25 [games] between January and March 2009“, not to mention that previously announced hardware PhysX support was suspended in some tiltes, like Bionic Commando or Terminator Salvation.
Though, past year has brough us some memorable PhysX games, like Mirror’s Edge, Sacred 2, Cryostasis and, of course, Batman: Arkham Asylum. 7 titles with GPU PhysX content for 2009 – in total.
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
Bad Behavior has blocked 315 access attempts in the last 7 days.
