Current PhysX implementation in Torque3D
by Zealander · in Torque 3D Beginner · 10/16/2009 (6:25 am) · 6 replies
Hi all.
I am a PhysX fan (i think Havok is much more better though ,but it is free from this year and for pc only).
I was playing with PhysX demo and found physX objects are really colliding with the terrain i made from "Create blank terrain" with noise.
So, i have a question: How PhysX is currently implemented in the engine?
1. Terrain.
2. Player.
3. Shapes(such as trees for example).There is collisions between the player and a tree, but maybe it is your own collision mechanism(using raycasting(i already know you are using your own raycasting not PhysX's)).
4. Vehicles.
5. Shells and projectiles(Collisions with terrain works in PhysX demo)
and how it will be implemented in the 1.1 release or 1.0x releases?
Thank you.
I am a PhysX fan (i think Havok is much more better though ,but it is free from this year and for pc only).
I was playing with PhysX demo and found physX objects are really colliding with the terrain i made from "Create blank terrain" with noise.
So, i have a question: How PhysX is currently implemented in the engine?
1. Terrain.
2. Player.
3. Shapes(such as trees for example).There is collisions between the player and a tree, but maybe it is your own collision mechanism(using raycasting(i already know you are using your own raycasting not PhysX's)).
4. Vehicles.
5. Shells and projectiles(Collisions with terrain works in PhysX demo)
and how it will be implemented in the 1.1 release or 1.0x releases?
Thank you.
#2
11/24/2009 (11:21 pm)
Are you planning to use some GPGPU capability on your implementation of PhysX... 
#3
I'm probably tainted as my personal experience with hardware accelerated PhysX wasn't good in the past, but i guess it has to be better now.
11/25/2009 (3:15 am)
There isn't an offical plan to support it other than telling PhysX to use the GPU when it can.I'm probably tainted as my personal experience with hardware accelerated PhysX wasn't good in the past, but i guess it has to be better now.
#4
Will it be 2 equal physics engines by choice, like in GMK?
Did anybody check each engine's performance on PhysX Room scene for example?
11/25/2009 (5:26 am)
I heard about bullet physics implementation in new 1.1 Alpha release.Will it be 2 equal physics engines by choice, like in GMK?
Did anybody check each engine's performance on PhysX Room scene for example?
#5
For sure you'll at least get single body dynamic actors and the character controller. That alone covers most of people's game needs. If it works correctly you'll be able to choose at game startup time if you want to use Bullet or PhysX to compare things.
Breakable buildings, cloth, and fluids in Bullet will most likely not make it into 1.1.
11/25/2009 (4:43 pm)
@Zealander - The plan is to have them as equal as possible. It just depends on how long it takes us to get things working... so i cannot promise anything.For sure you'll at least get single body dynamic actors and the character controller. That alone covers most of people's game needs. If it works correctly you'll be able to choose at game startup time if you want to use Bullet or PhysX to compare things.
Breakable buildings, cloth, and fluids in Bullet will most likely not make it into 1.1.
#6
Single body dynamic actors including terrain?
Just suggestion, maybe divide one big physx terrain to some small terrains(2048x2048 to 16 512x512) as i know from physx documentation it is good performance gain, because of broad phase collision detection.
And one more thank you for bringing physics in Torque and for abstract layer, because Havok is very good choice too after it became free for any PC games(more then 1000 documentation pages and tons of examples plus intel support).
And great to know physX multiplayer is into Torque3D 1.1 list.
I will be license owner definitely in this year, so will have more questions in private forum...
11/25/2009 (5:32 pm)
Yeah, it is the best way to compare engines.Single body dynamic actors including terrain?
Just suggestion, maybe divide one big physx terrain to some small terrains(2048x2048 to 16 512x512) as i know from physx documentation it is good performance gain, because of broad phase collision detection.
And one more thank you for bringing physics in Torque and for abstract layer, because Havok is very good choice too after it became free for any PC games(more then 1000 documentation pages and tons of examples plus intel support).
And great to know physX multiplayer is into Torque3D 1.1 list.
I will be license owner definitely in this year, so will have more questions in private forum...
Associate Tom Spilman
Sickhead Games
Currently it does do collision for terrain and TSStatics. It doesn't do collision or dynamics for any ShapeBase classes or vehicles. It does support a character controller for Players which will interact with the dynamics in the scene. Projectiles work with most objects, but not cloth.