Information AboutPhysx |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PHYSX | |
| playstation 3 | |
| computer physics engines | |
| virtual reality | |
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PhysX can refer either to a Proprietary Realtime Physics Engine Middleware SDK developed by AGEIA (formerly known as the NovodeX SDK) or their PPU expansion card designed to accelerate that SDK. Middleware physics engines allow Game Developers to avoid writing their own code to handle the complex Physics interactions possible in modern games. Sony has licensed the PhysX SDK for their PlayStation 3 Video Game Console .1 PPU A physics processing unit, or PPU , is a processor specially designed to alleviate calculations from a computer's CPU , specifically calculations involving physics. A similar concept evolved over the last few decades, with the Graphics Processing Unit , or ''GPU'', which accelerates the rendering of 2D and 3D graphics. STATS AND SPECIFICATIONS
COMPETITION The major competitor to the PhysX SDK is the Havok SDK, which is used in more than 150 games, including major titles like Half-Life 2 and Dead Rising . Games using Havok To compete with the PhysX PPU, Havok FX will be able to take advantage of multi-GPU technology from ATI / AMD ( CrossFire ) and NVIDIA ( SLI ) using existing cards to accelerate certain physics calculations. Havok FX product information Havok's solution divides the physics simulation into ''effect'' and ''gameplay'' physics, with effect physics being offloaded (if possible) to the GPU as Shader Model 3.0 instructions and gameplay physics being processed on the CPU as normal. The important distinction between the two are that ''effect'' physics do not affect gameplay (dust or small debris from an explosion, for example): the vast majority of physics operations are still performed in software. This approach differs significantly from the PhysX SDK, which moves all calculations to the PhysX card if it is present. NVIDIA 's GeForce 8 Series supports a new GPU-based Newtonian physics acceleration technology named ''Quantum Effects Technology'' - which will compete directly with the PhysX PPU hardware. NVIDIA provides a SDK Toolkit for what they call CUDA ™ (Compute Unified Device Architecture) technology that offers both a low and high-level API to the GPU. Few technical details are available about the physics side of it, and it is not yet clear whether this is part of Havok FX SDK, and/or AGEIA PhysX SDK, or a completely separate engine. NVIDIA 8800 features page - Quantum Effects Technology ATI / AMD offers a similar SDK for their ATI-based GPUs and that SDK and technology is called CTM ™ (Close to Metal™) which provides a thin hardware interface. AMD has also announced the AMD Stream Processor product line (combining a CPU and a GPU technology on one chip). BOARD PARTNERS
SUPPORTED TITLES Only games that use the PhysX SDK can benefit from the presence of a PhysX card. DarkBASIC Professional , a BASIC -like game building language uses the PhysX SDK.2 The Unreal 3 Engine also uses Ageia PhysXhttp://www.unrealtechnology.com/html/technology/ue30.shtml, resulting in a performance boost in all of the Unreal 3 Engine based games as well as offering physics that are not possible on a normal CPU core in real time. The new CellFactor is a game made for promoting the Ageia PhysX hardware. SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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