05 - Particle Systems and Physics

Both games and films need to make use of realistic Physics, as well as represent huge numbers of small objects.

PARTICLE SYSTEMS AND PHYSICS

As well as the graphics, one of the recent biggest growth areas in the gaming business is physics. Ever since Half-Life 2's Source engine introduced us to seesaw-balancing puzzles, and the ability to chuck bottles around and make stacks of crates tumble dramatically to the floor, the gaming business has been falling over itself to create the next big thing in gaming physics. Physics is so big, in fact, that Intel even went as far as buying gaming physics company Havok, while Nvidia bought Ageia.

Both Havok and Ageia developed their own APIs for hardware-accelerated physics. The Havok FX API could use GPU acceleration, while the PhysX API could use Ageia's PhysX processor, and will soon be able to run on GeForce 8 and 9-series GPUs too.

However, one feature that both of these APIs have in common is the ability to calculate the behaviour of numerous particles - this can mean anything from debris flying from an explosion to snowflakes, and even human hair.

Particle systems aren't new to the film industry, though. Pixar used a particle system to create the snow in the snow dome in its short film 'Knick Knack', which was released in 1989. However, calculating the behaviour of thousands of particles is a hell of a lot of work for a computer, and this is why we don't see realistic hair and fur effects in games (and probably why Nvidia's Human Head demo features a bald man). The current physics APIs are capable of impressive calculations, but we're still a long way from recreating furry Mike from 'Monsters Inc'.

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