AlphaRaptor
04-26-2005, 06:05 PM
---AGEIA Technologies Interview---
Wow....read on :yikes:
In this era of near photorealistic graphics, can we expect better games? If AGEIA succeeds with their multi-threaded physics API and the revolutionary idea of hardware accelerated physics, then we might not only get better games but also witness a new revolution in gaming that will once again shake the entire industry just like the switch from 2D to 3D graphics of the last decade. This could certainly change gaming forever.
The company's PhysX chip, the world's first dedicated Physics Processing Unit (PPU), will be supported in the next-generation line-up from Ubisoft and it is expected other publishers will jump on board. On top of that, AGEIA’s NovodeX Physics SDK is an official Xbox real-time physics middleware tool that will exploit the multicore architecture of the Xbox 360 and Epic Games has also announced the integration of the NovodeX API and support for the PhysX chip in the Unreal Engine 3.
We recently spoke with Manju Hegde, CEO and Chairman of AGEIA Technologies Inc, in order to get the scoop on their PhysX chip and the NovodeX Physics SDK, the first and only multithreaded physics API capable of unleashing the power of the PhysX chip, as well as multiprocessor gaming systems.
Let’s get physical. What exactly is a PPU?
Manju Hegde: A Physics Processing Unit (PPU) is a completely new hardware category that bridges the gap between static virtual worlds and pervasive physical reality. This new hardware category represents the next milestone in the evolution of game acceleration, following in the footsteps of the CPU and GPU. The PPU works alongside these processors, completing the triangle of gameplay, 3D imagery and physics-based interaction.
http://media.teamxbox.com/dailyposts/ageia/triangle.jpg
AGEIA’s PhysX™chip is the world’s first dedicated PPU. With AGEIA’s groundbreaking new technology, developers can now create scenes using the same laws of physics that govern the physical universe, enabling players to interact with any object in any scene at any time, providing pervasive interactive reality. In concert with the CPU and GPU, the PhysX chip will allow game developers to create characters, backgrounds and effects that rival those of Hollywood movies, but with interactivity.
With the PPU, car fenders will at last crumple with satisfying detail, as the gamer slides his car head-on into a wall, thick with clouds of dust, curls of smoke and shards of glass one expects from being so close to the action.
In the short term, perhaps the most significant enhancement will relate to game effects, where environmental and other factors currently unavailable to game developers can easily be incorporated. As the wind blows through a lonely game world, trees will bend and sway, leaves will blow and scatter, with shutters banging loudly and curtains blowing in the breeze. When the monk walks through the catacombs, smoking torch in hand, his flowing robes will drape realistically over his legs; and the heroine’s pony tail will blow in the wind as she rides her mount across the landscape. As the castle explodes, the spray of rubble will rupture the walls on the surrounding streets. These subtle yet essential effects will add a completely new layer of visual realism to games, immediately boosting immersion. These physical simulation based visualizations will be altered by inputs and actions and so will substantially greater variety and richness than canned animations.
Soon thereafter, physics will work its way into gameplay itself. Perhaps the blowing breeze exposes hidden soldiers behind the branches, while the monk’s shifting robes reveals a knife or a hidden letter. The number of active characters in a scene can jump from a handful to dozens or even hundreds, each with its own unique physical and logical characteristics.
Is it possible to have all these objects (30,000 plus) interacting at once, on screen, while also having fluid dynamics, soft-body deformation, particle systems and clothing simulation running at the same time with proper physics?
Manju Hegde: Yes, Physx will enable all these together. <-- :hump:
Right now with current normal CPU's, only 50-100 objects interacting at once on screen is possible. Yes, even HL2 is limited to 50-100, depends on your PC's CPU speed. 30,000+ is just CRAZY!
When can we expect to see the first games that make use of the PhysX PPU and when can we expect the first boards at retail stores?
Manju Hegde: Expect to see PPU enabled systems and boards in time for the 2005 Christmas buying season. <--About the time of XB360's release? Coincidence?
If Xbox 360 will actually have this, it will blow all the other next gen systems out of the water if they don't have it. Imagine, buildings you could destroy brick, by brick, water with realistic ripples, everything and anything will be interactive. It will make HL2's phisics look old. With a PPU, all that's left for the CPU are AI and maybe some odd jobs, whichever system has the faster CPU, will not be the most powerful, that depends on the GPU and whether it has a PPU. The CPU is actually the last thing you should look at when it comes to power.
I sure hope Xbox 360 will come with one of these babies. :cheers:
Source (http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1117/AGEIA-Technologies-Interview/p1/)
Wow....read on :yikes:
In this era of near photorealistic graphics, can we expect better games? If AGEIA succeeds with their multi-threaded physics API and the revolutionary idea of hardware accelerated physics, then we might not only get better games but also witness a new revolution in gaming that will once again shake the entire industry just like the switch from 2D to 3D graphics of the last decade. This could certainly change gaming forever.
The company's PhysX chip, the world's first dedicated Physics Processing Unit (PPU), will be supported in the next-generation line-up from Ubisoft and it is expected other publishers will jump on board. On top of that, AGEIA’s NovodeX Physics SDK is an official Xbox real-time physics middleware tool that will exploit the multicore architecture of the Xbox 360 and Epic Games has also announced the integration of the NovodeX API and support for the PhysX chip in the Unreal Engine 3.
We recently spoke with Manju Hegde, CEO and Chairman of AGEIA Technologies Inc, in order to get the scoop on their PhysX chip and the NovodeX Physics SDK, the first and only multithreaded physics API capable of unleashing the power of the PhysX chip, as well as multiprocessor gaming systems.
Let’s get physical. What exactly is a PPU?
Manju Hegde: A Physics Processing Unit (PPU) is a completely new hardware category that bridges the gap between static virtual worlds and pervasive physical reality. This new hardware category represents the next milestone in the evolution of game acceleration, following in the footsteps of the CPU and GPU. The PPU works alongside these processors, completing the triangle of gameplay, 3D imagery and physics-based interaction.
http://media.teamxbox.com/dailyposts/ageia/triangle.jpg
AGEIA’s PhysX™chip is the world’s first dedicated PPU. With AGEIA’s groundbreaking new technology, developers can now create scenes using the same laws of physics that govern the physical universe, enabling players to interact with any object in any scene at any time, providing pervasive interactive reality. In concert with the CPU and GPU, the PhysX chip will allow game developers to create characters, backgrounds and effects that rival those of Hollywood movies, but with interactivity.
With the PPU, car fenders will at last crumple with satisfying detail, as the gamer slides his car head-on into a wall, thick with clouds of dust, curls of smoke and shards of glass one expects from being so close to the action.
In the short term, perhaps the most significant enhancement will relate to game effects, where environmental and other factors currently unavailable to game developers can easily be incorporated. As the wind blows through a lonely game world, trees will bend and sway, leaves will blow and scatter, with shutters banging loudly and curtains blowing in the breeze. When the monk walks through the catacombs, smoking torch in hand, his flowing robes will drape realistically over his legs; and the heroine’s pony tail will blow in the wind as she rides her mount across the landscape. As the castle explodes, the spray of rubble will rupture the walls on the surrounding streets. These subtle yet essential effects will add a completely new layer of visual realism to games, immediately boosting immersion. These physical simulation based visualizations will be altered by inputs and actions and so will substantially greater variety and richness than canned animations.
Soon thereafter, physics will work its way into gameplay itself. Perhaps the blowing breeze exposes hidden soldiers behind the branches, while the monk’s shifting robes reveals a knife or a hidden letter. The number of active characters in a scene can jump from a handful to dozens or even hundreds, each with its own unique physical and logical characteristics.
Is it possible to have all these objects (30,000 plus) interacting at once, on screen, while also having fluid dynamics, soft-body deformation, particle systems and clothing simulation running at the same time with proper physics?
Manju Hegde: Yes, Physx will enable all these together. <-- :hump:
Right now with current normal CPU's, only 50-100 objects interacting at once on screen is possible. Yes, even HL2 is limited to 50-100, depends on your PC's CPU speed. 30,000+ is just CRAZY!
When can we expect to see the first games that make use of the PhysX PPU and when can we expect the first boards at retail stores?
Manju Hegde: Expect to see PPU enabled systems and boards in time for the 2005 Christmas buying season. <--About the time of XB360's release? Coincidence?
If Xbox 360 will actually have this, it will blow all the other next gen systems out of the water if they don't have it. Imagine, buildings you could destroy brick, by brick, water with realistic ripples, everything and anything will be interactive. It will make HL2's phisics look old. With a PPU, all that's left for the CPU are AI and maybe some odd jobs, whichever system has the faster CPU, will not be the most powerful, that depends on the GPU and whether it has a PPU. The CPU is actually the last thing you should look at when it comes to power.
I sure hope Xbox 360 will come with one of these babies. :cheers:
Source (http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1117/AGEIA-Technologies-Interview/p1/)