Several nice videos were uploaded on YouTube by user named Phrogz42 (and further finding are indicating that Gavin Kistner, Product Designer for PhysX Max and Maya plug-ins, is hiding behing this nick) – they are showcasing usage of PhysX 3ds Max plug-in for simulation of several complex obejcts – mostly chains of various types.

But much more interesting details were revealed by autor today, as responce to our question – PhysX plug-in v2.06 Alpha (current version, available for public, is 2.01) was used to create those demonstrations.

Most simulations were running on sub-realtime performance, due to highly increased iterations count, but stability is impressive, not to mention that almost no joints were used – each chain link is compound obejct, consisting of several rigid body primitives/convex meshes.

Take a look at description of “PhysX Chain Braid” video – “each chain link is a single rigid body with eight automatically-derived convex hulls comprising 160 verts (per link)” – it seems convex decomposition algoritm has finally made it to PhysX plug-in.

We’ll keep an eye on Phrogz42’s channel and will let you know, if something interesting will appear.

Autodesk has announced today, that  2.x PhysX plug-in for 3ds Max is going to be included into Subscription Advantage Pack for 3ds Max 2011 and 3ds Max Design 2011.

Description:

Create more compelling, dynamic rigid-body simulations directly in the 3ds Max viewport. The multi-threaded NVIDIA® PhysX® engine supports static, dynamic, and kinematic rigid bodies (the latter for rag doll simulations), and a number of constraints: Rigid, Slide, Hinge, Twist, Universal, Ball & Socket, and Gear.

Animators can more quickly create a wider range of realistic dynamic simulations, and can also use the toolset for modeling: for example, creating a randomly placed landscape of rocks. Assigning physical properties – friction, density, and bounciness – is as simple as choosing from a set of initial preset real-world materials and tweaking parameters as required.

Update: Intesting details were revealed by Kenneth Pimentel, Director of Visual Communications Solutions at Autodesk, on CGTalk.com forums

We can also announce an ongoing partnership with nvidia around PhysX. We entered into the partnership a little late to show much results in this pass, but the partnership is significant and on-going. I think you’d be surprised at the number of research threads we’ve kicked off together.

This is specifically to avoid what happened with Reactor. I think we learned our lesson.

PhysX SDK as default physics solution for most Autodesk products ? Why not

ZombieDriver Slaughter Trailer by ZombieDrivergame

Slaugter game mode DLC for Zombie Driver title. Has pretty nice and accurate physics based on NxOgre – PhysX SDK wrapper for Ogre 3D engine

New KActor\Physx Building by DigitalDemolition

Destructible buildings in UDK. Better and better with every iteration.

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Users are starting to experiment with new 2.0 PhysX plug-in for 3ds Max, check videos below.

physx03.mov by ohanusorn

Rigid bodies and constraints, video captured from viewport.

Physx test2 by zunshiro

Rigid body simulation with PhysX plug-in. Fragmentation was made with VolumeBreaker from Cebas, afaik.

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Christmas present from Nvidia – new PhysX DCC plug-in for 3ds Max is now available officially.

Update: new PhysX plug-in v. 2.40 for 3ds Max

Release Notes, thanks to Gavin Kistner:

This new plug-in has been rewritten from the ground up. A few highlights of the new release:

• Support for Max 2008, 2009, 2010 (and when available, 2011), 32-bit and 64-bit.
• A first-class toolbar and menu for creating and controlling the simulation.
• A modifier-based approach to match workflow in 3ds Max, with greatly improved artist interface to the options.
• A physical material system for using and adjusting physics properties on many objects at once.
• Convenient constraint presets for common workflows.
• Improved constraint visualization and performance.
• Convenient ragdolls, deriving collision volumes from a skinned mesh.
• Bake simulation results to keyframes for offline rendering.
• Super simple samples created by engineers and yours truly.
• New documentation rewritten from scratch.

This great progress comes at a slight cost, however. Some PhysX features available in the previous plug-in are not (yet) exposed on the new version. Fluids, cloth, force fields, and soft bodies are not supported with this release. As demanded and deemed important, we will be adding features and improving the plug-in for the next releases. (Look in particular for the inclusion of awesome APEX Clothing in an upcoming release.)

New tools are available for download via Developer Support Center. If you are experiencing trouble with registration of PhysX Developer account, please refer to our registration guide.

Once approved and logged in – Plug-ins are located under “Online Support” -> “Downloads” Tab

Update: Plug-ins leaked – x86 version (Mirror #1; Mirror #2; Mirror #3) ||  x64 version (Mirror #1; Mirror #2; Mirror #3) – Source: CGPersia

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This week is rich in leaked PhysX tools and software: 9.09.1112 drivers previously, and now – new beta PhysX 2.0 plug-in for 3ds Max. This plug-in was unavailable even on Dev. Support Center, only by personal e-mail request.

New plug-in  supports both 32- and 64-bit versions of 3ds Max 2008, 2009 and 2010. Features overview is located here

Download via Rapidshare (download limit reached)

Update: PhysX plug-in v2.01 for 3ds Max released

Source: sinefx.com

After several weeks of delays, beta version of PhysX 2.0 plug-in for 3ds Max is finally available for testing. We’ll simple quote Gavin Kistner, PhysX Max and Maya plug-ins Product Designer:

The extranet we want to use to distribute the beta PhysX Plug-in for 3ds Max is taking longer than expected to finalize. However, I’d love to get beta testing underway sooner rather than later. To that end, if you would like to be a beta tester for the plug-in (supporting Max 2008, 2009, 2010 on 32- and 64-bit OS), please send me an email. I’ll get you the plug-in if you will in turn give me feedback.

Send an email with subject “PhysX Plug-in for 3ds Max Beta” to “gkistner@nvidia.com“, and include your real name, email address, and company that you’ll be using the plug-in for. Optionally, I’d also love to hear what you intend to use the plug-in for: content development for PhysX-based games; developing for other real-time simulations; improved simulation for standalone rendering; or just repeatedly smashing wrecking balls into brick silos and watching them fall.

Source: Nvidia Developer Forums

Update: PhysX plug-in v2.01 for 3ds Max released

Thanks to Gavin Kistner, Nvidia PhysX plug-ins manager and designer, we can now take a print of what features and improvements 2.0 PhysX plug-ins (currently in development) will have over current generation DCC tools

Following overview is related to PhysX Plug-in for 3DS Max, but we think Maya plug-in feature set won’t differ much.

There’s a proper PhysX toolbar providing access to commands and simulation control, and a proper panel for setting global parameters.

The new plug-in has been heavily overhauled to better support Max workflow. Rigid Bodies are created as modifiers (constraints are still separate helpers). You can change attributes of the modifier, or the underlying geometry, and changes are automatically reflected in the simulation.  There are sub-object modes in the modifier for visualizing and controlling the Initial Velocity and Spin directions. We have a much better presentation of all attributes.

The physical mesh shapes (Sphere, Box, Capsule, Convex Hull) wrap around the geometry nicely by default. You can regenerate a convex hull with specified inner (deflation) or outer (inflation) offset. You can convert a convex hull to an Editable Mesh, tweak vertices, and get those changes reflected on the shape.

If all works as planned, it should be pretty clear and easy how to use multiple physical meshes for a single object.

The D6 joints have been heavily worked on to be more useful. The visualizations are improved. For a minor convenience, there are toolbar buttons to create a joint with common presets (e.g. Hinge, Ball & Socket, Sliding, etc.). The presentation of the attributes has been greatly simplified and clarified in the new rollouts.

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