The Mathematics of Kick-Ass: Physics Processing Unit (PPU)
A Physics Processing Unit (PPU) is a dedicated processor designed to handle the calculations of physics, specially in the physics engine of video games. Calculations involving a PPU might include rigid body dynamics, soft body dynamics, collision detection, fluid dynamics, hair and clothing simulation, finite element analysis, and fracturing of objects.
To understand the underlying principle and working of a PPU, let's understand what physics processing really is and how it is used.
What is Physics?
Physics is all about how objects in, say for example your game, move and react. It's not just how things look, but how they behave. In many of today's games, objects just don't seem to act the way you'd want or expect. Most of the action is limited to pre-scripted or canned animations.
Even the most powerful weapons leave little more than a charred smudge on the thinnest of walls; and every opponent you take out falls in a strangely familiar way. Serious gamers are left with a fine game, but one with a missing sense of realism to make the experience truly immersive. Until now, only limited software physics has been integrated in games. That means physics computation has been handled by the general purpose CPU which is already burdened with the ever increasing demands of today's advanced games including game logic and artificial intelligence (AI).
Physics in games had been limited to a few objects in a scene, one-off "effects" or visual trickery that just mimics real physics.
Enter AGEIA PhysX
The first processor to be advertised as a PPU was called the PhysX chip, introduced by a fabless semiconductor company called AGEIA. Games wishing to take advantage of the PhysX PPU must use AGEIA's PhysX SDK. For the first time now, the AGEIA PhysX Processor delivers the computing horsepower necessary to enable true, advanced physics in games.
What is AGEIA PhysX?
Delivering physics in games is no easy task. It's an extremely compute-intensive environment based on a unique set of physics algorithms that require tremendous amounts of mathematical and logical calculations supported by massive memory bandwidth. Simply put, it requires the AGEIA PhysX processor: a specialized accelerator dedicated solely to delivering rich immersive physical gaming environments.
The AGEIA PhysX Processor is a PhysX Processing Unit (PPU) which works in tandem with your CPU and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Each processor is responsible for different aspects of gameplay: The CPU controls artificial intelligence, the GPU renders and displays graphics, and the PPU processes movement and physical interaction. Ageia refers to the three processors as the “Gaming Power Triangle.” For gaming enthusiasts it might as well be called the Holy Trinity.
Getting Started
Getting started isn’t quite as easy as dropping a PhysX card into your empty PCI slot. First, you will need as much graphics firepower as you can muster to keep up with the thousands of potential objects that a PhysX processor can spawn. For instance, debris, shrapnel and assorted odds and ends generated from an explosion may not simply disappear from the game. They can continue to exist as independent environmental objects and your GPU will need to track and monitor each as they are all potential points of future interaction. This being said, the relationship between the GPU and PPU is symbiotic: The PPU relieves the GPU of some of the burden of physics processing allowing it to focus solely on the render and display of graphics.
Final Word
Are you an early adopter? Go PhysX. Do you want to immerse yourself in next generation gaming now? Go PhysX. Are you a tad GPU deficient? First invest in hardware that will allow PhysX to shine, like an SLI-equipped gaming desktop.
To understand the underlying principle and working of a PPU, let's understand what physics processing really is and how it is used.
What is Physics?
Physics is all about how objects in, say for example your game, move and react. It's not just how things look, but how they behave. In many of today's games, objects just don't seem to act the way you'd want or expect. Most of the action is limited to pre-scripted or canned animations.
Even the most powerful weapons leave little more than a charred smudge on the thinnest of walls; and every opponent you take out falls in a strangely familiar way. Serious gamers are left with a fine game, but one with a missing sense of realism to make the experience truly immersive. Until now, only limited software physics has been integrated in games. That means physics computation has been handled by the general purpose CPU which is already burdened with the ever increasing demands of today's advanced games including game logic and artificial intelligence (AI).
Physics in games had been limited to a few objects in a scene, one-off "effects" or visual trickery that just mimics real physics.
Enter AGEIA PhysX
The first processor to be advertised as a PPU was called the PhysX chip, introduced by a fabless semiconductor company called AGEIA. Games wishing to take advantage of the PhysX PPU must use AGEIA's PhysX SDK. For the first time now, the AGEIA PhysX Processor delivers the computing horsepower necessary to enable true, advanced physics in games.
What is AGEIA PhysX?
Delivering physics in games is no easy task. It's an extremely compute-intensive environment based on a unique set of physics algorithms that require tremendous amounts of mathematical and logical calculations supported by massive memory bandwidth. Simply put, it requires the AGEIA PhysX processor: a specialized accelerator dedicated solely to delivering rich immersive physical gaming environments.
The AGEIA PhysX Processor is a PhysX Processing Unit (PPU) which works in tandem with your CPU and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Each processor is responsible for different aspects of gameplay: The CPU controls artificial intelligence, the GPU renders and displays graphics, and the PPU processes movement and physical interaction. Ageia refers to the three processors as the “Gaming Power Triangle.” For gaming enthusiasts it might as well be called the Holy Trinity.Getting Started
Getting started isn’t quite as easy as dropping a PhysX card into your empty PCI slot. First, you will need as much graphics firepower as you can muster to keep up with the thousands of potential objects that a PhysX processor can spawn. For instance, debris, shrapnel and assorted odds and ends generated from an explosion may not simply disappear from the game. They can continue to exist as independent environmental objects and your GPU will need to track and monitor each as they are all potential points of future interaction. This being said, the relationship between the GPU and PPU is symbiotic: The PPU relieves the GPU of some of the burden of physics processing allowing it to focus solely on the render and display of graphics.
Final Word
Are you an early adopter? Go PhysX. Do you want to immerse yourself in next generation gaming now? Go PhysX. Are you a tad GPU deficient? First invest in hardware that will allow PhysX to shine, like an SLI-equipped gaming desktop.
Comments
Post a Comment