GDC 2011: AMD Reveals Open Source Bullet Physics Plug-in For Maya

Author: by Staff

Chip maker AMD is showing off a new and open source Bullet Physics plug-in for Autodesk Maya 2011 that allows developers to create interactive cloth simulations on the popular 3D animation software. Based on OpenCL standards and the open-source Bullet Physics Engine, the plug-in is designed to enable 3D artists and game developers to incorporate physics and animation through Maya on "a greater range of workstations and PCs", including those based on ATI FirePro graphics cads and AMD CPUs. Pixelux Entertainment worked with AMD to further highlight the Bullet Physics Engine starting in 2009, creating an open-source physics simulation meant to "bring new levels of realism to gaming, simulations and popular applications across game consoles, PCs and other hardware platforms". AMD is publicly demonstrating the Bullet Physics plug-in at its 2011 Game Developers Conference booth (#924), running the technology on systems powered by the ATI FirePro V8880 graphics card. The company also announced new driver support for ATI FirePro Mobility Professional Graphics. "AMD is committed to collaborating with partners like Autodesk on industry standards and open-source software solutions that open up a world of vivid visual experiences," says AMD Professional Graphics general manager Janet Matsuda. She adds, "This new plug-in will give CG content developers an open development path with OpenCL and a powerful solution for incorporating high-quality physics that offer realistic animation of how rendered objects move in a game or film."