Havok Releases Behavior Tool Downloads

Intel-owned middleware developer Havok announced that it will offer access to its Havok Behavior Tool, which allows designers to build and simulate interactive characters in a 3D game level, to professional game developers, educational institutions, and enthusiasts. The Havok Behavior Tool is built specifically for interactive game character design. Game developers can take advantage of the tool's built-in physics and animation technologies to sense and react to objects, terrain, and other characters around them. The tool is just one component of Havok's suite of cross-platform middleware products, which also include Havok Physics, Havok Animation, Havok Cloth, and Havok Destruction. With Havok's downloadable tools, game designers and artists can see their 3D characters and animations that have been created in Autodesk’s 3ds Max, Maya, and XSI move and interact in a dynamic world. They can also build upon to prototype new game concepts and character mechanics. "This kind of creative access was previously limited to programming and proprietary in-house tool sets," says Havok's Product Management VP Jeff Yates. He continues, "With the Havok Behavior Tool, we wanted to enable an entirely new generation of interactive content creators who can bridge the gap between static 3D assets and game code. Making the Havok Behavior Tool broadly available is a vital first step in empowering this new age of interactive authoring talent."