Besides gaming purposes, PhysX engine can be used in multiple fields within computing for physics simulations including AI, robotics, computer vision, self-driving vehicles, and high-performance computing.
Nvidia has released its physics simulation engine, PhysX, on GitHub under an open source BSD license for developers to advance the capabilities of various applications.
The PhysX SDK is a scalable multi-platform game physics solution supporting a wide range of devices, from smartphones to high-end multicore CPUs and GPUs.
It’s already integrated into some of the most popular game engines, including Unreal Engine (versions 3 and 4) and Unity3D.
Besides gaming purposes, PhysX engine can be used in multiple fields within computing for physics simulations including AI, robotics, computer vision, self-driving vehicles, and high-performance computing.
PhysX engine is now available as open source under the simple BSD-3 license, the company announces in a blog post. BSD-3 license allows for virtually unlimited freedom to distribute, modify, and commercialize the software, as long as the BSD license and copyright are included.
PhysX SDK addresses some serious challenges
The company claims that its PhysX SDK addresses some serious challenges in AI, robotics, self-driving cars, game development, and high-performance computing, with scalable, stable and accurate simulations.
In the blog, Rev Lebaredian, Nvidia’s Senior Director of Engineering for Content & Technology – explains the reason behind their surprising move. He writes, “We’re doing this because physics simulation — long key to immersive games and entertainment — turns out to be more important than we ever thought. Physics simulation dovetails with AI, robotics and computer vision, self-driving vehicles, and high-performance computing.”
“PhysX will now be the only free, open-source physics solution that takes advantage of GPU acceleration and can handle large virtual environments,” Lebaredian adds.
The full source code of PhysX SDK can be obtained from GitHub.
