Learning Physics Modeling with PhysX

As a game developer, you'll know the power of PhysX to add simulation-level realism to games, and this book shows you exactly how best to achieve it with a hands-on, examples-led approach. Sophisticated stuff.

Overview

• Learn everything you need to know about PhysX programming from scratch
• Master the most advanced features of the PhysX Physics Engine
• Code examples are included in each chapter to help you learn quickly and efficiently

In Detail

In this day and age, physics engines play a very critical role in the success of a sophisticated game. PhysX is a state-of-the-art cross-platform physics engine widely used by top game studios and developers. It contains all the physics-related components you will need and exploits the parallel-processing capability of modern GPUs as well as multi-core CPUs to make a game as physically-realistic as possible. This book will help you to program and simulate games by using PhysX 3.

Learning Physics Modeling with PhysX helps you to master physics simulation using the PhysX Physics Engine from scratch. This is useful not only for game developers, but also for developers making virtual walkthroughs or training and other simulation applications. It will cover all the essential features of PhysX 3 with easy-to-understand code snippets and examples to help you learn quickly and efficiently.

This book will start off by introducing you to the basic concepts of physic engines and will give you a glimpse of PhysX implementation. We then gradually cover more sophisticated topics with sample source code so that you can see what you have learned in action. We will cover the history and features of the PhysX SDK as well as how to configure it with the C++ compiler. After touching upon essential topics like rigid body dynamics and collision detection, we will gradually move on to more advanced topics like joints, scene queries, character controllers, particles, and cloth simulation. By the end of this book, you will have learned everything you need to know about the PhysX 3 Physics Engine, and you will be able to use it to program your very own physics simulation quickly and efficiently.

What you will learn from this book

• Learn about the history and features of the PhysX SDK as well as how to configure it with the C++ compiler
• Create, update, and destroy scenes and actors in PhysX
• Modify the properties of rigid body dynamics like mass, velocity, force, and so on
• Understand joints and their types including fixed, revolute, spherical, distance, and D6
• Understand the types of scene queries like raycast, sweep, and overlap as well as the different modes of operation
• Master the character controller and cloth simulations
• Create particle systems and update and release particles
• Learn how to use the PhysX Visual Debugger and its interface

Approach

Written as a practical, step-by-step tutorial, this book is full of engaging examples to help you learn in a practical context.

Who this book is written for

This book is for game developers or anyone who wants to learn how to fully utilize the PhysX Physics Engine quickly and efficiently. You don't have to be a die-hard programmer to get started with this book. Basic knowledge of C++, 3D mathematics, and OpenGL is all you need.

作為一名遊戲開發者，您將了解到使用PhysX可以為遊戲增加模擬級別的真實感，而本書將以實例為主，透過實踐性的方法向您展示如何最佳實現這一目標。這是一本高級的書籍。

概述：
- 從頭開始學習PhysX編程的所有知識
- 掌握PhysX物理引擎的最高級功能
- 每章都包含代碼示例，幫助您快速高效地學習

詳細內容：
在當今時代，物理引擎在複雜遊戲的成功中起著非常關鍵的作用。PhysX是一個先進的跨平台物理引擎，被頂級遊戲工作室和開發者廣泛使用。它包含了您所需的所有與物理相關的組件，並利用現代GPU和多核CPU的並行處理能力，使遊戲盡可能地具有物理真實感。本書將幫助您通過使用PhysX 3來編程和模擬遊戲。

《使用PhysX進行物理建模學習》將幫助您從頭開始掌握使用PhysX物理引擎進行物理模擬。這不僅對遊戲開發者有用，對於製作虛擬漫遊、培訓和其他模擬應用程序的開發者也很有用。本書將涵蓋PhysX 3的所有基本功能，並提供易於理解的代碼片段和示例，幫助您快速高效地學習。

本書將首先介紹物理引擎的基本概念，並讓您一窺PhysX的實現。然後，我們將逐步涵蓋更複雜的主題，並提供示例代碼，以便您可以看到自己學到的知識如何應用。我們將介紹PhysX SDK的歷史和功能，以及如何使用C++編譯器進行配置。在觸及剛體動力學和碰撞檢測等基本主題後，我們將逐漸轉向更高級的主題，如關節、場景查詢、角色控制器、粒子和布料模擬。通過閱讀本書，您將學到有關PhysX 3物理引擎的所有知識，並能夠使用它快速高效地編程自己的物理模擬。

本書的學習重點：
- 了解PhysX SDK的歷史和功能，以及如何使用C++編譯器進行配置
- 在PhysX中創建、更新和銷毀場景和角色
- 修改剛體動力學的屬性，如質量、速度、力等
- 理解關節及其類型，包括固定、旋轉、球形、距離和D6
- 理解射線投射、掃描和重疊等場景查詢的類型和不同操作模式
- 掌握角色控制器和布料模擬
- 創建粒子系統，並更新和釋放粒子
- 學習如何使用PhysX可視化調試器及其界面

這本書以實用的、逐步教學的方式撰寫，充滿了引人入勝的示例，幫助您在實際情境中學習。

本書適合遊戲開發者或任何想要快速高效地充分利用PhysX物理引擎的人。您不需要成為一名狂熱的程序員才能開始閱讀本書。只需要具備C++、3D數學和OpenGL的基本知識即可。