Havok (software)

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

This article is about the physics engine. For other uses, see Havok (disambiguation).

Havok Physics
Image:Havoklogo.gif
Developer	Havok
Latest release	5.0 / 2007-09-05^[1]
OS	Unix, Linux, PS3, PS2, PSP, GameCube, Wii, Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox, Windows,
Website	http://www.havok.com/

Havok Physics, better known as simply Havok, is a middleware physics engine developed by Irish company Havok. It is designed for computer and video games by allowing interaction between objects or other characters in real-time. By using dynamical simulation, Havok allows for more lifelike worlds and animation, such as ragdoll physics. The company has also released a Havok Animation and Havok FX, which uses Shader Model 3.0 on consumer GPUs for effects physics such as smoke.

1 Platform availability
2 Use
3 Havok FX
4 Software that uses Havok
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Platform availability

Version 1.0 of the Havok SDK was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2000. It has since evolved into a number of products, mainly Havok version 5 released in September 2007. The source code for the engine is distributed after licensing, and is currently known to work on the Microsoft's Windows, Xbox and Xbox 360, Nintendo's GameCube and Wii, Sony's PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, Apple's Mac OS X, and on Linux. The engine itself is written in C/C++, and remains fairly portable to any system with a compatible C or C++ compiler.

[edit] Use

Since the SDK's launch in 2000, it has been used in over 150 video and computer games. Those games have primarily been in the first-person shooter genre (the physics engine in Valve Corporation's Source engine uses a modified version of Havok), however it has seen some use in other genres, such as in the THQ/Relic Entertainment real-time strategy game, Company of Heroes,^[2] Ubisoft's Action-adventure game, Assassin's Creed, and Blizzard Entertainment's newly announced StarCraft II.^[3] Havok can also be found in Autodesk Media & Entertainment's 3ds max as a bundled plug-in called reactor. A plugin for Autodesk Media & Entertainment's Maya animation software is also available.

Havok is also used in Second Life online game, and Havok4 is in beta testing on the Second Life Beta Grid.

[edit] Havok FX

The company was developing a specialized kit called Havok FX that made use of the GPUs in ATI and NVIDIA videocards for physics simulations.^[4]^[5] The product was quietly cancelled after Intel bought Havok.^[6]