[Opensim-dev] Super easy question

[Hurliman, John]

Actually, if you actually try to implement Havok (or Bullet or PhysX) in OpenSim you will come up against a few walls. The physics API in OpenSim is highly tailored for the specific way ODE is being used right now, and many ways of implementing physics including the "standard" (or at least the most documented and tested) ways in Havok/Bullet/PhysX simply will not work. You would have to rewrite the physics interface in OpenSim to give the individual implementations more freedom in how they do the simulation. I'm not saying it's impossible, in fact there have been at least two attempts already to add Bullet physics to OpenSim, but you either have to figure out how to make your physics engine of choice behave exactly like the way ODE is being used right now or redo the physics API in OpenSim.

John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de [mailto:opensim-dev-
> bounces at lists.berlios.de] On Behalf Of Cristina Videira Lopes
> Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 1:50 PM
> To: opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
> Subject: Re: [Opensim-dev] Super easy question
> 
> I'm just explaining the mechanics of the process. If Bri or anyone
> else here has enough time and/or resources to do that kind of
> integration, by all means do it.  Just because Havok is a no go for
> the stock distribution of OpenSim doesn't mean that that kind of work
> should be discouraged.
> 
> Technically, OpenSim is ready for it because of its highly extensible
> architecture regarding just about every important component of the
> system. But clearly, even in the best case scenario of being able to
> use the binaries as they come, this is still not a plug-and-play deal;
> there's a c#/.NET layer that needs to be written.
> 
> 
> On Aug 20, 2010, at 1:19 PM, Robert A. Knop Jr. wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 01:11:32PM -0700, Michael Cerquoni wrote:
> >> I think it should also be mentioned that just because Second Life
> >> is using
> >> Havok, they are not using standard binaries that are freely
> >> available, they
> >> have no doubt highly customized the engine to meet their needs.
> >
> > Indeed.  I don't know exactly what was done, so I'm not giving away
> > inside information here.  But do remember that the project to
> > integrate
> > Havok 4 into SL (upgrading from Havok 2) took many months, first of
> > development, then of testing.  At least one Linden (Andrew) was
> > working
> > near-full-time on the Havok 4 project for quite some time.  It's not
> a
> > plug-and-play situation.
> >
> > --
> > --Rob Knop
> >  E-mail:    rknop at pobox.com
> >  Home Page: http://www.pobox.com/~rknop/
> >  Blog:      http://scientopia.org/blogs/galacticinteractions/
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