Bullet physics ready for testing

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Bullet physics is ready for testing, and is now part of the OpenSim core code, according to Intel’s Robert Adams.

Turning on Bullet physics is as simple as changing the OpenSim.ini file, replacing the line “”physics = OpenDynamicsEngine” with “physics=BulletSim”.

It does require access to the OpenSim region server, so in order to test Bullet physics, you either need to be running OpenSim on your own computer, or have your hosting company make the change.

“While this is an ongoing effort that will see continuous improvement, I am working toward BulletSim running well enough that it could become the default OpenSimulator physics engine within the next few months,” Adams told Hypergrid Business. “I encourage everyone to test BulletSim and file any problems in the OpenSimulator bug database.”

The Bullet physics engine is more actively maintained than the Open Dynamics Engine that is the current default in OpenSim, and offers better performance while still being free and open source. It is also being used in many high-profile projects.

For example, the Bullet physics engine was used in the Toy Story 3 video game, Grand Theft Auto IV, Sony’s Free Realms games, and Activision’s Blood Drive.  It also shows up on the big screen, where it was used for special effects in such movies as “Hancock,” “The A-Team,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Megamind” and “Shrek 4.” It is also used in Blender for animations.

BulletSim is the version of the Bullet physics engine optimized to work with OpenSim.

Adams said that he’s currently working on two areas, improving performance, and making vehicles work better in OpenSim.

For example, BulletSim supports linked objects, such as chains.

And BulletSim supports a larger number of objects, such as in the following video with 1,000 blocks.

Maria Korolov
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