AMD Showcases New Open Source Physics Plug-in for Autodesk Maya 2011 at Game Developers Conference

New plug-in offers users real-time physics plug-in for popular 3D animation software

AMD announced a technology demonstration of a Bullet Physics plug-in for Autodesk^® Maya^® 2011 software at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC). The new plug-in is based on OpenCL™ industry standards and the open-source Bullet Physics Engine.

AMD’s Bullet Physics plug-in for Autodesk Maya 2011 is designed to enable game developers and 3D artists to access Maya’s creative workflow capabilities to create interactive cloth simulations on a greater range of workstations and PCs, including those based on ATI FirePro™ professional graphics cards and AMD CPUs, and to remove technology limitations that can restrict developers’ ability to create stunning games and computer-generated (CG) graphics. “AMD is committed to collaborating with partners like Autodesk on industry standards and open-source software solutions that open up a world of vivid visual experiences,” said Janet Matsuda, general manager of AMD Professional Graphics. “This new plug-in will give CG content developers an open development path with OpenCL and a powerful solution for incorporating high-quality physics that offer realistic animation of how rendered objects move in a game or film.”

AMD is publicly demonstrating the new Bullet Physics plug-in technology in the AMD booth at GDC 2011. AMD’s GDC demo will run on systems powered by the ATI FirePro™ V8880 professional graphics card, designed for workstation users who demand outstanding visual flexibility and the type of high-end GPU compute power that is enabled by AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology.

“We are heavily focused on providing 3D artists and game developers with high levels of interactivity and visual fidelity in the viewport to improve the effectiveness of creative design decisions and help increase productivity,” explains Chris Vienneau, Maya Product Manager, Autodesk. “OpenCL and the Bullet Physics Engine are key enablers of just such interaction. They help get the technology out of the way of creativity, and ultimately enable the end-user to enjoy a more realistic experience.”
Launched in 2009, Bullet Physics is an open-source physics simulation developed by AMD and Pixelux Entertainment, which was designed to bring new levels of realism to gaming, simulations and popular applications across game consoles, PCs and other hardware platforms.

AMD also announced new driver support available from www.amd.com, for ATI FirePro™ Mobility Professional Graphics. Workstation notebook users with the HP EliteBook 8740w and 8540w, along with users of the Dell Precision M6500 and M6400, will now have access to performance updates and new features on a regular basis.

The Game Developers Conference, the world’s largest professional-only game industry event, is taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, February 28 to March 4.