Physics engine comparison

Quick facts for hardware support:

• For the time being, hardware support for doing physics on GPU (all shader model 3.0 chips) such as from ATi and NVIDIA is only supported by the Havok Physics engine.
• The PhysX PPU adapter from AGEIA is only supported by the PhysX engine.

Open Dynamics Engine (ODE) http://www.ode.org/

http://www.continuousphysics.com/Bullet/

OPAL is a high-level interface for low-level physics engines used in games, robotics simulations, and other 3D applications. Features a simple C++ API, intuitive objects (e.g. Solids, Joints, Motors, Sensors), and XML-based file storage for complex objects.
http://ox.slug.louisville.edu/~o0lozi01/opal_wiki/index.php/Main_Page

• Supported engines: ODE
• In development: True Axis
• Planned (as of Nov. 2005): PhysX, Newton Game Dynamics, Bullet

DynaMo

Gangsta In Beta, low activity.

Free SDK, closed source. http://www.newtondynamics.com/
unofficial wiki with documentation http://walaber.com/newton_wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Platforms: Linux, Mac, Windows

Free SDK, closed source. http://www.tokamakphysics.com/

Free for non-commercial use, closed source. http://www.trueaxis.com/

Engines with closed sources, with a SDK, but which will charge us money for using them:

One has to register to get the SDK for the PhysX adapter. http://www.ageia.com/developers/index.html

BTW: the unreal engine already supports PhysX accerlaration, do they use this SDK?

one can register to obtain a “free Havok Evaluation Copy” Havok does other things like FX and animations as well

what the homepage says:

• Collision Detection - including Continuous Physics™
• MOPP™ Technology - for compact representation of large collision meshes
• Dynamics and Constraint Solving
• Vehicle Dynamics
• Data Serialization and Art Tool Support
• Visual Debugger for in-game diagnostic feedback

Havok FX supports physics calculation on all shader model 3.0 graphics chips such as from ATi and NVIDIA.