Could shenanigans be afoot with NVIDIA’s PhysX technology?

Just days ago it was reported on Geeks3D that those who use an ATI GPU for graphics while offloading physics to a PhysX-enabled NVIDIA GPU will no longer be able to use such a setup. From NVIDIA driver version 186.x onward, whenever ATI hardware is detected in a system, PhysX is disabled. If you want PhysX, you’re going to have to use all-NVIDIA hardware to get it. PhysX technology has been the property of NVIDIA for some time now, so you may be wondering why this is a problem.

Well, about a year ago, a group of developers began working on porting the CUDA-based PhysX API to work on ATI’s Radeon cards. NVIDIA gave those developers official support. Also, up until the ForceWare 186.x driver, NVIDIA cards would happily handle physics no matter what GPU was powering graphics. NVIDIA has now disallowed both solutions, and that suggests they’ve had a big change of heart.

The whole fiasco began on the NGOHQ forums where user darthcyclonis discovered PhysX was being disabled, so he emailed NVIDIA regarding it. He received the following response:

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3D free-form candy fabrication. This gets the Drasnor seal of approval.

Now you can use Chrome to view the web in 3D.

Use your left over 3D glasses from the Superbowl to play Left 4 Dead in 3D.

Ambient Occlusion is a new 3D feature intended to add realism with the GeForce 185.20 driver package, but it comes with a performance hit.

Our first meeting of the day was with NVIDIA which was eager to demonstrate their new 3D goggle technology to us. These 3D goggles (MSRP $199) are radically different from other technology you may have used and seen before. Instead of relying on software manufacturers to make the game compatible with the tech, the NVIDIA drivers can interpret the depth information in the z-buffer to set the stereo depth.

The goggles are very lightweight and do indeed use shutter technology, but they were comfortable over glasses and very lightweight, even with a security dongle. More than that, the flicker symptomatic of other goggles was virtually unnoticeable. The goggles must have a dual-DVI card, which any modern NVIDIA card qualifies for. The performance impact is approximately 20-25% to produce the image, so you’ll have to keep your current frame rates in mind if you’re interested in the technology.

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Yesterday Autodesk announced that it was to acquire Avid’s Softimage. This news has rocked the 3D animation industry to its core. The merger brings two of the biggest competing 3D animation solutions (Autodesk’s Maya and Softimage|XSI) together under one roof. The $35 million deal would give Autodesk control of almost all of Softimage’s assets.

In a press release issued by Autodesk on Thursday the company will continue to develop and offer the following Softimage products: Softimage|XSI, Mod Tool, Face Robot, Cat, Crosswalk, and the Softimage XSI SDK.

This move makes Autodesk the undisputed dominant force in 3D animation and graphics solutions. They now own Maya, the industry standard for computer animation, 3DSMax, and Softimage XSI, among many other products. That portfolio is not only impressive, it’s tenacious. There are few studios out there that are not using one of those products. (more…)