Sony Corp has gone to Oxford, UK-based MathEngine Plc to add weight to its stated aim of offering life-like graphics on its new Playstation console. The privately funded, two-year old company has developed a psychics-based software development kit (SDK) which models the behavior of fluids, deformable objects and multi-body dynamics.
Tim Milward, the lead programmer of the SDK, said that, in the context of a games console, this meant simulating the behavior of objects such as water, bouncing rubber balls and bridges. He said that with an additional ‘artificial intelligence’ control layer on top of the SDK – the software could realistically simulate running and jumping in on-screen characters. The company is working on the AI layer as part of what it calls its ‘virtual human’ program. As we reported recently, Sunnyvale, California- based company Animation Science Inc is working in similar physical rules-based environment on modeling natural phenomenon such as wind, rain and snow and translating these – through middleware – into graphical scenes, in real time, for the Sony console.
MathEngine released its kit on the web in December 1998. Milward said the kit currently had a simple C interface but that the firm was porting a version to Linux, Sony’s preferred development platform for the new console. A C++ version will also soon be available. The firm has offices in Oxford and San Francisco, as well as Sydney, Australia and Madras in India. The company plans to open a Japanese HQ in Tokyo soon. Milward said that the UK office concentrates on R&D work, while the US office covers sales.
