What exactly is real-time physics?

[FreshPrince22]

i keep seeing this feature thrown around, but dont really understand what it represents. how is it different than what we've been getting? does it do away with animations and/or morphs? can somebody give me an example of a negative situation in past NBA games and tell me how real time physics would correct it?

[SacKings1999]

It's a good question. I'm not entirely sure what the new system will be like... or to what EXTENT it will be real time physics... but the best example I can think of would be this-

Imagine you have the ball with Amare on a fastbreak (haha, I know he's not a ball handler, but just go with the example), and the only defender back is an undersized PG. With real time physics, the game would take Amare's mass + speed into consideration and not allow the PG to stop his momentum. In previous games you might see a hideous animation where the PG would force Amare into a canned "tough shot" animation and all his momentum would be ignored and he would go more or less straight up for the shot.

[alexgamez122]

They defiantly need to explain this further, because NHL 11 has physics too but only for some aspects of the game. They have said before that one year was too short of a time to add backbreaker type physics, so maybe it's just player on player contact. In any case though I think you actually have to play the demo to get a feel for the game and the changes the "Real Time Physics" make.

[ParisB]

Quote: Originally Posted by SacKings1999

It's a good question. I'm not entirely sure what the new system will be like... or to what EXTENT it will be real time physics... but the best example I can think of would be this- Imagine you have the ball with Amare on a fastbreak (haha, I know he's not a ball handler, but just go with the example), and the only defender back is an undersized PG. With real time physics, the game would take Amare's mass + speed into consideration and not allow the PG to stop his momentum. In previous games you might see a hideous animation where the PG would force Amare into a canned "tough shot" animation and all his momentum would be ignored and he would go more or less straight up for the shot.

That's a pretty good example.

They basically try to add a "skeleton" to the players that includes their mass/weight and momentum. It will definitely help with eliminating canned animations (like Yao Ming being warped or sucked to trigger a "tough shot" animation when colliding with Steve Nash).

It also depends to what extend they implement this. I get the feeling we're still going to see some canned animations in one way or another, and maybe next year it will be more of a true real time physics. Just a thought, because unless they've been working on it for a while, it probably takes a lot of time to "re-animate" and give every player the proper structure to respond to real time physics.

[ParisB]

Here is a pretty good read explaining the different physics applications in computers and video games....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_engine

[mharlem]

Quote: Originally Posted by FreshPrince22

i keep seeing this feature thrown around, but dont really understand what it represents. how is it different than what we've been getting? does it do away with animations and/or morphs? can somebody give me an example of a negative situation in past NBA games and tell me how real time physics would correct it?

http://www.naturalmotion.com/euphoria.htm

[clivo1050]

Quote: Originally Posted by ParisB

That's a pretty good example. They basically try to add a "skeleton" to the players that includes their mass/weight and momentum. It will definitely help with eliminating canned animations (like Yao Ming being warped or sucked to trigger a "tough shot" animation when colliding with Steve Nash). It also depends to what extend they implement this. I get the feeling we're still going to see some canned animations in one way or another, and maybe next year it will be more of a true real time physics. Just a thought, because unless they've been working on it for a while, it probably takes a lot of time to "re-animate" and give every player the proper structure to respond to real time physics.

The NHL team says theirs physics system is a 3 year process to make the game entirely physics based. I assume Elite is taking a similar route. It would be near impossible to implement proper physics in all aspects of the game in one development cycle.

[FreshPrince22]

thanx for all the responses. looking at that video, this seems like a great idea for basketball games. i dont have Live 10, so i'm not sure what needs to be corrected, but in 2K, real time physics seems like it'd definitely help a lot. no more of getting sucked into charges when you're barely moving; interesting collisions on dunks (like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhOk2QFWvbg); not having your hand go through the ball on steals/blocks; being able to swim past defenders on the offensive glass; etc.

i hope EA really goes all-in for it. if they cant master it this year, at least by next year