PhysX SDK

I just found out that Nvidia offers for free a SDK for physic simulation, called PhysxLab. FBX format is supported. Is here anyone using it? Are FBXs from Blender suitable?

I’ve just lost you. PhysxLab is a tool for simulating particles sort of speak. However i don’t understand your question about FBX and Blender. Can you give us more info on what you want to know?

I’m using PhysXLab for APEX Destruction stuff if i really need real-time destruction. But what do you mean by “FBX from Blender”?

I think he means this one here: https://developer.nvidia/physx-sdk :slight_smile:

I personally just use PhysX Cloth (APEX) and PhysX destruction:

Cloth: you can either use the SDK version so that you can create cloth parts with fbx files () or the cloth plugin for maya/3ds ()

Destruction: I dont know if you can import it into a 3d program, but in the UE4 it looks pretty good ->

Yeah, its perfectly clear to me that he means the PhysX Lab since there’s only one. What i dont get is what he means exactly by “Are FBX from Blender suitable?” Maybe as import files into PhysX Lab? Cant say anything about that since i use Maya only.

Thats what i wonder too Dizco. I couldn’t understand that part.

Sorry for the unclear message.
PhysxLab supports many formats (.fbx, .obj etc…). Unreal Engine only supports FBX.
So, these two softwares support in common only the FBX format.
Blender is able to export to this format, and UE4 is able to import assets coming from Blender.
The question is: is physxlab able to import FBX coming from blender and then send them to Unreal Engine?

E.g.
I create a wall in Blender, then I export it as a FBX.
I import this model into PhysxLab and I simulate the fracture. I re-export it.
I import the asset in UE4.

All I want to do is to create everything in Blender. And, in particularly, I would like to create meshes and actors that explodes when shot.
I want also to simulate fractures, explosions, fluid simulation, and viscosity simulation (something similar to mud).

Sure you can send the fractured mesh to blender without the simulations though as i don’t think you can export those to UE4. However with the fractured mesh you can create that breakable item and UE4 will recognize it when set up correctly and will take destruction physics (from UE4 libraries) into account.

Hope that was what you asked for.

Hi Sabino,

Unreal Engine 4 support both FBX and OBJ formats for import. There are limitations with OBJ over FBX, but it will import.

With PhysX Labs you can import and use any file type that it will use to create your destruction mesh. When you export you mesh from PhysX Labs it will give you an .APB file and not an FBX. The .APB file can be used and will automatically be recognized as a destruction mesh by UE4 when you import.

You don’t need to worry about the file types and what UE4 will import in this case since PhysX labs will result in it’s own file type (apb or apx) that UE4 can use.

It shouldn’t be a problem to create most everything in Blender. There are going to be some things that you will need to create from within UE4 or other programs though.

Mesh that explodes when shot: Create Mesh in Blender, Create the DM in either PhysX Labs or in UE4’s fracture tool, setup projectile to work with DM in UE4

Explosions: If we’re talking about the effect of an explosion and not the destruction side of it, you would want to use Cascade and set up some particle effects for the mesh debris and fiery portions. This in conjunction with the Dm and blueprints you can get some great explosions going on.

Fluid and viscosity simulation simulation are not in the engine. This post on the AnswerHub from HomeRye ( Elek) explains what you would need to do to get something that looks like fluid simulation in UE4. https://answers.unrealengine/questions/37356/how-to-import-a-fluid-simulation-from-blender.html

I spend a lot of time with destruction meshes and PhysX Labs. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I’ll gladly help. :slight_smile:

If you need a simple test level for destruction I’ve got an example I added to the Community section of the forums. This test bed has two types of projectiles. A line trace that applies damage on hit and the Ball Projectile from the FPS Template. It’s there if you need a testing level before setting up something in your project. :slight_smile:

https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?52865-Sample-Project-to-destroy-Destructible-Mesh-with-Line-Trace-and-Ball-projectile

Hey , Personally i didn’t know that the APB files could be imported into the engine, Thanks for the clarification. Have a nice day.

Thank you :smiley:
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