Bullet (software) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bullet is an open source

Open-source software

Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...

physics engine

Physics engine

A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics , soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film. Their main uses are in video games , in which case the...

featuring 3D collision detection, soft body dynamics, and rigid body dynamics. It is used in games, and in visual effects in movies. The Bullet physics library is published under the zlib license

Zlib License

The zlib License is a permissive free software license which defines the terms under which the zlib and libpng software libraries can be distributed. It is also used by other free software packages....

. Erwin Coumans, its main author, worked for Sony Computer Entertainment

Sony Computer Entertainment

Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...

US R&D from 2003 until 2010. He now works for AMD.

Features

Rigid body and soft body simulation with discrete and continuous collision detection
Collision shapes include: sphere, box, cylinder, cone, convex hull using GJK
Gilbert–Johnson–Keerthi distance algorithm
The Gilbert–Johnson–Keerthi distance algorithm is a method of determining the minimum distance between two convex sets. Unlike many other distance algorithms, it does not require that the geometry data be stored in any specific format, but instead relies solely on a support function to iteratively...

, non-convex and triangle mesh
Soft body
Soft body dynamics
Soft body dynamics is a field of computer graphics that focuses on visually realistic physical simulations of the motion and properties of deformable objects . The applications are mostly in video games and film. Unlike in simulation of rigid bodies, the shape of soft bodies can change, meaning...

support: cloth, rope and deformable objects
A rich set of rigid body and soft body constraints with constraint limits and motors
Plugins for Maya, Houdini
Houdini (software)
Houdini is a high-end 3D animation package developed by Side Effects Software which is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It is a rewrite of the PRISMS ecosystem of standalone tools. Its chief distinction from other packages is that it has been designed as a purely procedural environment...

, Softimage, integrated into Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D
CINEMA 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application developed by MAXON Computer GmbH of Friedrichsdorf, Germany. It is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, rendering, and common features found in 3d modelling applications.- Overview:The...

, LightWave 3D, and Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...

and import of COLLADA
COLLADA
COLLADA is a COLLAborative Design Activity for establishing an interchange file format for interactive 3D applications. COLLADA is managed by the nonprofit technology consortium, the Khronos Group....

1.4 physics content
Optional optimizations for PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

Cell SPU, CUDA
CUDA
CUDA or Compute Unified Device Architecture is a parallel computing architecture developed by Nvidia. CUDA is the computing engine in Nvidia graphics processing units that is accessible to software developers through variants of industry standard programming languages...

and OpenCL
OpenCL
OpenCL is a framework for writing programs that execute across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and other processors. OpenCL includes a language for writing kernels , plus APIs that are used to define and then control the platforms...

The Bullet website also hosts a Physics Forum for general discussion around Physics Simulation for Games and Animation.

Commercial games

Games using Bullet created by professional game developers for video game consoles

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

or other platforms include:

Toy Story 3: The Video Game
Toy Story 3: The Video Game
Toy Story 3: The Video Game is a platform video game loosely based on the film Toy Story 3. It was published by Disney Interactive Studios and developed by Avalanche Software , Asobo Studio and n-Space...

published by Disney Interactive Studios.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...

and Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...

.
Trials HD
Trials HD
Trials HD is an Xbox Live Arcade game developed by RedLynx and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on August 12, 2009 as part of the second annual Xbox Live Summer of Arcade and was later re-released in a retail pack alongside Limbo and Splosion Man in April 2011. It is a 2.5D...

by RedLynx
RedLynx
RedLynx Ltd. is a multi-platform Finnish video game developer and publisher based in Helsinki, Finland and founded in 2000. Since its founding in 2000, it has developed and published more than 100 games on many platforms, including Xbox LIVE Arcade, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP, Apple...

.
Free Realms
Free Realms
Free Realms is a massively multiplayer online role playing video game developed by Sony Online Entertainment set in a fantasy-themed world, named Sacred Grove for the PC, Mac and PlayStation 3. The game was released on April 29, 2009, for the Windows PC...

by Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe...

.
HotWheels: Battle Force 5.
Gravitronix
Gravitronix
Gravitronix is an action/battle game for the Wii. Gravitronix was the first game created by Medaverse Studios, a game design firm located in Dover, New Hampshire. The game was released on Nintendo's online WiiWare service for 500 Wii Points...

.
Madagascar Kartz
Madagascar Kartz
Madagascar Kartz is a racing game based on DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar. It was released on October 27, 2009 and the second game on Madagascar's spin-off series. The game uses the Wii Wheel, despite the cover.- Gameplay :...

published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

.
Regnum Online
Regnum Online
Regnum Online is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NGD Studios, a game development studio located in Argentina. This game is also known as "Realms Online" in America...

by ngd Studios. An MMORPG which in its latest major update its physics engine was replaced by Bullet.
3D Mark 2011 by Futuremark
Futuremark
Futuremark Oy is a Finnish software development company, that produces computer benchmark applications for home users and businesses. Company headquarters and R&D department are located in Espoo, Finland...

.
Blood Drive
Blood Drive (video game)
Blood Drive is a vehicular combat video game for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, developed by Sidhe, published by Activision, and released worldwide in November 2010.-Plot:...

published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

.
Hydro Thunder Hurricane
Hydro Thunder Hurricane
Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a boat racing video game developed by Vector Unit and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox Live Arcade. The game was released on July 28, 2010 as part of Microsoft's Xbox Live Summer of Arcade promotion...

.

Movies

Several Hollywood movie studios are using Bullet rigid body simulation for special effects in commercial films. Movies using the Bullet engine include:

2012
2012 (film)
2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...

by Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Culver City, California, USA. SPI is a division of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, which oversees the digital production and online entertainment assets of Sony Pictures Entertainment.The company...

.
Hancock
Hancock (film)
Hancock is a 2008 American action-comedy superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars...

by Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. is a visual effects and character animation company headquartered in Culver City, California, USA. SPI is a division of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, which oversees the digital production and online entertainment assets of Sony Pictures Entertainment.The company...

.
Bolt by Walt Disney Animation Studios used Bullet in their Dynamica Maya plugin.
The A-Team
The A-Team (film)
The A-Team is an American action film based on the television series of the same name. It was released in cinemas in the United States on June 11, 2010, by 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Joe Carnahan and produced by Stephen J. Cannell and the Scott brothers Ridley and Tony...

by Weta Digital
Weta Digital
Weta Digital is a digital visual effects company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. In 2007 Weta Digital’s Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, was...
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)
Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 action-mystery film based on the character of the same name created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. The screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon...

by Framestore
Megamind and Shrek 4
Shrek Forever After
Shrek Forever After, taglined as The Final Chapter, is a 2010 animated fantasy-comedy film, and the fourth and final installment in the Shrek film series, produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film was released by Paramount Pictures in cinemas on May 20, 2010 in Russia, and on May 21 in the United...

by PDI
Pacific Data Images
Pacific Data Images is a computer animation production company that was bought by DreamWorks SKG. The company is now known as PDI/DreamWorks and is half of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., the public company formed by merging PDI and the feature animation division of DreamWorks.-History:PDI was...

/DreamWorks
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...

3D Authoring tools

Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...

-- A free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

3D production suite that uses Bullet physics for animations and its internal game engine Game Blender
Game Blender
The Blender Game Engine is a component of Blender, a free and open-source comprehensive 3D production suite, used for making real-time interactive content...

.
Carrara Pro
Carrara (software)
Carrara is a general purpose 3D figure posing, modeling, landscape design, rigid and soft-body dynamics, animation and rendering application. Carrara is now owned and developed by DAZ 3D...

added Bullet Physics in version 8 (only included in the Pro edition).
Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D
CINEMA 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application developed by MAXON Computer GmbH of Friedrichsdorf, Germany. It is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, rendering, and common features found in 3d modelling applications.- Overview:The...

version 11.5 uses Bullet as part of MoDynamics.
Houdini
Houdini (software)
Houdini is a high-end 3D animation package developed by Side Effects Software which is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It is a rewrite of the PRISMS ecosystem of standalone tools. Its chief distinction from other packages is that it has been designed as a purely procedural environment...

has integrated Bullet Physics into the Dynamics context of the upcoming version 12 release (in beta October 2011). Available as an open source plugin in previous versions.
LightWave 3D CORE.
Modo Recoil Allows users to simulate dynamic rigid body interactions based upon the popular Open Source Bullet Physics Library
MikuMikuDance
MikuMikuDance
, commonly abbreviated to MMD, is a freeware animation program that lets users animate and create 3D animation movies, originally produced for the movies of Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. The MikuMikuDance program itself was programmed by Yu Higuchi and has gone through significant upgrades since its...

a freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...

3D animation program, added the use of Bullet Physics Engine in version 5
Softimage plugin Momentum developed by Helge Mathee and distributed by Exocortex

Open source and other

GameKit a game engine with Bullet integration
OGRE
OGRE
OGRE is a scene-oriented, flexible 3D rendering engine written in C++ designed to make it easier and intuitive for developers to produce applications utilizing hardware-accelerated 3D graphics...

integration through the OgreBullet add-on.
Irrlicht Engine
Irrlicht Engine
Irrlicht is an open source 3D engine written in C++. It is cross-platform, officially running on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Windows CE and due to its open nature ports to other systems are available, including Xbox, PlayStation Portable, SymbianOS and iPhone.Irrlicht is known for its small size...

has several integrations with Bullet including the Bullet Physics Wrapper, irrBP and GameKit.
OpenSceneGraph
OpenSceneGraph
OpenSceneGraph is an open source 3D graphics application programming interface, used by application developers in fields such as visual simulation, computer games, virtual reality, scientific visualization and modeling....

through the osgBullet plugin.
Crystal Space
Crystal Space
Crystal Space is a framework for developing 3D applications written in C++ by Jorrit Tyberghein and others. The first public release was on August 26, 1997. It is typically used as a game engine but the framework is more general and can be used for any kind of 3D visualization. It is very...

-- Game engine supporting bullet for physics and switching to it as the main physics plugin.
Cafu Engine
Cafu Engine
The Cafu Engine is a game engine developed by Carsten Fuchs. It is portable across platforms and currently runs under Windows and Linux, with plans to be adapted to Mac OS...

-- for physics engine.
Physics Abstraction Layer
Physics Abstraction Layer
The Physics Abstraction Layer is an open source cross-platform physical simulation API abstraction system. It is similar to a physics engine wrapper, however it is far more flexible providing extended abilities...
C4 Engine
C4 Engine
The C4 Engine is a computer game engine developed by Terathon Software that is used to create 3D games and other types of interactive virtual simulations for Windows , Mac OS X , and PlayStation 3...

-- A proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

game engine developed by Terathon Software into which JamesH has integrated the Bullet physics engine.
jMonkeyEngine -- A game engine made in Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

.
Blitz3D integration through the BlitzBullet wrapper.

External links