Havok (software) explained

Havok Technology Suites
Developer:	Havok (Microsoft)
Latest Release Version:	2024.1^[1]
License:	Proprietary

Havok is a middleware software suite developed by the Irish company Havok. Havok provides physics engine, navigation, and cloth simulation components that can be integrated into existing video game engines.

In September 2007, Intel announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Havok Inc.^[2] In 2008, Havok was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the development of physics engines in electronic entertainment. In October 2015, Microsoft announced it had acquired Havok.^[3]

Products

The Havok middleware suite consists of the following modules:

• Havok Physics:^[4] It is designed primarily for video games, and allows for real-time collision and dynamics of rigid bodies in three dimensions. It provides multiple types of dynamic constraints between rigid bodies (e.g. for ragdoll physics), and has a highly optimized collision detection library. By using dynamical simulation, Havok Physics allows for more realistic virtual worlds in games. The company was developing a specialized version of Havok Physics called Havok FX that made use of ATI and Nvidia GPUs for physics simulations;^[5] however, the goal of GPU acceleration did not materialize until several years later.^[6]
• Havok Navigation:^[7] In 2009, Havok released Havok AI, which provides advanced pathfinding capabilities for games. Havok AI provides navigation mesh generation, pathfinding and path following for video game environments. In 2024, this product was renamed to Havok Navigation^[8] .
• Havok Cloth:^[9] Released in 2008, Havok Cloth deals with efficient simulation of character garments and soft body dynamics.
• Havok Destruction (discontinued): Also released in 2008, Havok Destruction provides tools for creation of destructible and deformable rigid body environments.
• Havok Animation Studio (discontinued): Havok Animation Studio is formally known as Havok Behavior and Havok Animation. Havok Behavior is a runtime SDK for controlling game character animation at a high level using finite state machines. Havok Animation provides efficient playback and compression of character animations in games, and features such as inverse kinematics.
• Havok Script (discontinued): Havok Script is a Lua-compatible virtual machine designed for video game development. It is shipped as part of the Havok Script Studio.
• Havok Vision Engine (discontinued): On August 8, 2011, Havok announced their acquisition of German game engine development company Trinigy and their Vision Engine and toolset.^[10]

Supported Platforms

Version 1.0 of the Havok SDK was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2000. The Havok SDK is multi-platform by nature and is always updated to run on the majority of the latest platforms.Licensees are given access to most of the C/C++ source-code, giving them the freedom to customize the engine's features, or port it to different platforms although some libraries are only provided in binary format. In March 2011, Havok showed off a version of the Havok physics engine designed for use with the Sony Xperia Play, or more specifically, Android 2.3.^[11] During Microsoft's //BUILD/ 2012 conference, Havok unveiled a full technology suite for Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone 8 and later Windows 10.^[12]

As of February 2023, Havok supports 18 targets across 10 platforms.^[13] These platforms include: Windows, Linux, Xbox Series S/X, Playstation 5, iOS, Nintendo Switch and Android.

Prebuilt Engines

Unity

In 2019, at GDC, Unity and Havok announced a partnership to build a complete physics solution for DOTS-based projects in Unity^[14] . This was completed and released as production ready in December 2022^[15] .

Unreal Engine

Havok maintains integrations^[16] for all of their products to Epics Unreal Engine. Havok Physics can be used to replace the inbuilt physics engine (Chaos Physics) at an engine level, while Havok Navigation is a stand alone plugin, and Havok Cloth is a separate tool that works alongside the engine.

Babylon.js

In April 2023, Babylon.js 6.0 was released with a physics implementation by Havok^[17] . This implementation was released as a WASM plugin and involved an overhaul of the Babylon.js Physics API.

Usage

Video Games

The first game to use Havok Physics was London Racer^[18] by Davilex Games. In 2023, Havok products were used in twelve^[19] of the top twenty best selling video games in the United States^[20] .

Other software

Havok can also be found in:

• Futuremark's 3DMark2001 and 03 benchmarking tools
• a plug-in for Maya animation software
• Valve's Source game engine uses VPhysics, which is a physics engine modified from Havok^[21]
• Havok addons in 3D Studio Max

Havok supplies tools (the "Havok Content Tools") for export of assets for use with all Havok products from Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, and (formerly) Autodesk Softimage. Havok was also used in the virtual world Second Life, with all physics handled by its online simulator servers, rather than by the users' client computers. An upgrade to Havok version 4 was released in April 2008 and an upgrade to version 7 started June, 2010.^[22] Second Life resident Emilin Nakamori constructed a weight-driven, pendulum-regulated mechanical clock functioning entirely by Havok Physics in March 2019.^[23]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Havok 2024.1 released . havok.com . 15 July 2024.
2. Intel To Acquire Havok . Intel Corporation . 2007-09-14 . Santa Clara.
3. Web site: Havok to join Microsoft - The Official Microsoft Blog . 2015-10-02 . 2022-12-28.
4. Web site: Havok Physics . Havok.
5. Web site: Havok Intros Havok FX Engine to Compute Physics Effects on GPUs. 2005. Anton. Shilov. Xbit Laboratories. 2008-11-28. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081205092623/http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20051028224421.html. 2008-12-05.
6. Web site: Havok Physics Playstation 4 Demo. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/v1hoVCZZOd0 . 2021-12-21 . live. 2013. havokchannel. 2013-02-20.
7. Web site: Havok Navigation . Havok.
8. Web site: 2024-04-01 . We've renamed Havok AI to Havok Navigation .
9. Web site: Havok Cloth . Havok.
10. Web site: Havok Announces Acquisition of Trinigy . 2011-08-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111005045148/http://www.trinigy.net/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=items&id=423:havok-announces-acquisition-of-trinigy . 2011-10-05 . 2011-08-08 . dead.
11. Web site: Havok physics engine comes to Android 2.3, demoed on Xperia Play. 2011. Engadget . Engadget. 2011-03-05.
12. Havok to Showcase Full Technology Suite for Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 at Microsoft's Build 2012 . Business Wire . . . 2012-10-30.
13. Web site: 2024-02-13 . Havok 2023.2 is now available .
14. Web site: 2019-04-08 . Announcing Unity and Havok Physics for DOTS Unity at GDC 2019 Keynote .
15. Web site: 2022-12-19 . Havok Physics for Unity is now supported for production .
16. Web site: 2024-05-08 . Havok for Unreal Engine 5.4 is out! .
17. Web site: 2023-04-20 . Announcing Babylon.js 6.0 .
18. Web site: 2014-12-16 . The History of Havok: an infographic .
19. Web site: Havok- powered games .
20. Web site: 2024-01-29 . Best-selling video games in the United States in 2023, by dollar sales .
21. Web site: VPhysics. Valve Developer Community. 2022-12-28.
22. Web site: Release Notes/Second Life Server/1.40. 27 January 2011 . secondlife.com. 2022-12-28.
23. Web site: Watch: A Second Life Clock That Runs Entirely on Virtual World Physics.