The case for integrated, native physics in the Flash Runtime

• When talking about physics, are you interested in a 2D or 3D physics engine?

3D

• Can you list native engines that demonstrate the features you want the Flash runtime to implement natively?

PhysX,Bullet

• For instance, if you're interested in Box2D functionality, have you tried http://www.box2dflash.org?

I have tried Away3D-Physics.

• Is there a huge performance gap between the native and ActionScript implementations of Box2D?

Huge performance gap Indeed.

• Are you looking for solutions for desktop or mobile?

Yes.

    I think everybody will be really shocked if Adobe Flash Player/Air runtime contain 3D Physics Engine.More shocked than Stage3D. Stage3D

  is really what we expected Flash should contain.However,3D Physics Engine will be a big big surprise! When I  developped some Information System using Flash,I

Only need Flex.For Information System,Stage3D was more than enough.However when I developped some 3D game,Stage3D is not enough,I have to write my own collision detect and some movement code.I can not rely on Away3d-Physcis and Ane-Bullet.They have been there for over 1 year without any update.The Game world

is running.I am considering using Unreal Engine 4 for better 3D game.But,I really hope Adobe Flash will carry 3D Physics Engine.You can now just give a roadmap,or just a lab project,that will shock everybody!I give you promise that if Adobe do that,I will totally give up Unreal Engine.

Chris, Thank you guys for still taking care of the Flash community by constantly improving the technology.

But I think the most fundamental issue here is, what's in it for Adobe? To my knowledge, most Flash game developers do not use or even need Flash Professional. Everything is there for free to make a game without paying Adobe a cent while enjoying the latest runtime on the latest devices.

How long can this model work? and how long will you still be adding new exciting features and support to keep Flash alive?

This really puzzles me, to me, sometimes it feels like Adobe is just taking care of the community before the whole thing fades out. And another-time, like this time, it feels like Flash is having a promising future. And this just makes me look for other technologies and back again for many times. The Flash API is great for interactivity and its network capabilities are second to none, even with P2P and video audio streaming, not to mention Stage3D getting better and better, plus countless great 3rd party APIs, consistent output to all the devices the runtime runs on, Flash really is still a real contender for making complex interactive contents. HTML5 is still no where near it (responsiveness, yes, level of interactive complexity, no), and it will only progress very slowly with standards fighting over standards.

Adobe please figure out a way to make money out of Flash, and seriously, people, Flash just needs money to stay alive.

When Adobe asked for money for premium features, all of the Flash "supporters” cursed it, and somehow I think that's when we actually ended Flash's future.

Give it another try to make money from the runtime, or maybe form a new code centered game IDE, if no one supports the idea just like before, so be it, just kill Flash. You don't really need to support it like you do now. It's the community who betrayed Flash, not you. Let's all embrace the free-but-slow-progressing-and-disgusting-to-code-for HTML5.

That's all for now, I am off to enjoy make some stuff with the latest feature for free.

p.s. When I say Flash here, it means Actionscript and the runtime, not the Flash Adobe is currently pushing, I think you all know.

HI,

Would love to have something very close to Napephys with both 2D & 3D capabilities, for both desktop and mobile.

Thanks

Hi,

Just for note, check out LiquidFun which is built by Google as an extended Box2D with particle physics:

https://google.github.io/liquidfun/

My CrossBridge built fork:

vpmedia/liquidfun · GitHub

Testbed SWF:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1375050/TestBed.swf

SWC:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1375050/LiquidFun.swc

--

Anyway i would vote to NVidia PhysX if something gets integrated rather than some simplier stuff like Box2D or LF.

Hello Chris,

An integrated physics engine would be a great addition. However, many applications built in Adobe Air are not games, but rather tools. I think an improvement in runtime, it would be a better resource, as would affect all other fields.

We already know that Adobe dropped the idea of ActionScript 4, then the power of change is in the hands of his team, which has direct access to the runtime. I have applications that use Starling / Feathers, and they work well, but it is visible that are not native apps. Even a transition between screens, depending on the device, it becomes ugly. Anyway, you are doing a great job, and I believe it will be better. His concern and direct communication with developers is encouraging. Shows that Adobe is worried about its developers and they are important. Thank you.

Hi,

- I think that flash future is in gaming & so an integrated physics lib like Nvidia Physx is a must.

- For 2D there are many solution already with great performance, but when it comes to 3D, preformance is a huge problem.

- Ane open source project has to be left to the community so that the adobe team effort can be focused on things that the community cant possibly do like the integrated physics.

- Saying that the current most games are 2D is in reality because creating a physics based 3D game is just a big of a pain because of the lack of a good solution. Having an integrated 3D physics will make flash a viable option for online hardcore 3D gaming.

Regards

Hi Chris,

I see little point to native physics as an integrated library. Bullet Physics is already available as both an ANE and a compiled SWC, in fact, I just integrated Bullet with Zest3D and it was able to be compiled with Crossbridge. Whilst the performance can be slightly better, this would cause a fixed API and physics engines are very much a decision that is granularly based on the level of accuracy that you need and the dimensionality of the physics world-space. A better option might be to expose a hardware physics API that allows access to the PhysX GPU along with a fallback.

Probably important to note that those aren't too great either, the overhead talking to the FlasCC compiled SWC actually slows things down so the GPU case is definitely a better option, Zest3D has physics integrations that performs more like this on mobile and running in pure AS3:

• Zest3D Physics Galaxy Tab 10.1 - YouTube

Personally I think that, at this time, there is much more win factor from spending the development time on any of the following:

• Direct OpenGL|ES2 context access with GLSL shaders
• Crossbridge update (This is essential to the future of FlashPlayer IMHO)
• PhysX GPU API
• AS4 and/or compiler updates @see Haxe performance
• AMD Mantle/MTL support (hidden from developer or profile parameter)

Regards

Gary Paluk

http://www.plugin.io

• When talking about physics, are you interested in a 2D or 3D physics engine?

3D physics only.

• Are you looking for solutions for desktop or mobile?

Currently, desktop.

I would vote 2D and to have an implementation of Nape personally. I've used both B2D and Nape and find Nape much easier to use - plus it's loads faster than B2D.

I am sure you know that Apple went for built-in 2D engine by now: http://www.bytearray.org/?p=5314