Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

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bhouston
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Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by bhouston » 09 Mar 2011, 23:34

ImageImage

Exocortex Technologies, in collaboration with Helge Mathee, is pleased to announce that Momentum 2.0, the ultimate high speed multiphysics simulator, is now immediately available for Autodesk Softimage 2010, 2011 and 2012. Single user licenses are available for the low price of $149, or give the demo version a try first.



Robust Multiphysics Support

Exocortex Momentum 2.0, which is built upon the Bullet open source multiphysics library, provides support for the following physical phenomena and their interactions:
  • Rigid Bodies.
  • Soft Bodies.
  • Cloth.
  • Ropes.
  • RBD Constraints
  • Softbody Constraints
  • Interactions.
  • Plasticity.
  • Deforming RBD.
  • Built-In plotting.
  • Collision Filtering.
  • RBD Clustering.
  • Attachments.
Real-Time Results

Exocortex Momentum 2.0 has been designed from the ground up to provide real-time results while maintaining artist flexibility, control and simulation robustness. We did this because we know that artists' time is valuable and no one has the time to wait around for days for a simulation result.

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Deep Softimage Integration

Helge Mathee, a widely respected veteran Softimage software developer, has lead the design, development and testing of Exocortex Momentum 2.0. The end result of Helge's commitment to the product has been a deep integration into Softimage with a strong focus on extensibility, usability as well as robustness.
Exocortex Momentum 2.0 is primarily accessed via a friendly toolbar, but it also provides ICE integration. Additionally, all simulations can be plotted for later non-simulation playback.

Overview of Sample Scenes

Here is a quick preview of Helge Mathee's tutorial scenes available with Exocortex Momentum 2.0:



To get more details, visit the Exocortex Momentum 2.0 product page.

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Tekano
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Tekano » 10 Mar 2011, 01:59

Woah, this is fantastic news, just been reading some info on Bullet, and seeing this post http://www.bulletphysics.org/Bullet/php ... =18&t=3625

what version of Bullet is currently supported in momentum 2? how easy is it to update bullet versions - seems they are very active :) also will Momentum support GPU for simulation? and GPU SPH simulation mentioned in that beta...!! this is seriously insane news if we can leverage GPU acceleration inside of Softimage via Bullet & Momentum for stuff like SPH and many collisions... Am I right in assuming that a decent New Nvidia card GPU would be way faster than CPU for this stuff?

:-bd
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bhouston
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by bhouston » 10 Mar 2011, 02:27

Tekano wrote:what version of Bullet is currently supported in momentum 2?
Version 2.76 to be specific.
Tekano wrote:how easy is it to update bullet versions - seems they are very active :)
Some updates are relatively easy others involve architecture changes that require more work to integrate.
Tekano wrote:also will Momentum support GPU for simulation? and GPU SPH simulation mentioned in that beta...!!
The SPH stuff isn't yet really integrated into the Bullet framework, it is separate and more of a preview/toy at this point. Momentum will support GPU simulation via Bullet in the future -- its already in our plans. :-)
Tekano wrote:This is seriously insane news if we can leverage GPU acceleration inside of Softimage via Bullet & Momentum for stuff like SPH and many collisions... Am I right in assuming that a decent New Nvidia card GPU would be way faster than CPU for this stuff?
It is true that once Bullet is formally GPU accelerated, a new NVIDIA or AMD/ATI will be vastly superior in performance to a multicore CPU -- at least if Bullet does its GPU acceleration right. :-)

It isn't very clear how much SPH support Bullet will have in future versions at this point -- so that is more of an unknown, but GPU acceleration is expected in Bullet 3.0 for rigid bodies dynamics at least and probably for cloth and soft bodies as well.

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Hirazi Blue » 10 Mar 2011, 09:23

First up: This has been posted here already: Momentum 2.
Secondly: Could you perhaps elaborate a little on how this is being licensed?
(especially if/how it's possible to license it on a offline computer)
Thirdly: What are the demo limitations?
:-\
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

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bhouston
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by bhouston » 10 Mar 2011, 12:24

Hirazi Blue wrote:First up: This has been posted here already: Momentum 2.
Sorry about that. I was told that it was best to make a formal posting for the announcement.
Hirazi Blue wrote:Secondly: Could you perhaps elaborate a little on how this is being licensed?
(especially if/how it's possible to license it on a offline computer)
Yes it supports two mehods of offline licensing. Either you can temporarily connect it to the internet for just the activation (which is easiest), or you can send me your mac address via email and I'll send back a license file you can manually install. Does that meet you needs?
Hirazi Blue wrote:Thirdly: What are the demo limitations? :-\
The demo limits the functionality much like the em* demos. Thus you are limited in the total number of soft bodies and rigid bodies and you can only simulate for 175 frames before it stops functioning. This does allow you to get a sense of the results.

We have priced this plugin the lowest we have ever priced a plugin, thus I do think it is quite accessible and also it does provide a lot of value for the cost. :-)

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dbachmann
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by dbachmann » 11 Mar 2011, 02:20

Hi, I want to export pointcloud rigid body simulations with instanced geometry from softimage to maya. I tried the point cache manager with ice, i tried eporting fbx, i tried the maya live connection but nothing seems to respect my instanced geometry.

Does momentum 2's plotting functions allow us to simulate for example a debris rigid body simulation with multiple instanced geometry so that after plotting we can export the data including the geometry to maya/3ds max using fbx?

Thank you,
Dan

amincgi
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by amincgi » 11 Mar 2011, 08:30

Does not allow me to download Trial Momentum 2.0 ???? :(

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Rork
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Rork » 11 Mar 2011, 11:23

Dan,

I think you can do all that outside M-2 already with the "send to" options in all 2012 versions of SI, Maya and MAX.
Also FBX export is already there with multiple options, so that shouldn't be an issue.
SI UI tutorials: Toolbar http://goo.gl/iYOL0l | Custom Layout http://goo.gl/6iP5xQ | RenderManager View http://goo.gl/b4ZkjQ
So long, and thanks for all the Fish!!

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Hirazi Blue » 11 Mar 2011, 11:34

Looking at the manual of the demo for the first time I noticed the following:
Momentum 2.0 is a physics add-on for Autodesk Softimage. It is based on the (LGPL licensed) Bullet Physics library
while all the info I could dig up on the Bullet Physics Library clearly states
Bullet is a Collision Detection and Rigid Body Dynamics Library. The Library is Open Source and free for commercial use, under the ZLib license.
(my highlights in both cases)
Doesn't mean much for all practical intents and purposes,
but it might be seen as a misrepresentation of the Bullet Physics Library.
Maybe you should/could fix that???
;)
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

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bhouston
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Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by bhouston » 11 Mar 2011, 12:22

Hirazi Blue wrote:Looking at the manual of the demo for the first time I noticed the following:
Momentum 2.0 is a physics add-on for Autodesk Softimage. It is based on the (LGPL licensed) Bullet Physics library
Nice catch. We did place the official bullet license on our legal notices page for Momentum. You can find that here:

http://exocortex.com/Documentation/Mome ... al_Notices

I don't state that this is the zlib license, but rather it is the licence from Bullet word for word.
Hirazi Blue wrote:while all the info I could dig up on the Bullet Physics Library clearly states
Bullet is a Collision Detection and Rigid Body Dynamics Library. The Library is Open Source and free for commercial use, under the ZLib license.
(my highlights in both cases)
Doesn't mean much for all practical intents and purposes,
but it might be seen as a misrepresentation of the Bullet Physics Library.
Maybe you should/could fix that???
;)
Thanks for pointing this out. It is good to be consistent.

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dbachmann
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by dbachmann » 17 Mar 2011, 13:02

Rork wrote:Dan,

I think you can do all that outside M-2 already with the "send to" options in all 2012 versions of SI, Maya and MAX.
Also FBX export is already there with multiple options, so that shouldn't be an issue.
This is what I have tought but in reality the "send to" options only work with points (When dealing with particle clouds) and not multiple instanced geometry, no matter if the to be instanced geometry is created in maya or in softimage.

The FBX and NCache/XML Cache-Export way also does not work. When importing the cache back to maya, maya is only instancing the first instance object to the whole cloud without knowing the "point"<->"instance geometry" relationship. It is not possible to export own options like a "Point ID"<->"instance geometry" from softimage via FBX/NCache/Send To Maya. This is a limitation of the Maya-Softimage interoperability, here a quote from the softimage helpfile:
If the ICE particle cloud uses multiple shapes, the shape of the first particle is used for all particles in Maya.

If you want to use scene objects as instanced shapes, you need to instance the geometry in Maya after sending the effect back from Softimage.
I am actualy working on R&D for a garbage/debris particle system and want to use ICE for the whole particle sim using multiple instanced geometry and export all the debris back to Maya.

It is because of that and because of the solid looking momentum 2 I asked about the export functionality of Instanced multiple geometry. Maybe Exocortex could shine a light on that. please excuse me if my question is described unclear, just ask back and I try to explain further ;)

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Hirazi Blue » 17 Mar 2011, 13:43

Just a thought: Maybe it's time to leave this announcement thread in favor of a dedicated board (ICE or Simulation?) for the more technical aspects of the product?
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

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Hirazi Blue
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Hirazi Blue » 19 Mar 2011, 12:14

Okay, I've finally gotten round installing and licensing the demo
(with some much appreciated help from Ben Houston/Exocortex :-bd ).
Might be interesting to note, however, as this was my personal little "gotcha",
that deinstalling the studioNest Momentum addon is a requirement
for successfully installing the Exocortex Momentum addon.
Now I'm off colliding stuff... ;)
Stay safe, sane & healthy!

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bhouston
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by bhouston » 19 Mar 2011, 18:22

dbachmann wrote:This is what I have tought but in reality the "send to" options only work with points (When dealing with particle clouds) and not multiple instanced geometry, no matter if the to be instanced geometry is created in maya or in softimage.

The FBX and NCache/XML Cache-Export way also does not work. When importing the cache back to maya, maya is only instancing the first instance object to the whole cloud without knowing the "point"<->"instance geometry" relationship. It is not possible to export own options like a "Point ID"<->"instance geometry" from softimage via FBX/NCache/Send To Maya. This is a limitation of the Maya-Softimage interoperability, here a quote from the softimage helpfile:
If the ICE particle cloud uses multiple shapes, the shape of the first particle is used for all particles in Maya.

If you want to use scene objects as instanced shapes, you need to instance the geometry in Maya after sending the effect back from Softimage.
I am actualy working on R&D for a garbage/debris particle system and want to use ICE for the whole particle sim using multiple instanced geometry and export all the debris back to Maya.

It is because of that and because of the solid looking momentum 2 I asked about the export functionality of Instanced multiple geometry. Maybe Exocortex could shine a light on that. please excuse me if my question is described unclear, just ask back and I try to explain further ;)
It may be useful to ask this question on the Softimage mailing list. Following the instructions here to sign up:

http://groups.google.com/group/xsi_list

I can imagine a custom exporter being written that saves out all the instances as full geometry, but that would take up a lot of space on disk and it wouldn't be very fast, but if there is no other solution that would technically work. Such an exporter isn't that hard to write.

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Maximus
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by Maximus » 14 Apr 2011, 00:10

hm i didnt have a chance to try momentum 2 so maybe my issue is related to the old free version, basically...
how you can have motion blur with momentum?
i've made a fairly simple animation and the motion blur doesnt pop up, is there some particular trick?

thanks

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bhouston
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Re: Exocortex Momentum 2.0: real-time multiphysics simulator

Post by bhouston » 14 Apr 2011, 01:56

Maximus wrote:hm i didnt have a chance to try momentum 2 so maybe my issue is related to the old free version, basically...
how you can have motion blur with momentum?
i've made a fairly simple animation and the motion blur doesnt pop up, is there some particular trick?
thanks
Motion blur does work with Momentum if you set up your render settings correctly. You can notice a lot of motion blur in the trailer for momentum here:

http://vimeo.com/20760525

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