The evolution of PhysX (5/12) - Rigid bodies (compounds)
We have been using simple shapes so far but many game objects are actually compounds, made of multiple sub-shapes. Let’s investigate stacks & piles for these.
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The first scene (“StackOfSmallCompounds”) is as follows:
For the first time, we see a small regression between 2.8.4 and 3.2, but it only happens for the first part of the curve. After that, 3.2 takes over and becomes faster than 2.8.4, as it should be. Overall each PhysX version is faster than the one before, but not by much.
Bullet is again up to 2X slower than 3.3. Not much to say about that one.
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The second scene (“PileOfSmallCompounds”) is much more surprising.
3.2 is now clearly slower than 2.8.4. That’s the first clear regression seen in these tests so far. It’s not a lot slower, but the graph is very clear, and it is wrong. Luckily things seem to have been fixed between 3.2 and 3.3, which became faster again. If we except this 3.2 anomaly, all PhysX versions are pretty similar here.
Now Bullet on the other hand is a mystery. It really doesn’t like this scene, and overall it is about 3X slower than PhysX. No idea why. This one is a bit surprising.