Chrome Physics Go Hollywood

Techland’s engine programming team has finished developing the real-time physics simulation of human bodies in Chrome. The system allows realistic body reactions with respect to all forces and collisions in the 3D shooter.

The approach in Chrome is based on human body physics developed by the creators of Hitman from Eidos Interactive. In Hitman, players could grab and drag a dead enemy. The system has been enhanced for Chrome with additional constraints in joints that work like muscles. These are unsettling effective at simulating the moment of death -- judging from video we have seen of two death animations in Chrome.

During the simulation various parts of a character’s body accurately collide with the environment, taking into account friction, gravity, explosions, wind and bullet hits. This enables the legs of a corpse lying on a table or barrier to swing in the air.

Once a character has been shot, the impact causes his body to react to the force of the bullet. The hit limb reacts first, then the rest of the body follows. When grenades or other explosives blow up close to a character, the force of the blow throws him in the opposite direction.

Examples of the uses of human body physics in Chrome are people falling down watchtowers once a grenade blows up at their feet and shot enemies falling down a steep hill. Snipers can also shoot an enemy down and watch him fall over a barrier. Players can even get into a car, speed up and hit an enemy soldier, watching him fly over the vehicle.

All of this allows spontaneous and unplanned stunts straight from Hollywood. Techland will release more information about Chrome soon.