# Source: https://developer.nvidia.com/physx-sdk.md

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# NVIDIA PhysX  

Modeling digital twins of factories, cities, or entire worlds involves complex simulations that must accurately replicate the physical behavior of objects and systems, which are foundational in building [physical AI](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/glossary/generative-physical-ai/) for powering the next generation of autonomous systems.  
  
NVIDIA PhysX® is a powerful, open-source multi-physics SDK that provides scalable simulation and modeling capabilities for robotics and autonomous vehicle applications.

[Get PhysX in Omniverse  
](/omniverse &quot;Get PhysX in Omniverse&quot;)[Get PhysX Source on GitHub  
](https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/PhysX &quot;Get PhysX on GitHub&quot;)[Documentation  
](https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/extensions/latest/ext_physics.html#overview &quot;Documentation&quot;)

![NVIDIA PhysX SDK brings high-performance and accuracy to industrial simulation use cases](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/ov-physX-web-800x451.gif)

PhysX based simulation of robots screwing nuts onto bolts, in Omniverse.

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## Key Benefits of PhysX

### Open-Source

PhysX is fully open-source, enabling free use and sharing of your work with other developers, as well as contributing your innovative developments back to the community.

### Unified   

Model FEM soft body, cloth, particles, and fluid simulation with two-way coupled interactions under a unified solver framework.

### Scalable

Runs on various platforms, from mobile CPUs to high-end GPUs, with a GPU API supporting end-to-end  
reinforcement learning via NVIDIA Isaac™ Lab.

### Accurate

Enhanced simulation stability with robust collision detection, stacking, and joints, while also supporting momentum conservation and gyroscopic forces.

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## PhysX Features  

 

### Rigid Body Dynamics  

Analyze multi-body dynamics under external forces like gravity. PhysX offers scalable rigid-body simulation for CPU and GPU, with proven industry performance.

  ![PhysX Feature - Scene Query](https://d29g4g2dyqv443.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/akamai/nvidia-physx-scene-query.jpg)

### Scene Query  

Conduct spatial queries in simulated environments using the PhysX raycast, overlap, and sweep functions with customizable filtering.

 

### Joints  

Utilize a suite of common built-in joint types and support custom joints in PhysX through a flexible callback mechanism.

 

### Reduced Coordinate Articulations  

Reduced coordinate articulations provide a linear-time, guaranteed joint-error-free simulation of a tree of rigid bodies.

 

### Vehicle Dynamics  

Study the movement of multi-body interactions under external forces, such as gravity. PhysX provides industry-proven scalable rigid body simulation on both CPU and GPU.

 

### Character Controllers  

The kinematic character controller in PhysX permits an avatar to navigate a simulated world and supports both static and dynamically simulated bodies.

 

### Soft Body Dynamics  

Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation of soft bodies allows for accurate and efficient models of elastic deformable bodies.

 

### SDF Colliders  

A new Signed Distance Field based collision representation allows PhysX to simulate non-convex shapes like gears and cams without convex decomposition.

 

### Position-Based Dynamics  

Position-Based Dynamics provide a flexible framework for simulating a wide range of phenomena including liquids, granular materials, cloth, rigid bodies, deformable bodies, and more.

 

### Custom Geometry  

Utilize a wide range of built-in geometries and a flexible callback mechanism to allow custom geometry types into the simulation.

 

### Fracture &amp; Destruction  

Blast, available in PhysX, is a destruction and fracture library designed for performance, scalability, and flexibility.

 

### Smoke &amp; Fire  

Flow enables realistic combustible fluid, smoke, and fire simulations. Flow is part of the PhysX SDK.

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#### Newton, the Next-Generation Open-Source Physics Simulation Engine

Newton is an open-source, GPU-accelerated, and extensible physics engine, co-developed by Google DeepMind and Disney Research, and [managed by the Linux Foundation](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-contribution-of-newton-by-disney-research-google-deepmind-and-nvidia-to-accelerate-open-robot-learning). Built on NVIDIA Warp and OpenUSD, Newton is optimized for robotics and compatible with learning frameworks such as MuJoCo Playground or NVIDIA Isaac Lab. [Newton Beta](https://github.com/newton-physics) is now available to use.

[Get Started on Newton](/newton-physics)

![](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/isaac/newton-ari.jpg)

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## PhysX Implementation

| | CPUs | NVIDIA GPUs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Character Controllers | 

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| Custom Geometries | 

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| Fracture and Destruction - PhysX Blast | 

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| Joints | 

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| PBD (liquid/cloth/inflatable/shape matching) | | 

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| Reduced Coordinate Articulations | 

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| Rigid Body Dynamics | 

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| Scene Queries | 

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| Smoke and Fire - PhysX Flow | | 

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| Soft Body Dynamics (Finite Element Method) | | 

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| Vehicle Dynamics | 

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## See PhysX in Action  

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## PhysX News  

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## Resources

- 
[Read Documentation  
](https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/)
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[Access Training](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/training/online/?activetab=ctabs-5)

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[Connect on our Forums  
](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/c/omniverse/300/)
- 
[Join the NVIDIA Developer Program  
](/developer-program)

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## More Resources

 ![Decorative image representing Developer Newsletter](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/icons/m48-document-support-guide-2.svg)
### Read Documentation

 ![Decorative image representing Community](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/icons/m48-people-group.svg)
### Connect on Our Forums

 ![Decorative image representing Developer Newsletter](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/icons/m48-deep-learning-institute-talks-training-256px-blk.png)
### Access Training

 ![Decorative image representing Developer Program](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/icons/m48-developer-1.svg)
### Join the NVIDIA Developer Program

## PhysX in NVIDIA Omniverse  

PhysX is the primary physics engine of [NVIDIA Omniverse™](https://developer.nvidia.com/omniverse), a platform of APIs and SDKs for building complex 3D and industrial digitalization workflows based on [OpenUSD](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/omniverse/usd/). NVIDIA [Isaac Sim](https://developer.nvidia.com/isaac/sim)™ and [Isaac Lab](https://isaac-sim.github.io/IsaacLab/) are two robotics reference applications built on Omniverse, which enable developers to build physical AI to power next-generation robots. 

[Explore Omniverse](/omniverse)