Havok (software)

Havok Technology Suites

Developer(s)	Havok (Microsoft)
Stable release	2024.1[1] / 15 July 2024; 3 months ago (2024-07-15)
License	Proprietary
Website	www.havok.com

Havok is a middleware software suite developed by the Irish company Havok. Havok provides physics engine, navigation, and cloth simulation components that can be integrated into video game engines.

In 2007, Intel acquired Havok Inc.^[2] In 2008, Havok was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the development of physics engines in electronic entertainment. In 2015, Microsoft acquired Havok.^[3]

The Havok middleware suite consists of the following modules:

• Havok Physics:^[4] It is designed primarily for video games, and allows for real-time collision and dynamics of rigid bodies in three dimensions. It provides multiple types of dynamic constraints between rigid bodies (e.g. for ragdoll physics), and has a highly optimized collision detection library. By using dynamical simulation, Havok Physics allows for more realistic virtual worlds in games. The company was developing a specialized version of Havok Physics called Havok FX that made use of ATI and Nvidia GPUs for physics simulations,^[5] but the goal of GPU acceleration did not materialize until several years later.^[6]
• Havok Navigation:^[7] In 2009, Havok released Havok AI, which provides advanced pathfinding capabilities for games. Havok AI provides navigation mesh generation, pathfinding and path following for video game environments. In 2024, this product was renamed to Havok Navigation.^[8]
• Havok Cloth:^[9] Released in 2008, Havok Cloth deals with efficient simulation of character garments and soft body dynamics.
• Havok Destruction (discontinued): Also released in 2008, Havok Destruction provides tools for creation of destructible and deformable rigid body environments.
• Havok Animation Studio (discontinued): Havok Animation Studio is formally known as Havok Behavior and Havok Animation. Havok Behavior is a runtime SDK for controlling game character animation at a high level using finite state machines. Havok Animation provides efficient playback and compression of character animations in games, and features such as inverse kinematics.
• Havok Script (discontinued): Havok Script is a Lua-compatible virtual machine designed for video game development. It is shipped as part of the Havok Script Studio.
• Havok Vision Engine (discontinued): In 2011, Havok acquired German game engine development company Trinigy and their Vision Engine and toolset.^[10]

Version 1.0 of the Havok SDK was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2000. The Havok SDK is multi-platform by nature and is always updated to run on the majority of the latest platforms. Licensees are given access to most of the C/C++ source-code, giving them the freedom to customize the engine's features, or port it to different platforms although some libraries are only provided in binary format. In March 2011, Havok showed off a version of the Havok physics engine designed for use with the Sony Xperia Play, or more specifically, Android 2.3.^[11] During Microsoft's //BUILD/ 2012 conference, Havok unveiled a full technology suite for Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone 8 and later Windows 10.^[12]

As of February 2023, Havok supports 18 targets across 10 platforms.^[13] These platforms include: Windows, Linux, Xbox Series S/X, Playstation 5, iOS, Nintendo Switch and Android.

In 2019, Unity and Havok signed a partnership to build a complete physics solution for DOTS-based projects in Unity.^[14] This was completed and released as production ready in December 2022.^[15]

Havok maintains integrations^[16] for all of their products to Epic's Unreal Engine. Havok Physics can be used to replace the inbuilt physics engine (Chaos Physics) at an engine level, while Havok Navigation is a stand alone plugin, and Havok Cloth is a separate tool that works alongside the engine.

In April 2023, Babylon.js 6.0 was released with a physics implementation by Havok.^[17] This implementation was released as a WASM plugin and involved an overhaul of the Babylon.js Physics API.

The first game to use Havok Physics was London Racer^[18] by Davilex Games. In 2023, Havok products were used in twelve^[19] of the top twenty best selling video games in the United States.^[20]

Havok can also be found in:

• Futuremark's 3DMark2001 and 03 benchmarking tools
• a plug-in for Maya animation software
• Valve's Source game engine uses VPhysics, which is a physics engine modified from Havok^[21]
• Havok addons in 3D Studio Max

Havok supplies tools (the "Havok Content Tools") for export of assets for use with all Havok products from Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, and (formerly) Autodesk Softimage. Havok was also used in the virtual world Second Life, with all physics handled by its online simulator servers, rather than by the users' client computers. An upgrade to Havok version 4 was released in April 2008 and an upgrade to version 7 started in June 2010.^[22] Second Life resident Emilin Nakamori constructed a weight-driven, pendulum-regulated mechanical clock functioning entirely by Havok Physics in March 2019.^[23]