Real Particle, a particle engine design – prologue

I’ve always been fascinated with particles. Everything you see around you, everything you touch and even yourself is made out of a large number of very small particles – atoms. Atoms in turn are composed of even smaller particles, subatomic particles. Everything that happens around us is nothing else than a mixture of different particles interacting with each other by the laws of physics. You could thus simulate the entire universe with a true particle engine!

Although simulating the entire universe might take a while to do, I will start with a simpler design. The main goal is a particle engine that runs in real time, yet is as realistic as possible. I will start with a general particle which will then be extended to represent different phenomenas (smoke, fire, water/fluids and so on). Collision detection for all particles will enhance the realism (and I can’t imagine a useful particle engine without it). Everything will be done using C++. I’ve given some thought as to what graphical interface to use. I have moderate experience with OpenGL. However, since I’ll be doing everything from scratch, I’ve figured I might as well learn how to use the other side of the coin, DirectX. I’ve been interested in DirectX for quite some time, but never had the opportunity to use. Whole particle engine design will therefore be one giant tutorial, for you and me especially. I’ve never done particle engine before (except some very simple smoke effect) and I’ve never programmed as much as a single line with DirectX. A lot of fun ahead of us.

Denis