As focus in modern computer games shifts from purely realistic rendering to a more realistic environment for the user, interactive physical simulation of a broad range of objects - demanding a believable appearance, rather than physical correctness - becomes increasingly important. Traditionally physically based simulation is done on the CPU, however the pace of innovation in graphics hardware is staggering and continues to outpace processor development. In addition, the programmable rendering pipeline makes graphics hardware capable of doing much more than simply rendering a scene. This book...