so basically the company (autodesk) creates this program, then runs it on a hyped up computer that is capable of running all of this in realtime (probably even if its not a supercomputer, its running something like several xeon cores and has no os, but is just a shell that can load this program) anything less would be able to run the program but would slow down the computer so much it would crash. also, this is proffesional grade software. none of us would really need it, due to the fact that we are gamers, the physics in pt is good enough for us to use, create and destroy whatever we want. for those of us that need to use 3d physics, and intense rendering, well they would most likely need it for a job, so their company would already have the software. the thought of pt having 3d capabilities is interesting, but most computers would not be able to run it anymore, so its not the best idea. anyways, pt's physics (at the 2d level) is so perfected that i dont think it can really get better. the only thing i notice is that objects dropped from a hight would normally bounce (rebound) off the ground due to kinetic/potential energy changes, but this does not happen in pt.
I just realized, this item is getting really off topic. the original topic was "old players" but now its more like "lets talk about pt's physics engine"

The technology was the AMD stream SDK using OpenCL, allowing you to use clients' GPU stream processors and CPU cores to run scalable applications (such as TPT) at extremely high speed. A 50 dollar graphics card could probably run TPT at 60fps with a 1080p sandbox size if coded with opencl, it's just a pain to code in (I gave up in the tutorials).

OpenCL is a framework that lets you run on any type of processor (CPU, GPU, or anything that crunches numbers). You can compile to run on whatever type you like without changes. The thing that was in development at the time is now released at AMD's official website

Good,question, so I wonder where their source for that is?

One request: By the time Computers are good enough to run complex 3d Simulations in real time, If powder toy still exists then, that it be made 3D. That would be simply glorious.

Im playing from the old version, only 18 elements :( and a very very small windonw

@Alpha-Destructor (View Post)
Please don't necro unless you have an issue related to the topic.
I like playing the old version... faster.

Not many people know this, but I actually used to play the old PT. Offline, though. I didn't know there was an online feature until after the server shut down! :(
Sometimes I feel like playing it again. Does anyone still have it for Mac? Was it even available for Mac then?

http://www.geeks3d.com/20091109/download-the-powder-toy-physics-game/
there youcan download very old powdertoy.