A8 PhysiX doing Destruction of objects either real or fake...

Sweet, since he is planning on adding cloth etc.. physics, I'm assuming he is also going to be adding the destruction stuff, I mean, Here is what I'm looking for, on my current game project... I need a way to have buildings, light poles, trees etc.. take on damage, and show the damage, and with each hit / collision or maybe even shots, to start coming apart, like with a distortion type affect, like showing it dented or moved, then more, and more, until it finally either A.) crumbles to the ground, or be, just simply falls over, like a tree or pole, and for buildings etc.. when it hits the ground, having it come apart into multiple pieces, maybe I can achieve this affect with just changing the objects into multiple objects, which then throw gibs, and particle fx, like smoke, dust / fog type stuff..

If this can already be done, does anyone have an example showing something like this, maybe just with 1 building or object, as kind of an example of howto, then I can extend from there, and improve and add to the affect.

Thanks in advance..

StOrM

The physics engine is only a tool to reach your goal, but you have to plan how to use it well.
If you want a small ball like object to fly a ballistic path and split into 3 parts after it touches the ground the first time, you can use the physics engine to help you a bit.
You can add some dust particles if your object hits the ground and play a sound to make it more realistic.
If of of the 3 parts hits a wall, you can create some damage at the wall and again use some particle to simulate dust/dry paint to fall down.
If one of the 3 parts hits a tree, you would have other marks - the bark would be destroyed - no falling dry paint...

Now that you have the plan, you could try to get the result using different physics effects applied to different objects in different situations. and if it does not look impressive? Start to think about a way to fake it... You might think about a pre animated object, if there is no other way to get the effect you want.

I know that Unreal UDK uses a special tool to create "fractures" inside a block (wall, building, etc...), and using PhysX it automatically manage them.
I think it is a incredible features of most recent engines (Crytek, Unreal UDK, etc...).