Physics integrations in Unity

Unity helps you simulate physics in your Project to ensure that the objects correctly accelerate and respond to collisionsA collision occurs when the physics engine detects that the colliders of two GameObjects make contact or overlap, when at least one has a Rigidbody component and is in motion. More info
See in Glossary, gravity, and various other forces. Unity provides different physics system implementations which you can use according to your project needs: 3D, 2D, object-oriented, or data-oriented.

You can create some basic physics interactions with the user interface, but for more control over the simulation, you need some familiarity with C#. To develop your C# skills, refer to the Unity Learn Junior Programmer course.

Built-in physics systems for object-oriented projects

If your project is object-oriented, use the Unity’s built-in physics system that corresponds to your needs:

• Built-in 3D physics: Uses an integration of the Nvidia PhysX engine by default.
• Built-in 2D physics: Uses an integration of Box2D physics engineA system that simulates aspects of physical systems so that objects can accelerate correctly and be affected by collisions, gravity and other forces. More info
  See in Glossary by default.

Physics engine packages for data-oriented projects

If your project uses Unity’s Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS), you need to install a dedicated DOTS physics package. The available packages are:

• Unity Physics package: the DOTS physics engine you need to install by default to simulate physics in any data-oriented project.
• Havok Physics for Unity package: an implementation of the Havok physics engine for Unity, to use as an extension of the Unity Physics package. Note that this package is subject to a specific licensing scheme.

Additional resources

• Physics
• Physics project settings
• 2D physics
• Built-in 3D physics
• Unity Physics package
• Havok Physics for Unity package