Development Log | Unigine (3D engine for games and real-time virtual worlds)

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2009-07-07

Improved volumetric clouds

Recent changes:

New volumetric clouds, updated ObjectSky.
Added Camera object (PlayerDummy node) in UnigineEditor.
Some renaming in the materials: scattering -> post_scattering, polygon_offset -> offset, priority -> order (don't forget to run upgrade.py script).
Render performance improvements.
Added post_deffered flag for the transparent objects (objects with this flag will be rendered into the deffered buffer after rendering into the color buffer), that is useful for water surfaces.
WidgetSpriteObject is renamed to WidgetSpriteNode and can render the full hierarchy of the node.
Skinned meshes can be rendered using DirectX 10 stream out feature or OpenGL EXT_transform_feedback extension.
New type of the particles emitter: shift (particles are generated only if the emitter is moving), that can be used for fake water interaction effect or rocket traces.
Reduced memory consumption by UnigineScript interpreter.
Minor improvements of UnigineEditor.
Correct detection of NVIDIA GTS cards.
Vegetation animation can be turned off in material settings (less complex shader will be used).
Fine tuning of volumetric materials' attenuation.
Support of GL_ARB_texture_rg (optional) and GL_EXT_texture_swizzle (required) extensions.
Removed support of L and LA image formats (R and RG are used instead).
Xinerama support (Linux users now can use multi-GPU and multi-screen configurations).
Added new UpSample material option for transparent objects that reduces their rendering buffer resolution, thus providing performance boost.
Updated Qt integration sample (now it's compatible with Qt 4).
Added samples of image manipulations via C++ API.
Updated documentation: "Console", "Tools / ResourceEditor", "Tools / Plugins for 3D Editors", added info on PSSM into "Technologies Overview / Shadows", added "Programming / Scripts / Input System" article.

There are three surfaces in ObjectSky object now:

"sphere" provides correct interaction of clouds and sky (clouds can be darker than the sky),
"clouds" is a new surface for volumetric cumulonimbus clouds (they are simulated by a physically-correct algorithm),
"shadow" (without changes).

PS: Here is the next step forward we promised recently: Unigine Joins PLAYSTATION®3 Tools and Middleware Program.