Development log

List of changes:

• Easy user classes transfer from C++ part into UnigineScript via API.
• Serialization support by API.
• Improved constructors of universal variables in API.
• Basic math library in API.
• Calling world script functions from the system script.
• Calling system and world UnigineScript functions via API.
• Application samples:
  • simple engine initialization,
  • functions export from C++ part into UnigineScript,
  • classes export from C++ part into UnigineScript,
  • serialization,
  • integration into Qt application,
  • callbacks.
• Update of GLAppQtWindow.
• engine_config command line parameter.
• Maximal FOV of LightProj is increased to 180 degrees.
• Volume light precision fix.
• No more symbolic links in source packages.
• New SDK installation script.
• Documentation in CHM (compiled HTML) format.
• Updated reference manual.

Unigine reference manual and API documentation now are available in two formats: many HTML files and CHM (compiled HTML). CHM versions provide full-text search and are more convenient in use under Windows:

Recent changes:

• New logic of LOD switching.
• Arbitrary swizzlers in UnigineScript, allow using constructions like "v.xyz + v.zyw" and "m.m03m13m23".
• Changes in mipmaps generation logic.
• Easy splash screens.
• Small fix of work with OpenAL.
• GUI bugfixes.
• Fixed normalization bug with ATI x1xxx cards.
• Pointers to editor nodes restore automatically while restoring state.
• ATI performance counters in built-in profiler.
• "Intersection" and "collision" options in materials.
• Visualization of handlers for lights, sectors and so on.
• Partial collision detection.
• Physics serialization.

Don't forget to use upgrade.py within your "data" directory.

Some words about new LOD system: now there is "Parent" parameter in Nodes / Surfaces, which set number of levels in nodes hierarchy to parent node used for reference distance (-1 is for distance to the current surface).

Video driver issues are like a never-ending story: NVIDIA guys have finally accepted bug report regarding enormous performance drop with cubemap textures in OpenGL. AMD/ATI released pretty good linux driver at last, everything seems to work ok with it. We are happy that hardware vendors working on their drivers, but anyway we would like to see bug fixes faster.

By the way, Unigine Corp. is hiring: we are looking for a talented C++ developer who will work on Unigine tools.

Today we are eager to show you a lot of pictures, so let's start!

You can see our updated shiny GUI skin on the following screenshots from UnigineEditor. By the way, there is new big demo in the background (we are still in doubt, is this a small game or very very huge demo).

What's new:

• New numerical library for physics.
• Sparse matrices (smatX) required by physics module.
• Long vectors and matrices (vecX/matX).
• Sobel postprocess.
• Radial blur postprocess.
• Displaying of internal buffers size in profiler.
• "Variation" option for particles (mirroring and initial rotation).
• Visualization of seams and overlaps in ResourceEditor / Viewer.
• Fixed opening unicode filenames (Windows).
• Fixed crash on systems without OpenAL installed.
• Minor UnigineScript improvements.
• GUI refactoring.
• Default GUI skin update.
• Validators for EditLine widget.
• UnigineEditor improvements.
• Improved import/export plugins for 3DStudio and Maya.

Physics module goes well, it seems to be more advanced than v0.33 was. Our main concern was how to edit physical properties by UnigineEditor in convenient way, it seems that we've found a good solution.

Here is new look of nodes module in UnigineEditor:

Built-in materials editor, all options have baloon help to speed up learning:

ImageDialog with masks (each of the channels can be disabled):

Other tools have been improved also, UV seams visualization in ResourceEditor / Viewer:

UV overlapping visualization in ResourceEditor / Viewer, red regions marks overlaps (color intensity indicates number of overlaps):

Unigine postprocesses can be set very easily and can be mixed in any way one likes, for example: player.setMaterials("sanctuary_sobel,sanctuary_radial"). There are new beautiful ones, Sobel:

and radial blur:

We have more lovely screenshots, but there are enough pictures for today, see you next time.

Recent changes:

• Correct detection of NVIDIA G80 cards.
• Support of framebuffer multisample and blit extensions in OpenGL.
• Removed parallax_aspect parameter of mesh_base and mesh_detail_base materials, it's calculated automatically now.
• Dynamical world merging.
• Fix of layer animation blending.
• Refactored MathLib for physics needs.
• Automatic unwrapping of meshes in ResourceEditor / Viewer.
• Updated reference manual with convenient navigation.

Physics module is on the way, right now its math core is being refactored heavily.

Results of automatic unwrapping:

Packing algorithm should be improved a little, but it works good even now. This feature will be used for rapid PRT calculation, which requres unique UV mapping on second channel.

By the way, we've created a new character for the tutorial, Angel Girl (she will be in "Sanctuary" demo also):

Today is 31th of December, so this is the last entry in 2006.

Recent changes:

• Motion blur postprocess.
• Fade in / fade out effects.
• Procedural noise for volume fog.
• Unigine v0.3x legacy mesh format support.
• Small improvements of indoor/outdoor system.
• Scissors fix for new indoor system.
• Fixed clipborad support in X Window (Linux).
• Less artifacts with LiSPSM.
• Tangent space visualization in ResourceEditor / Viewer.
• Smoothing normals in ResourceEditor / Viewer.

Motion blur in action:

This year was filled with a lot of hard work and we are proud for the results: Unigine is becoming full-featured mature middleware with convenient tools and fast technical support. Thanks to our customers we have a lot of feedback, which helps making Unigine better. Achievements of 2006 will become public in 2007, we are preparing a lot of pleasant surprises, stay tuned. Happy New Year!