• HUGE performance optimization of UnigineScript (especially effective for user-defined classes).
• Safe multi-threaded update of all nodes.
• Fixed ATI alpha to coverage under Direct3D9.
• Fixed seeking on broken WAV files.
• Added volume_shaft_base material for volumetric light shafts.
• Occlusion is available in additional viewports.
• Optimized rendering of meshes in non-instanced mode.
• Extensive optimization of math library.
• Added support of 'Ctrl + x' shortcut for WidgetEditLine and WidgetEditText.
• Fullscreen mode is now set on a more preferable device in multi-monitor configurations (according to the resolution).
• Fixed problem with swapped mouse buttons in the left-handed mode.
• Added is_base_class() UnigineScript function.
• ResourceEditor can open a specific tool depending on command line options (-mesh_viewer / -terrain_editor / -normal_combiner / -normal_mapper / -ambient_mapper).
• Call of system() function doesn't create an additional console window.
• Added system mouse support in runtime: set USER_MOUSE define in data/core/scripts/system.h file.
• Updated documentation on UnigineScript library.
• Added tutorial on water (see "Tutorials" section in the reference manual).
• New terrain system is on its way.
• Fixed SDK installer.

Volumetric light shafts:

PlayStation 3 port news:

• Skinning on SPU.
• SPU-based polygon culling of meshes, skinned meshes and particles.
• Fixed bugs with insufficient precision of volumetric fog.

Here is a couple of screenshots from our unannounced PC/PS3 strategy game, which is currently at the production stage:


Right now we are balancing game mechanics and adding last left units into the game, so the end of the production stage is coming very close. The official announce and more info will be available later this month.

• Native support of NVIDIA 3D Vision technology.
• Wireframe and GUI are rendered for both eyes in stereo mode.
• Simplified work with stereo 3D: include core/scripts/stereo.h and set one of the following defines: STEREO_SEPARATE, STEREO_3D_VISION, STEREO_IZ3D, STEREO_ANAGLYPH.
• Added 'color' base property type.
• Fixed rendering time can be set using engine.game.setFTime() function (be aware that game.setIFps() and game.setFTime don't have approriate get*() functions since game.getIFps() and game.getFTime() return the current frame values scaled by game.getScale()).
• Performance boost of scene management.
• Default far clipping plane distance for players is changed to 10000.0.
• Added surface map generation in NormalMapper.
• Added 'clear'/'reload' buttons for all tools in ResourceEditor.
• Fixed missing tessellation textures in UnigineEditor.
• Added two more tutorials (see "Tutorials" section in the reference manual):
  • Adding Scripts to the Project.
  • Adding Sun, Sky and Clouds.
• Included the full content of Heaven benchmark into all SDK versions.
• Introduced 'Tools Pack' installer (it contains only tools, plugins and documentation).
• New NSIS-based installers for both binary and source SDKs (Windows versions only).

Tools pack is intended to be used by artists who don't need the full SDK access. New SDK installers are still in the experimental stage, please contact technical support service if you'll experience any problems with them.

PlayStation 3 port changes:

• No more CPU/GPU sync, GPU is always loaded with processing command buffer from the previous frame.
• SPU jobs management system.
• Reduced memory consumption.
• Speedup of dynamic mesh rendering.
• More Altivec optimizations.
• No more RGBA16F textures.
• SPU-based optimization of particle systems.

• Fixed property libraries loading bug.
• Moving of disabled nodes doesn't affect performance.
• Mouse pointer can be controlled via engine.gui.* namespace now.
• Fixed object.setBody() and body.setObject() functions in UnigineScripts.
• Distance-based fading of volumetric objects.
• More detailed info on functions in EngineAnalyzer (input arguments are also printed now).
• Changed decals storage format, please re-generate them (simply load world, select "Tools" -> "Batch" -> "Generate Decals" in the editor and re-save the world).
• No more memory allocations in ObjectMeshDynamic during tangent space calculation.
• All mesh-related things were migrated to two-vector tangent space basis.
• Removed artifacts caused by transition from underwater to above-water modes and vice versa (take a look at updated Tropics demo in the SDK).
• Added new fog for light scattering emulation in underwater mode.
• Optional two-sided reflection for water.
• ObjectMeshSkinned performance improvement.
• Fixed bug with wrong destruction of multiple GUI.
• Stack size can be defined for Thread.
• Severe video memory optimizations.
• Performance optimization of WorldLight.
• Added plugins for Maya 8.5 64-bit.
• Coordinate system is relative to the current coordinates of a NodeReference in NodeReference editing mode of UnigineEditor.
• Completed non-interactive network viewer sample.
• Added basic tutorials (see "Tutorials" section in the reference manual):
  • Adding Object into a New World.
  • Adding Animated Object into the Loaded World.
  • Setup Sky and Water.
• New NSIS-based installer for evaluation kit (fixed a lot of issues, including plugins installation).

PlayStation 3 port progress:

• Direct PPU/GPU port of Unigine is completed, everything works very well (as it was expected).
• All benchmarks (Sanctuary, Tropics and Heaven) works well on PS3, as well as SDK samples.
• Major things left to do:
  • Add PS3 gamepad support.
  • Utilize SPUs for performance optimizations.
  • RSX-specific optimizations of shaders.
  • Prepare Unigine PS3 SDK and evaluation kit.

\Heaven 2.0 running on PlayStation 3 (it looks the same as on PC w/o tessellation):

• Detection of CrosssFireX and QuadFireX modes.
• Synchronization of random seeds for particles and clouds.
• Added 'rigidity' parameter into ragdolls.
• Added 'data' field for widgets in UI files syntax.
• Added emission into mesh_paint_base material.
• Added deferred rendering of lights (can be used per-light).
• Added material/property handling via C++ API.
• Optional 2D density map for volume_cloud_base material.
• Changed splash screen API (splash screens now can be shown at any time): engine.splash.setEnabled(1); while(true) engine.splash.renderSplash(progress); engine.splash.setEnabled(0);
• Editing of WorldTransform splines in UnigineEditor.
• Export of splines from Softimage.
• Added support of detail textures mesh_paint_base.
• Added different blending modes for detail textures for mesh_base and mesh_paint_base (multiply, overlay).
• Added local align option into Softimage export plugin.
• Updated "Rendering Sequence" article in the manual.
• Fixed bugs caused by video mode change in DX10/DX11.
• Full support of OpenGL 4.0 hardware tessellation API.

We have good news regarding PlayStation 3 version of Unigine: since we finally got devkits, development is moving very fast, at the moment we have working controls, file system, memory management and can draw meshes.

Unfortunately current drivers from ATI doesn't handle hardware tessellation in OpenGL 4.0 yet so we can't updated Heaven benchmark right now to provide this feature in OpenGL mode.

• Heavy refactoring of base materials.
• Tessellation state is switched on/off automatically depending on distance to the object.
• Updated DirectX SDK headers to February 2010 version.
• Verbose list of textures used by the render.
• Added validation of duplicate surface names and incorrect bone weights for skinned meshes into 3dsMax plugins.
• Fixed a wrong animation frame number being displayed in ResourceEditor.
• Support of uniform_buffer_object in OpenGL.
• Global scaling settings for tessellation parameters and reflection color.
• Added GL_ARB_sample_shading OpenGL extension support for supersample alpha-testing.
• Fixed inheritance of properties by BodyFracture pieces.
• ImageDDS tool now supports OpenCL for faster image compression (-opencl command line option).
• More efficient mesh optimizator.
• Spark emitter generates particles oriented along the normal of collided surface.
• Added 'auto' pseudo-type of variables in UnigineScript.
• Fixed the order of objects destruction by exiting UnigineScript.
• Node ID is now displayed in UnigineEditor now.
• Simplification of HDR cross shader.
• Added a full set of 32/64 bit plugins for Maya 2008, 2009 and 2010.
• Increased speed of grass and foliage rendering.
• Optimized supersampled alpha-testing for 8x AA mode.
• Bunch of minor fixes.

This month was also filled with a lot of important events, for example we met with AMD and NVIDIA engineers and marketing people.

There will be no updates for the next 2 weeks since we are heading to GDC in San Francisco. By the way, you're welcome to visit our booth #1344 (there will be our CEO, CTO and sales manager are going to show a lot of new amazing stuff). Feel free to contact us for an appointment via info@unigine.com

• Added destructible body type: BodyFracture (it supports three destruction patterns).
• Performance boost in spatial subdivision.
• Removed intersection mask from BodyWater, it intersects with parent node now (like grass).
• Support of cylinder collision shape.
• Joints with softness set must be re-adjusted.
• Added full CCD for spheres and capsules.
• 'reflection' parameter of BodyWater is renamed to 'absorption'.
• Fixed assert in GUI on video mode change.
• Fixed sectors/triggers infinite recursion.
• Saving/restoring array iterators in UnigineScript.
• Fixed incorrect UV data of water in DirectX 10/11.
• Children particle systems with shift emitter use parent particles as emitters.
• Added more samples of particle systems.
• Tessellation optimization gives up to 30% performance boost.
• PSSM shadow geometry replication by geometry shader (controlled by the folowing console variables: gl_render_use_geometry_replication, d3d10_render_use_replication, d3d11_render_use_replication).
• Tesselated triangles count can be seen in 'RPrimitives' profiler counter.
• Added 'Reduce Mesh' feature into MeshViewer: it removes invisible inner triangles.
• Screensaver launch and power off blocking with running engine on Windows.
• Fixed wrong UV data in WidgetSpriteShader.
• Even more speed optimizations and minor bugfixes.
• Updated documentation on UnigineScript library.

Physical destruction of objects:
Video demonstrating physical destruction

Another sample (also can be found in update Unigine SDK):

Video demonstrating physical destruction

• Added SpawnThreshold parameter for particle systems (spawn rate for 'random' and 'spark' emitters depends on the speed of parent objects).
• Separate axis flip for particles: 'variation_x' and 'variation_y' parameters (run upgrade.py script for data upgrade).
• Shared 2D reflections (the same way as cube reflections are shared).
• New BodyWater for physical simulation of shallow water with two-way interaction.
• Access to floating objects in PhysicalWater.
• PhysicalWater and BodyWater spawn spark particles on contact, if particle system is made a child node.
• Emitters of child particle systems are synchronously enabled when the parent emitter is enabled.
• Continuous collision detection for spheres vs convex hulls, spheres vs meshes, capsules vs convex hulls and capsules vs meshes.
• Less memory allocations by render.
• Added two more flags for nodes: isVisible (the node was shown in a viewport) and isShadow (the node casted shadow).
• Added camera limitations for PlayerSpectator.
• Per-object freeze speed of physical objects.
• Inverse kinematics for ragdolls.
• Added more physical cloth samples, including ones of attaching the cloth to skinned mesh.
• Added BodyWater samples.
• Added inverse kinematics samples.
• Visualization of full ragdoll hierarchy and bone hierarchy in UnigineEditor.
• Reduced memory consumption by plugins for 3D editors.
• Fixed MeshSkinnedImport plugin for 3ds Max.
• Updated Softimage plugins (usability improvements).
• Added documentation on grass ("Principles of Operation / Objects / Grass" section of the manual).

• engine.world.addVisibleNode() is renamed into engine.world.addUpdateNode().
• engine.world.getNodes() is renamed into engine.world.getIntersectionNodes().
• engine.world.getObjects() is renamed into engine.world.getIntersectionObjects().

Physical cloth on skinned mesh objects:

Video demonstrating physical cloth on skinned mesh objects

Interaction of objects with physical water:

Video demonstrating interaction of objects with physical water

• New PhysicalForce, PhysicalWind and PhysicalWater objects (simulation of viscous medium, buoyancy and resistance forces).
• Fluid buoyancy for all physical shapes.
• Added a set of samples with physical force fields and a rope sample.
• JointPin can attach cloth to ragdolls.
• Physics visualizers are now shown only with the editor loaded.
• Particle systems are now affected by force fields.
• Fixed velocity calculation for ragdolls transformed with setVelocityTransform() function.
• Added 'world_show_physicals' console variable.

• New Chain type of particles for shift emitters to generate a seamless flow.
• Particles reset emitter parameters on disabling/enabling of the node.
• Some renaming in world/node files: 'stretch' -> 'length_stretch' and 'point_force' -> 'force' (run upgrade.py script to convert your data). This affected ObjectParticles API as well.
• Removed 'emitter_velocity' and 'emitter_scale' parameters from the particle systems; added slightly different 'emitter_direction' and 'emitter_spread' instead.

Chain particle systems affected by force fields:

• Export plugins for Softimage 2010 (static geometry, skinned mesh animation).
• Fixed AppWindow in Linux: it provides the same keycodes regardless of the current key layout.
• Fixed node type filter in UnigineEditor.
• Refactored tessellation shaders; there is some performance improvement.
• Added 'post_filter_rgb2yuv' post-process filter that is useful for TV broadcasting.
• Improved Unigine::Image C++ API: added more functions for image processing.
• Added WidgetSpriteShader object, which can be used with a custom shader for post-process material.
• Added Unigine::ObjectMeshDynamic::updateIndices() function.
• Shadow objects force node update, there will be no shadow stalls.
• Timestamps in log files.
• WorldTransformExpression is renamed to WorldExpression.
• Refactored stereo 3D launchers, now they can are not limited to dual view mode.
• Adding array of visible nodes into the world is possible via UnigineScript.
• Swizzling is now available in UnigineScript for functions; foo().x and foo()[2] is acceptable now.
• Added EngineAnalyzer system, output can be seen via 'engine_analyze' console command.
• Fixed occluders rasterizator.
• All GUI fonts have anisotropy enabled now.
• Updated documentation on particle systems ("Principles of Operation / Objects / Particle systems" section of the manual).
• Updated article on blending in materials ("Content Creation / Materials Overview / Blending Options").

Softimage export plugin GUI (see documentation for more information on options):

• Added support of physical cloth.
• Added JointPin for pinning cloth to BodyRigid and BodyDummy.
• Added PhysicalWind for setting wind areas affecting cloth.
• Fixed saving of instanced materials.
• Access to contact time in physical contacts.
• Access to more verbose info from JointWheel.
• "Frozenable" flag for rigid bodies.
• Correct handling of setVelocityTransform() by BodyRagDoll.
• Fixed Unicode issue with log file names in Windows.
• Added plugins for Maya 2009 Linux 64 bit.
• Fixed issue with particles inside sectors.
• Added a bunch of new physical samples.
• Updated documentation on common object options ("Principles of Operation / Objects" section of the manual).

Cloth-based propellers drive airplanes in the field of PhysicalWind:

Video demonstrating interaction of physical cloth with wind

Cloth tearing:

Video demonstrating cloth tearing

Cloth-based leaves:

Video demonstrating cloth-based leaves

You can find more videos with new features in Unigine crew's blog.

PS: By the way, here is another blog entry regarding Unigine in AMD Underground Blog: 11 Days of DirectX® 11, Day Eight: Unigine "Heaven".

• Released the first DirectX 11 benchmark on the basis of Unigine.
• '-Os' replaced by '-O3' in GCC flags, which gave a 20% speed boost in Linux.
• Fixed water artifacts produced by overlaping waves.
• Line intersection functions for all physics shapes.
• Fixed detail textures with SRGB enabled.
• Added access to image pixels via C++ API.
• Vertex cache optimization is now optional (see export plugins settings).
• Optional axes flip on import in ResourceEditor.
• Added "frame based" flag for every bone of the ragdoll to mix physics-driven and skinned mesh animations.
• New Body::setVelocityTransform() function that calculates linear and angular velocities based on the body transformation.
• Fixed a rare startup crash caused by multi-threading access to archived files.
• More verbose XML parser.
• Fixed saving of materials into nodes.
• 'restitution' and 'softness' joint parameters splitted into linear_restitution / angular_restitution and linear_softness / angular_softness (don't forget to run the upgrade script).
• Optimized tessellation shaders for DirectX 11.
• Added documentation on sky ("Principles of Operation / Objects / Sky" section of the manual).

Here are some technical details on how tessellation works under the hood:

Video demonstrating hardware tessellation in action (based on Heaven DX11 benchmark content)

Release of the Heaven benchmark attracted a lot of attention in the Net (our webserver has had a near-death experience several times) since there are no DX11 benchmarks so far: news item on Tom's Hardware. Wow, we made it.