Devlog - New sound system is completed

December 10, 2008

Programmer news:

  • OpenAL-based (with EFX extensions) sound module is done.
  • Sound renderer can handle virtually unlimited number of sound sources with occlusion and supports single and multiple reverberation zones.
  • More robust loading of WAV files.
  • Updated sound samples.
  • Shader constants s_ilight_radius and s_ilight_shadow_radius are renamed into s_light_iradius and s_light_shadow_iradius.
  • Render speedup due to more effective shader caching.
  • Fixed rare flickering of transparent surfaces.
  • Fixed bug with recursive call of script functions through C++ API.
  • Added support of operator== and operator!= for user classes in UnigineScript.
  • Added data/core/scripts/math.h to simplify 3D math works.
  • New character system with adjustable camera presets, see data/core/scripts/character.h and "actor_04" sample.
  • Updated reference manual.

Artist news:

  • Faster and better Depth of Field implementation, you'll have to re-adjust settings a little.
  • Box occluders.
  • New random type of particle emitters.
  • Visualization of sounds and reverberation zones.
  • Independent tuning of specular power and specular scale for light sources.
  • Even more settings in scattering, independent adjusting of ray/mie colors.
  • Added color scale for reflections.

Reverberation zones

New version of OpenAL works well in Linux finally, so it's the right time to introduce our new sound system. There is also a pretty nice software implementation of OpenAL, which supports EFX extensions with a single reverberation zone.

By the way, recently AMD has issued a Unigine-related press-release: "Momentum for Microsoft(R) DirectX(R) 10.1 Grows with Major Game Titles, Next-Generation 3D Game Engines, and Windows(R) 7 API". There is also an interesting press-release regarding a Unigine-based project: First production stage of "Magus ex Machina" is completed:
A screenshot from 'Magus ex Machina', a Unigine-based 3D animated movie

PS: We have introduced a more affordable pricing scheme prior to January 1, 2009: indie developers can get a binary license starting with $4990 (or even just $1985 per month during 3 months). Take a look at "Licensing & Prices" page for more info. Moreover, full licenses are now with lifetime updates access.

PPS: Here is a photo of our new development studio's hall (yesterday TV reporters were here, so now one can see a story about Unigine via local TV network):
Unigine development studio