Unigine
Encyclopedia
Unigine Engine is a proprietary cross-platform computer graphics
middleware
, developed by Unigine Corp
. It is used as either a game engine
or as an engine for virtual reality
systems, serious games
and visualization. The most popular Unigine-powered product is Heaven DX11 benchmark.
The strongest feature of Unigine is its advanced renderer which currently supports OpenGL 4.0 and DirectX 11. An updated Unigine SDK is released monthly.
Unigine Engine tech demos are included as part of the Phoronix Test Suite
for benchmarking purposes on Linux
and other systems.
. Unigine Corp was also developing a "shooter-type game", currently the development on this game is frozen until OilRush is released.
announced a competition to support Linux game
development. They agreed to give away a free license of the Unigine engine to anyone willing to develop and release a game with a Linux native client, although they would also grant the team a Windows license. The competition ran until December 10, 2010, with a considerable amount of entries being submitted. Due to the unexpected response, Unigine decided to extend the offer to the three best applicants, with each getting full Unigine licenses. The winners were announced on December 13, 2010, with the developers selected being Kot-in-Action Creative Artel
(who previously developed Steel Storm
), Gamepulp (who intend to make a puzzle platformer), and MED-ART (who previously worked on Painkiller: Resurrection
).
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
, developed by Unigine Corp
Unigine Corp
Unigine Corp is an international software development company with offices in Tomsk, Russia and Prague, Czech Republic. It is well known for developing the Unigine Engine proprietary cross-platform middleware. The company also has a game development team...
. It is used as either a game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
or as an engine for virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
systems, serious games
Serious game
A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to products used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, religion,...
and visualization. The most popular Unigine-powered product is Heaven DX11 benchmark.
The strongest feature of Unigine is its advanced renderer which currently supports OpenGL 4.0 and DirectX 11. An updated Unigine SDK is released monthly.
Unigine Engine tech demos are included as part of the Phoronix Test Suite
Phoronix Test Suite
Phoronix Test Suite is a free, open-source benchmark software for Linux and other operating systems developed by Phoronix Media with cooperation from an undisclosed number of hardware and software vendors....
for benchmarking purposes on Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and other systems.
Major features
- Multi-platform:
- Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
- LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
- Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
- PlayStation 3PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
- Android
- iOS
- Microsoft Windows
- Multiple API render:
- DirectX 9
- DirectX 10
- DirectX 11
- OpenGLOpenGLOpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
- OpenGL ESOpenGL ESOpenGL for Embedded Systems is a subset of the OpenGL 3D graphics application programming interface designed for embedded systems such as mobile phones, PDAs, and video game consoles. OpenGL ES is managed by the not-for-profit technology consortium, the Khronos Group, Inc.- Versions :Several...
- Support of Shader Model 5.0 with hardware tessellationTessellationA tessellation or tiling of the plane is a pattern of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps. One may also speak of tessellations of parts of the plane or of other surfaces. Generalizations to higher dimensions are also possible. Tessellations frequently appeared in the art...
and DirectComputeDirectComputeMicrosoft DirectCompute is an application programming interface that supports general-purpose computing on graphics processing units on Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7. DirectCompute is part of the Microsoft DirectX collection of APIs and was initially released with the DirectX 11 API but...
(as well as OpenCLOpenCLOpenCL is a framework for writing programs that execute across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and other processors. OpenCL includes a language for writing kernels , plus APIs that are used to define and then control the platforms...
) - Advanced visual effects: Screen Space Ambient OcclusionScreen Space Ambient OcclusionScreen Space Ambient Occlusion is a rendering technique for efficiently approximating the well-known computer graphics ambient occlusion effect in real time...
(SSAO), real-time global illumination, BokehBokehIn photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."...
DoF - Physics module (collision detection, rigid body physics, dynamical destruction of objects, rag doll, cloth, fluid buoyancy, force fields, time reverse)
- Terrain and vegetation engine
- Scripting via UnigineScript programming language (object-oriented, C++ like syntax)
- Built-in pathfinding module
- Interactive 3D GUIGuiGui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
- Video playback using TheoraTheoraTheora is a free lossy video compression format. It is developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container....
codec - Audio system based on OpenALOpenALOpenAL is a cross-platform audio API. It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of OpenGL.- History :...
- Visual world editor
Serious game features
- Double precision of coordinates
- Stereo 3D:
- Anaglyph
- NVIDIA 3D VisionNvidia 3D Vision3D Vision is a stereoscopic gaming kit from Nvidia which consists of LC shutter glasses and driver software which enables stereoscopic vision for any Direct3D game, with various degrees of compatibility...
- iZ3D
- Separate images output
- Support of multiple output devices with asymmetric projections (CAVECave Automatic Virtual EnvironmentA Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is an immersive virtual reality environment where projectors are directed to three, four, five or six of the walls of a room-sized cube...
, monitor walls)
History
The roots of Unigine are in the Frustum open source project, which was initiated in 2002 by Alexander "Frustum" Zaprjagaev, who is currently a co-founder (along with Denis Shergin, CEO) and CTO of Unigine Corp, and is the lead developer of the Unigine engine. The name "Unigine" means "universal engine" or "unique engine".Unigine-based projects
There are currently 80+ licensees of Unigine. In July 2010 Unigine also announced that it was working on a Strategy game title, which in September 2010 was announced to be a naval strategy game called OilRushOilRush
Oil Rush is an upcoming tower defense real-time strategy game being developed by Unigine Corp using their Unigine engine technology. Set in a post-apocalyptic flooded world, the game consists of players fighting over control of the world's remaining oil reserves.This theme has been viewed as...
. Unigine Corp was also developing a "shooter-type game", currently the development on this game is frozen until OilRush is released.
Games
- Oil Rush - in development
- Dilogus: The Winds of WarDilogus: The Winds of WarDilogus: The Winds of War is an upcoming third person role-playing game by Serbian developer Digital Arrow that utilizes the Unigine engine. Originally started as a mod project for Crysis in 2008, the game is now planned for release on Windows and Linux as a full-fledged independent game...
- in development - Syndicates of Arkon MMORPG - released in 2010
Other
- Heaven DX11 benchmark (the first DirectX 11 benchmark/game)
- Tropics GPU benchmark
- Sanctuary GPU benchmark
- Full list of announced projects
Linux game competition
On November 25, 2010 , Unigine CorpUnigine Corp
Unigine Corp is an international software development company with offices in Tomsk, Russia and Prague, Czech Republic. It is well known for developing the Unigine Engine proprietary cross-platform middleware. The company also has a game development team...
announced a competition to support Linux game
Linux gaming
Linux gaming refers to playing or developing video games for the Linux operating systems.- Background :Linux gaming refers to all game titles that can run on Linux based operating systems. This can refer to free / open source games, which may also be commercial, that run natively on Linux, or...
development. They agreed to give away a free license of the Unigine engine to anyone willing to develop and release a game with a Linux native client, although they would also grant the team a Windows license. The competition ran until December 10, 2010, with a considerable amount of entries being submitted. Due to the unexpected response, Unigine decided to extend the offer to the three best applicants, with each getting full Unigine licenses. The winners were announced on December 13, 2010, with the developers selected being Kot-in-Action Creative Artel
Kot-in-Action Creative Artel
Kot-in-Action Creative Artel is an independent video game company headquarterd in Del Rio, Texas and founded in 2008 by Alexander Zubov. Consisting of a core team of three people, they developed the Steel Storm series for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms.On November 25, 2010 ,...
(who previously developed Steel Storm
Steel Storm
Steel Storm is an independent video game series developed by Kot-in-Action Creative Artel using the free software DarkPlaces engine that were released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms...
), Gamepulp (who intend to make a puzzle platformer), and MED-ART (who previously worked on Painkiller: Resurrection
Painkiller: Resurrection
PainKiller: Resurrection is a first-person shooter video game developed by Homegrown Games and published by DreamCatcher Interactive . It is a stand-alone expansion to the 2004 PainKiller developed by People Can Fly, and runs on an updated version of PainEngine...
).