Key Changes

• Redesigned asynchronous data streaming to reduce performance spikes.
• Improved utilization of multiple CPU cores throughout the engine.
• UnigineEditor’s transformation: standalone application, made faster, more stable and extensible after a major refactoring, with a number of improvements.
• Cached shadows optimization: performance boost, more flexibility.
• Refactored bit masks.
• Better reflections with additive blending and occlusion clipping.
• Interleaved rendering mode for lights.
• Various vegetation improvements.
• More informative Performance Profiler.
• Major IG Template update: DIS support, more CIGI packets, multithreading and optimizations.

More features have been optimized for multicore processors in this release to fully take advantage of all the extra computing power that a PC platform provides wherever possible, from asynchronous data streaming to processing network packets.

Rendering improvements continue to push the boundaries of visual realism in our virtual worlds, in this release we've significantly improved the look of vegetation, shadows and reflections.

A huge pack of various performance optimizations including cached shadows, asynchronous data streaming have contributed to overall engine performance improvement and reduction of spikes.

Key Changes

• Major UnigineEditor update: new features, performance optimizations
• Properties system upgrade: support for arrays and complex data structures
• Component system evolution: improved performance, multi-threading, SDK Browser integration
• Improved refraction for glass
• Screen-Space Dirt effect
• Improved sky rendering
• Extended IG application template
• Improved import of textures
• Experimental road tool (WorldSplineGraph system)

On the way to the major 2.8 release while working on the updated terrain system we gathered a lot of useful user feedback, and the scope of the feature has grown significantly. In order to avoid painful migrations, we decided to dedicate more time to polishing the feature as much as possible. Same thing with the full round Earth solution as they share some codebase. Therefore, we decided to keep both features in development branches for a while and to move the 2.8 release date to Q1 2019. In the meantime, we have a lot of other planned for 2.8 features ready (and some much more), so we decided to release them as 2.7.3 now.

Key Changes

• Improved file system and collaboration
• CAD models import
• Impostor improvements: optimized performance, better tools
• Optimized texture streaming
• Physically-based cameras and lights
• Improved particle systems: advanced control, easy adjustment
• Refactored voxel and environment probes
• Multi-channel rendering improvements
• Terrain holes
• Overall engine improvements and bugfixes

Along with bugfixes and overall stabilization this release introduces a number of new important and long-awaited features.

Key Changes

• Forced shaders compilation
• Improved voxel GI
• Water performance optimizations
• Improved support for large-scale models
• Improved editor UI
• Experimental HLA protocol support
• Added support for HTC Vive Pro
• Overall engine improvements and bugfixes

Although this release is mainly a maintenance one, it also introduces some new features.

Key Changes

• Updated SDK editions
• Voxel GI solution, which doesn’t require UV mapping
• Improved assets workflow for both artists and programmers
• Major update of UnigineEditor 2
• Refactored and extended properties system
• FBX import in runtime
• Dynamic destruction of trees and grass in runtime
• Cross sections visualization
• Improved anti-aliasing
• Automatic screen space bevels
• Easy configuration for multi-channel rendering, including templates (dome, wall, CAVE, etc.)
• Improved performance profiler
• Arbitrary terrain generation using non-georeferenced data
• Procedural generation of buildings (2.5D)
• ObjectTerrain to ObjectTerrainGlobal migration tool
• General performance optimizations

This release was aimed at making your experience with UNIGINE 2 even better by improving the UI and functionality of the Editor and tools and adding more useful and long-awaited features to make the work of artists and programmers easier and more efficient.

_{Design by Eugenia Bulatskaya}