Cell support, animation tree

What's new:

• Support of Linux on PlayStation 3 (with null render).
• New SPUShader class for work with SPU-based programs (works via libspe2 in Linux).
• Added Altivec optimizations for PowerPC CPUs.
• Full support of little and big endian platforms.
• CUDA framework.
• Added compact profiler mode ("show_profiler 1" console command, full view is "show_profiler 2").
• World spatial subdivision optimizations.
• Mesh intersection speedup.
• Fixed engine crashes, which were caused by memory corruption.
• Added set()/get() functions for indexed access to all containers in UnigineScript.
• Billboard-based material for foliage (an option of mesh_leaf_base material).
• Plugins for Maya 2008 (9.0).
• Fixed texture path issue in UnigineExport script for 3dsMax.
• Fixed plugins for 3dsMax (mesh export with applied modifier).
• Simple framework for software rendering.
• Updated shadow biases for all supported hardware.
• Mesh-based water use UV coordinates for waves (keep it in mind for old content).
• UnigineScript: call() and thread() functions can accept an array as second argument.
• Changed format of decals storing (run upgrade.py script to upgrade data, see more in the documentation).
• Improved high-level character system with full-featured animation tree (see "character" demo in the SDK).
• New detailed tutorial in documentation: Content Creation -> How to... -> Setup Sky and Water.

Unigine seems to be running fine on PS3 in home-brew mode (with Linux), however there is no access to GPU, so it supports only null render or simple software render for physics debug. Due to well-designed Unigine's framework the porting to this point was quite easy.

This is a screenshot from new "character" demo:

Since March, 13 a new great book of ShaderX series is available:"ShaderX7: Advanced Rendering Techniques", edited by Wolfgang Engel. Section 4 (Shadows) of the book contains an article "Practical Cascaded Shadow Maps" by Fan Zhang, Alexander Zaprjagaev (CTO of Unigine Corp.), Allan Bentham. The described shadowing technique is used in the Unigine engine, providing fine shadows with arbitrary scene geometry.

PS: Networking module is slightly delayed due to some unsolved issues with physics synchronization.

PPS: There is also a non-official Unigine crew blog started recently, where you can find some more info about our social life.