Ibm Spectrum Control Latest Version
Melissa Russian
Cloud formation has improved significantly giving you even more flexibility and room for variation bringing the look of the clouds to a new level. In addition to the built-in coverage texture, the shape of the clouds can now be defined by a custom 3D texture as well. So, you can create a cloud of any specific predefined shape and even define a custom shape for the shadows. With an additional extra noise you can extend the diversity of details.
On top of that we have added an ability to use curves to control variation of certain parameters (like density, threshold, detail intensity, etc.) along the layer height, which is also available now for a set of 3D noises that define the shape of clouds down to the smallest details. So you can fine-tune large clouds to create any form you like.
Improved sorting when rendering transparent objects (Alpha Blend) and volumetric clouds has become available, so it is clearly seen now whether a transparent object is below the lowest cloud layer base, inside the clouds, or above the highest cloud layer top.
Our new landscape generation tool (Sandworm) introduced in the previous release as experimental has evolved to the production-ready stage. With a lot of UI/UX improvements and a set of new features added, it enables you to generate the new Landscape Terrain based on the data from georeferenced data sources. You can use raster (elevation, imagery, and masks) and vector data sources from your local storage device, or connect to open services (such as OpenStreetMap or various state/municipal databases) or private tile servers created and supported by users on the basis of services similar to QGIS (currently supported data from online sources: imagery and elevation).
Most of the widely used projections are supported, moreover, you can combine sources with different projection types within the same project. Output settings have evolved to make the landscape generation process more clear.
We plan to keep adding new features into Sandworm (including procedural content refinement). In the future the tool shall also be used for generation of the Round Planet object as well. Distributed generation and partial re-generation of the landscape functionality is on the way and is likely to be available with the next SDK release (2.15).
New implementation of waves is now available offering you precise control of waves spectrum. Unique characteristics of each wave system can be set independently through spectral parameters, wave direction and speed, and the shape factor of waves (as all the data is now available on the CPU side). You can create multiple waves and wave groups (from largest to smallest) with convenient access to every parameter and an ability to control them via API at run time (e.g. processing Weather Control packets from an instructor station, etc.).
Further Water System upgrades to be expected shall include refactoring of the Global Water object with a set of performance optimizations and visual improvements, as well as improvements of local water, rivers and streams.
Having started with .NET Core 2.2 and 3.1 support, we have now implemented support for .NET 5 released in November 2020 (new major .NET versions are planned annually, so we keep the pace). This update brings you many fixes and new features as well:
Since UNIGINE 2.14 the .NET Framework is considered obsolete and no longer supported, as 5.0 is the main implementation of .NET going forward, and the preferred C# workflow is based on using the integrated C# Component System. All related demos, samples and project templates have been migrated to .NET5.
Similar functionality has been removed from the mesh_base material. Unfortunately, proper automatic migration of planar reflections is not possible as new implementation differs a lot. So you will have to manually set up planar reflections in your scenes once.
We strongly recommend using this tool for lighting adjustment in your scenes. Physically correct lighting is a key to photorealistic graphics. This is especially important for computer vision learning in virtual environments.
We have added temporal filtering for SSAO and Bent Normals giving you an ability to control how many frames are to be accumulated making the result smoother and reducing noise flickering, accumulating too many frames, however, may cause ghosting.
Another improvement is a denoiser for SSAO and Bent Normals offering you full control over intensity and threshold. It is a very efficient noise reduction option, but use it wisely as it may result in loss of details.
We have made changes to the Engine's execution sequence to optimize the order and ensure overall stability and timeliness of execution of all operations, avoiding possible conflicts and crashes (e.g. when calling Plugin::swap() you can be sure that all physics calculations are completed).
As for world management we have unified and improved loading and unloading operations for maximum safety and stability: a world shall not be unloaded until all methods of the main loop are executed. You can also force-load a world instantly via the new loadWorldForce() method, if necessary (can be useful for custom Unigine-based Editors). World initialization will now begin only after all system managers are updated and before executing plugins update.
New methods of the World class are now available for more convenient management via API (saveWorld, reloadWorld, quitWorld). And new World callbacks enable you to perform necessary actions right before and just after all world logic initialization and shutdown methods.
All user code is now executed in the Main thread - a great plus to safety. No more restrictions on actions to be performed in your physicsUpdate() and physics callbacks - just do anything you did in update()!
Instead of simply dropping frames when the physics budget is exceeded, making the simulation look like a "slow-mo", now there is a catch-up system. This system keeps such frames in a queue for a short time interval and tries to use any opportunity (growing Engine framerate or CPU idle periods while waiting for GPU) to execute these frames. Fewer dropped frames mean smoother simulation and more predictable behavior.
In case the current Engine framerate is much higher than the fixed physics framerate, the physics won't be updated each rendering frame (e.g. it may update during every second frame), so the resulting frame time becomes pulsating. This new feature ensures stable frame time for smoother user experience removing unwanted "hiccups" (however, the average frame rate is decreased).
As the functionality of the Engine evolves, each release adds more and more settings and parameters for you to control. Flexibility is good, but sometimes you might just want to switch between some abstract levels like Ultra for high-end hardware or Medium for the mid-to-low segment. Well, we've analyzed typical cases, did a huge deal of testing, and finally made all necessary adjustments for you. So, now you can quickly make your application fit any supported configuration by simply switching presets, which is also available at run time via API.
The end-of-life date for Debian 9 is June 30, 2022. So, this build environment is planned to be supported for at least 2 years (unless critical bugs in the compiler behavior are found forcing us to raise the spec once again).
Introducing a mechanism of packages - collections of files and data from UNIGINE projects, or elements of projects, compressed and stored in a single file with the .upackage extension.
When unpacked, a package (like a ZIP file) maintains its original directory structure, as well as metadata about assets (links to other assets). So, the process of transferring content between your projects has become simpler and more convenient. Consider it as a step to the long-awaited Asset Store that is currently being developed actively. Meanwhile, you can already pack your assets, send them to other developers, as well as receive packages, and easily unpack their contents to use in your projects.
All dependencies for exported assets are resolved and added automatically, just check Include Dependencies. You can click on any exported asset in the list to check it out (each asset has its size displayed next to its name).
Precalculated (baked) lighting is an essential part of optimization for almost any project providing best balance between performance and visuals. To make the process of baking simpler and more convenient we have made a number of improvements for this release.
You can now set Lighting Mode for each surface to define its contribution to lighting: simply set Static or Dynamic for the corresponding types of objects (all related settings shall be auto-adjusted for you) or choose Advanced to configure everything manually.
Any surface in your project can now be found in a snap! Searching for nodes in the UnigineEditor by name is handy, but what about surfaces? Imagine you have a CAD model with a hundred surfaces and you want to find that very one - this could be tricky before the new surface filter was added.
We have optimized searching methods for synchronized nodes significantly improving performance of all operations that require scanning through the whole list (adding nodes, setting sync masks, checking if nodes are synchronized, etc. Processing of synchronized nodes was optimized as well with an extended use of multithreading. Displaying debug information for synchronized nodes has become faster and smoother as well. The list of other improvements includes the following:
The CIGIConnector now enables you to set callbacks to be fired right before sending a response to a request. This can be used to send additional data required by a host (e.g., velocities of the point of intersection for LOS/HAT queries which is useful in case of landing on a moving platform).A callback function has the following signature:
(bool &ret, IG::CIGI::CigiIGPacket *response, IG::CIGI::CigiHostPacket *request, IG::IGIntersection *intersection)