NeoAxis Group informs that its all-purpose 3D game engine NeoAxis Engine was updated to the version 1.3. New version received a number of new features along with changed license terms for a Source Edition of the engine.
Main New Features
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion effects has been added. SSAO is a real-time rendering technique that is widely used for effective approximation of Ambient Occlusion in CG. SSAO in NeoAxis is implemented as a post-processing effect, has many adjustable parameters for fine-tuning and allows to maintain the best balance between performance and image quality.
Heightmap Based Terrain Improvements. Maximum height map resolution is increased from 1024x1024 to 4096x4096 pixels (16 times bigger resolution). This become possible due to significantly reduced memory consumption. Support for terrain Level of Detail (LOD) has been added, resulting in increased terrain rendering performance. Terrain LODs in NeoAxis is based on "Continuous Distance-Dependent Level of Detail for Rendering Heightmaps" (CDLOD) technique implementation.
Lens Flare Manager — new object to simplify the creation of camera lens flares effects.
Platformer Demo with 2D physics — new map has been added to the NeoAxis SDK. New demo map shows the example of platformer-like game with 2D physics.
Pathfinding Demo — new map has been added, demonstrating the pathfinding based on Navigation Mesh technology.
SceneBox — new type of control has been added to the NeoAxis GUI System. SceneBox is a control with the ability to draw 3D scene within. Models, effects and other supported entities can be added to it via the Resource Editor or be managed through the game code. This class is convenient for the output of a simple scenes. For example, a garage scene with a choice of a car in an auto simulator game, or a 3d character avatar at the corner of the screen. For a demonstration go to Game.exe and press "Gui Test 2" button in the Main Menu.
WinFormsMultiViewAppExample.exe — new example application has been added. This is WinForms based application that demonstrates creation of multi view applications.
In addition to ability to import models in many different file formats, like Collada, new version features support for FBX file format import. Ability to import animated models with skeletal animations has been added as well.
Resource Editor now includes Ambient Occlusion calculation tool for single meshes.
Map Editor now has ability to export geometry to FBX or Collada (DAE) file formats.
See Full changelog.
Changes in License options
With the release of NeoAxis Engine 1.3 license terms for engine edition with full source code included has been changed (Source License).
Now license cost depends on the number of developers as stated below:
- Personal license (for one developer) - 2895 USD
- Team license (2-5 developers) - 9800 USD
- Unlimited license (6 and more developers) - 29500 USD
With this changes made now it is possible to get access to the full source code of the NeoAxis Engine for as low as $2895.
Additional license terms:
- Acess to the full source code of the engine and its toolset.
- 4 years of free updated to the new engine version released.
- 1 year of paid support included.
- No royalties.
Full description of license terms and conditions is available at Licensing page.
NeoAxis as the platform for non-game projects
In conclusion we'd like to mention that NeoAxis Engine can be effectively used for non-game projects development for Windows and Mac platforms. With many powerful features, robust toolset and modern technologies used NeoAxis Engine is a complete solution for development of wide range of applications, demanded by industry, research, staff education and training and more.
Previously we already highlighted a success story on how NeoAxis was used for development of emergency staff training simulator for chemical factory in Russia, made by Sistemotechnika company. Now developers from Human-Computer Interaction Lab of the University of Udine, Italy used NeoAxis Engine for EMSAVE ("Emergency Medical Services for the disAbled" Virtual Environment) project, a virtual reality system for training in emergency medical procedures concerning disabled persons. Now this system is undergoing testing in one of the italian hospitals connected with the project.
See other non-game projects created with NeoAxis Engine.
Links
Official NeoAxis website
Download NeoAxis Engine SDK 1.3 with demo maps included
About the engine
NeoAxis Game Engine is an all-purpose, modern 3D graphics development tool for 3D simulations, visualizations and games.
About the company
NeoAxis Group Ltd is a company focused on development of modern real-time 3D solutions. The main activity of NeoAxis Group is the development of cross-platform NeoAxis Engine and development of custom projects ordered by the customers using the NeoAxis Engine.
Great update