First released in 2005, Unigine initially served as a general-purpose game engine but has been focused on enterprise markets since 2012, including simulation, training, engineering, and urban planning. Its unique features include 64-bit precision for world-space coordinates. Unlike most standard game engines that use 32-bit precision, Unigine can simulate planetary-scale scenes rather than much smaller game worlds.The high-performance editions—Engineering SDK and Sim SDK, with pricing available upon request—also support GIS data, common CAD data formats, as well as OpenGL and DirectX. However, the software is also suitable for entertainment purposes, and since 2020, it has been free for commercial projects generating less than $100,000 annually.

One of the key improvements in Unigine 2.19 is its significant performance boost compared to previous versions. Specifically, the new multithreaded DirectX 12 renderer delivers a “2x increase in CPU performance,” with the comparison chart above showing an almost 2.5x improvement in FPS compared to Unigine 2.18.Startup times have been reduced “by 1.4x to 1.9x” in large-scale projects, with meshes and properties now loading asynchronously, and enhanced multithreading for texture loading. Improved streaming of data from archives—both ZIP files and Unigine's proprietary UNG format—provides up to a 1.2x performance boost during startup and reduces both RAM and VRAM usage.Additionally, a new material quality switch node simplifies balancing performance and visual fidelity, enabling users to switch between different material resolutions more efficiently.

Other updates relevant to computer artists include improvements to the material editor, such as new hotkeys for frequently used nodes like Add, Multiply, and Clamp.Lighting changes include support for multiple light reflections on Planar Reflection Probes and Environment Probes, as well as the ability to assign unique light maps and shadow maps to instances. When using the Sky object, LUTs can now be applied to control the colors of the sky, clouds, and haze.The experimental character animation system has also received several updates, including support for visual chains and rotational constraints for skinned meshes.

Additionally, Unigine 2.19 introduces OpenXR support alongside OpenVR, simplifying the development of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality projects. The initial implementation provides "basic functionality," including support for various HMI devices and controllers, with future updates expected to include eye and hand tracking.Users of the SIM and Engineering editions can now export scene content in USD format via the new UsdExporter plugin. SIM edition users also benefit from video streaming support through WebRTC and a new SpiderVision plugin, which integrates existing rendering tools for wall and projector displays.

Unigine 2.19 is available for 64-bit Windows 10 and later, as well as Linux (kernel 4.19 and above). Both the engine and the editor are hardware-agnostic, with a list of supported AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA GPUs available here.The Community Free edition is free to use for non-commercial projects and commercial projects generating less than $100,000 in revenue or funding over the past 12 months. The Community Pro edition, which has no revenue limit, is now available via subscription for $1,500 per year.