Umbra 3 FAQ (December 2011)
Introduction to Umbra 3
Umbra 3 is a rendering optimization middleware that cuts down CPU and GPU processing time by optimizing critical parts of a game such as rendering, content streaming, AI and game logic.
The purpose of Umbra 3 is to increase frame rate and help you get better performance out of your game. We offer solutions that either work 100% on the CPU or use both the CPU and the GPU.
Umbra 3 builds an internal representation of a game scene and uses this data at runtime to perform efficient queries that can be used to e.g. determine the set of visible objects for the player or determine the set of objects that are within a given distance from a point.
Occlusion culling is a core component of any 3D engine, why should I go for an outside solution? Isn’t that risky? Shouldn’t we do it ourselves?
Fair enough.
It isn’t risky. Look, we are based in Finland – it’s always dark here, we tend to code a lot and we dare say, in the humble Finnish way, that our automated software occlusion culling technology is really good. Just try it out.
Umbra has been researching and developing occlusion culling since 2006. We have worked on implementing occlusion culling into dozens of game engines over the years and have gained a tremendous amount of experience in everything involved in visibility optimizing and occlusion culling. Our technology is constantly being tested, improved and maintained. It’s maturity has been proved in several shipped, high-profile titles. We constantly test our software in a variety of game environments from published games.
Umbra Runtime integration is non-intrusive and can also easily be combined with existing culling solutions. With our technology you can limit potential risks, get great performance fast and spend time optimizing instead of coming up with a solution.
Umbra’s technology integrates very easily – it doesn’t matter if you are early in development and trying things out, or looking for that all-important performance boost at the end of the development.Still, the earlier you integrate Umbra’s tech, the more time there is to take advantage of it.
Most of our core engineers have worked on occlusion culling before Umbra too, since 1999 – take advantage of our experience.
Our game has large scenes with a lot of dynamic objects, or lots of small spaces, shadows, huge worlds, can Umbra help?
Umbra will be able to help in any situation where objects are hidden from view. Umbra has been designed to handle highly dynamic scenes.
What does the Umbra 3 middleware consist of?
Umbra3 has three components: Umbra 3 Optimizer, Umbra 3 Runtime and Umbra OB.
Which Umbra 3 component should I use in our game?
We understand that every game and project has very different needs – our tech is flexible and suits every type of need a game has.
The best way to figure out which component of Umbra is the most beneficial to your project is to have a quick chat with our engineers to help find out your needs so we can offer you the best possible solution. This will save everybody’s time and lets you hit the ground running.
What is Umbra 3 Optimizer?
Umbra 3 Optimizer is a content processing tool that takes the geometry of a 3D scene as input and automatically generates data that can be used at runtime to optimize performance-critical computation. Umbra 3 Optimizer uses auto-generated portals and PVS to represent the scene data in a format that can be effectively accessed at runtime.
What is Umbra 3 Runtime?
Umbra 3 Runtime uses the data generated by Umbra 3 Optimizer to perform different types of queries. Visibility queries are used to find out the set of objects visible from a point or region, distance queries to find out the topological distance to objects and intersection queries to find out the set of objects that intersect with a given shape.
Umbra 3 Runtime runs 100% on the CPU.
What is Umbra 3 OB?
Umbra 3 OB is a stand-alone occlusion culling component that uses both CPU and GPU for determining the visibility. Umbra OB does not need a separate pre-processing step and works best in scenes which are extremely dynamic such as ones where the environment is destructible.
What is Incremental Bake?
This feature enables changes to be made to a scene so that only the affected areas’ visibility information needs to be re-computed instead of having to bake the entire scene again. The bake process can be easily distributed across multiple threads or over a network, and the results can be cached so that they are available to the entire development team without having to re-bake the entire scene locally.
What platforms is Umbra 3 available for?
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, pc, PlayStation Vita and iOS platforms.
We can provide Umbra 3 on other platforms as well on request. Let’s just say we can’t list every platform we have Umbra 3 on…
Is Umbra 3 available on commercial engines?
Yes. Umbra 3 is integrated into Unreal Engine 3™, GameBryo™, BigWorld™, Vision™ and Unity 3D™. Unity 3D uses Umbra 3 Optimizer and Umbra 3 Runtime components and the other engine integrations use Umbra 3 OB.
How long does it take to integrate Umbra 3 into our engine?
That depends on your engine, but a basic integration of Umbra 3 to a proprietary game engine typically takes about 3 days. Umbra 3 SDK packages ship with an detailed integration guide and sample code which makes the integration extremely easy.
Do we get the source code?
Yes. Upon licensing Umbra 3, you can have access to the source code. You may also get to talk to the Architect himself.
We need help with our PlayStation 3 performance, can you help?
Sure thing.
How’s your support when it’s crunch time for us and we need answers fast?
Awesome. Just try it! All of our support is handled by the engineers who work on Umbra’s core tech.
This sounds awesome! How can I start trying out Umbra 3 and be convinced?
Glad you asked. Please either go to our Evaluation page to type in a request or email sales@umbrasoftware.com and like De La Soul, we’ll get right back to you.
