After three months of development, we are excited to introduce the brand new Galacean Engine version 1.3 🎉. This update not only includes new features such as post-processing, Prefab, animation state machine, advanced materials, but also brings a wave of optimizations in stability, performance, and user experience. We have also built a large number of case templates into the editor, making it easy for users to quickly learn and preview the functionality. In addition, the design of the Galacean Engine official website has been completely updated to bring you a better browsing experience!

New official website: 🔗 👉 https://galacean.antgroup.com/engine

Editor: 🔗 👉 https://galacean.antgroup.com/editor

Rendering Features

Post-Processing

Version 1.3 comes with built-in Bloom and Tonemapping post-processing effects and supports the camera's HDR mode. The Bloom effect can add a halo effect to the scene; Tonemapping can remap the HDR values of the image, improving the overall contrast and color saturation of the picture. Both are recommended to be used with the camera's HDR mode to make the scene more atmospheric.

Shader

ShaderLab

We have completely restructured ShaderLab in version 1.3, with significant improvements in stability and user experience, reducing the package size by 70% and increasing compilation performance by nearly 300%. We have thoroughly re-engineered the compiler's underlying implementation based on compilation principles, replacing the original LL parser with a more powerful LALR parser, achieving near-complete compatibility with the syntax standards published in the official GLSL white paper. This fundamentally resolves many syntax incompatibility issues and limitations left over from version 1.2, resulting in numerous improvements and optimizations. Now you can flexibly write custom Shaders using the new ShaderLab.

Built-in Shaders

We have also built a series of advanced materials into the editor, including thin-film interference, skin, eyeball, hair. These materials can help you provide richer shading effects for models. For example, the thin-film interference Shader can simulate the phenomenon where certain surfaces gradually change color with changes in viewing angle or lighting angle, commonly used for effects like soap bubbles, feathers, butterfly wings, and gradient car paint. For popular digital human modules, you can also use our built-in skin, eyeball, and hair materials to achieve realistic character rendering.

Thin-film interference

Transparent Shadows

Starting from version 1.3, the engine supports casting shadows for Alpha Cutoff and Transparent objects. The shadows of transparent objects can be enabled in the global settings of the scene.

Prefab

Added Prefab capability. Prefab is a reusable entity template that you can drag and drop into the scene to instantiate, and any modifications to the Prefab can be automatically applied to all instances, reducing a lot of repetitive work and making the development process more efficient.

Animation Features

Animation

The animation system has added the capability of an animation state machine, allowing for more intuitive and convenient editing and previewing of animation logic in the editor. Additionally, in version 1.3, the animation system's state updates have been changed from frame-based calculations to more precise time-based calculations, ensuring correct animation performance even in cases of lag.

Particle System

Added particle bounding box calculations and support for particle frustum culling. In the particle playback panel of the editor, you can check the bounding box to estimate particle size and assist in performance optimization. This calculation covers all modules of the particles, significantly improving the rendering performance of particle scenes through accurate frustum culling.

2D Features

Pipeline

The pipeline has been refactored to make the structure clearer, unifying the rendering elements entering the pipeline layer and elegantly solving the rendering order anomalies that previously occurred in complex scenes with Spine, Lottie, etc. Additionally, performance has been improved; for example, rendering 20,000+ rotating sprites on the same screen, the FPS increased from 49 to 55, a performance improvement of approximately 12.2%.

Spine

The new version supports Spine 4.2. Spine 4.2 can automatically move bones by simulating real physical principles (example reference), simplifying the setup of secondary animations for parts like hair and clothing. The editor supports uploading binary files with the .skel suffix (binary files are smaller and load faster, and the new version recommends using the binary format) and multiple textures for Spine assets. It also supports previewing assets and dragging them into the scene.

XR Features

The XR workflow has been fully updated. After adding XR nodes to a regular project, it can be transformed into an XR project, and components can be quickly configured for image tracking, anchor tracking, and plane tracking capabilities, greatly enhancing XR development efficiency. On this basis, we can quickly develop more interesting XR interactions within the editor.

Editor Features

View Enhancements

In this update, based on feedback and suggestions, we have added a series of practical tools aimed at improving user editing efficiency.

• Play Button: A play button has been added to the toolbar. You can play all particles, animations, etc., in the scene in real-time while editing, without needing to open a new window for preview;
• Shortcut Key Deletion: Improved object operations in the view window by adding a shortcut key deletion feature;
• Camera Sync: User-created cameras can now sync with the scene camera properties, making it easier to adjust positions and perspectives;

Camera Sync As a professional 3D editor, we understand the needs of operating in 3D space on a 2D screen. Therefore, we have particularly focused on the sensitivity and intuitiveness of operation prompts and feedback, optimizing the following aspects:

• Control Feel Optimization: The operation rate is related to the scene camera position, optimizing the user's control feel for smoother and more natural scene observation;
• Focus Feedback Animation: Added feedback animations to provide clearer visual prompts and operational feedback for users;
• Gizmo Highlight: The hover highlight effect is more sensitive, suggesting the next operation to the user;
• 2D Object Outlines: Added outline display for 2D objects, making their position and boundaries more apparent in the 3D view;

Rich Project Templates

To make it easier for users to learn and use engine features more intuitively, the Galacean editor has launched a series of official feature cases and demo cases, demonstrating various 2D, animation, particle, rendering, and other features. These templates support quick preview and project cloning, allowing you to better learn the Galacean engine from scratch. For example, for digital human scenes, we have created shader templates for skin, eyeball, and hair rendering that are optimized for mobile performance and effects, ready to use out of the box.

Brand New Official Website

We have completely redesigned our official website to provide you with a better experience and more features. Welcome to visit: galacean.antgroup.com/engine. Here are the main updates:

• Brand New Interface Design and Information Architecture: The newly designed website interface brings a more modern and intuitive user experience. You can easily access our latest information, including blog posts, release logs, and conference updates.
• Brand New Documentation System: We have rewritten the documentation, examples, and API references, not only updating the interface but also thoroughly reviewing the content. The new documentation system supports real-time editing of example code, allowing you to see the effects immediately.
• Online Editable Playground: The newly added online playground page allows you to quickly try out various features of the engine and experience real-time effects.

How to Contact Us

Galacean Open Source Community Group (DingTalk):

Galacean Open Source Community Group (WeChat):

Add the group admin on WeChat: Galacean123 and note "galacean join group"

Release Notes

1.3 Runtime release note: https://github.com/galacean/runtime/releases/tag/v1.3.0