For those who don’t know the tool: Natsura, the Houdini foliage toolkit lives inside Houdini, can push assets to Unreal Engine workflows, and now leans harder into assemblies, mapping, and export glue.

What shipped in 0.6

Version 0.6.0.0 landed on March 25, 2026, with support for Houdini 20.5 and Houdini 21.0. The release calls out modular effectors, Nanite assemblies, an assembly decorator, a revamped UI, analytics, scan extension, and Houdini 21 support. The update introduces an Assembly workflow aimed at quickly rigging twig and branch libraries and assembling canopies. There is also a set of tools for Unreal Nanite skeletal assembly support, paired with wind authoring tools. Assembly-related nodes are flagged as experimental in the release notes, though. Be careful.

On the shaping side, the release adds a modular effector system like a bolt on simulation modifiers with no VEX required. Effectors are an extendable stack, and the base effector node supports writing VEX to extend the simulation and respond to geometry and inputs.

Assemblies, decorators, and Unreal export

The release adds new nodes for an assembly pipeline, including an assembly resource node for mesh library import and auto rigging, an assembly decoration node for canopy decoration that can pick modules based on traits and transform instance hierarchies with rigid rotations, and a classify node for trait-based module classification.

Export to Unreal related workflows gets multiple mentions. The export node for Unreal Nanite assembly lists updates including material support, skeletal and static assembly, fixed instance naming, and removal of a transform on points that broke instancing. There is also a LOP node for USD workflows that creates a Nanite assembly for SOP based creation.

Wind support is expanded through new nodes for wind initialisation and validation, wind class assignment for Unreal, a wind preview visualisation tool that is functional but not accurate or meant to look good, and a node that exports UE5 DynamicWindSkeletalData as JSON. If your environment team already has a wind data convention, this is the part to validate early, especially around naming, material binding, and what your in-engine tooling expects.

Effectors, guides, and growth controls

Several new effectors are listed: deflection, magnet attraction, gravitropism, gravity, and noise based growth perturbation. The grow node line gets a long set of updates in this release, including a new spiral parameter with absolute and relative modes, integration with the effector stack, and an updated decorator stack format to match the effector stack.

One practical change is the way mapping and prim construction are described. Map prim construction is deferred to grow, which is described as reducing node count and compile time. There is also an instant colour preview mentioned, plus options for skeleton swapping and custom draw modules. Growth workflows appear to be treated as a family of versions, with backwards compatibility restored across multiple grow versions and various mapping and parameter warning cleanups.

Rig simplification and reskinning

Rig simplification tooling shows up both as a new simplify rig node and as updates to a simplify rig reskin path, as well as multi stem tree support, chaining of simplify nodes, and added carve method and max joints count. If your pipeline needs a predictable joint budget for game ready trees, this is where you will want to spend time.

Analytics and privacy details

Analytics is “opt-in” and disabled by default, with no data collected without explicit user consent. If you work in an environment with strict compliance rules, the opt in default and EU cloud note are helpful details, but you still need to run your own review. Make sure your team knows what is allowed, and that tool telemetry decisions match your facility policy.

The notes also state that 0.7 will be a breaking release, and this 0.6 release includes precursor work such as a standardised mapping architecture, groundwork for decorator cook trigger decoupling, and a foundation for mappable decorator parameters. Read that as a warning to keep a rollback plan, and to budget time for update testing before you touch active porudction setups.

Compatibility notes for Houdini artists

Houdini 21 support is obvious, including mention of an APEX graph schema enforcement fix. The release also claims continued full Houdini 20.5 support, plus compatibility work around Qt bindings.

In practice, this release spans a lot of surface area: SOP level nodes, UI panels, export to Unreal, USD workflow hooks, analytics, and a mapping engine refactor. That is a lot of moving parts for a minor release number, even if the changelog is transparent about what is experimental. Treat the upgrade like you would any node library update: keep a copy of old scenes, validate the graphs, and test exports end to end before shipping anything client facing.

https://www.natsura.com/

The post Natsura 0.6 adds effectors and Nanite export for Houdini Foliage first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

One click, fewer vertex pushes

SmartConform Pro is a geometry-based conform and projection tool that wraps meshes onto complex surfaces like terrain, walls, and props directly inside the editor. The goal is to avoid manual rotation, scaling, and tweaking when placing assets on uneven geometry.

The core workflow is simple_ You select a source mesh and a target surface, then run a projection to conform the source onto the target. The tool targets common environment tasks like placing sci-fi panels, vents, and other hard-surface details onto curved geometry, plus placing rocks, debris, and similar assets naturally on terrain. Or, as we now them, ALL DA GREEBLIES!

Wrapping modes, overhangs, and smoothing

SmartConform Pro includes projection modes for surface-based wrapping and vertical projection, with volume preservation called out as a “design intent” – including supposedly smart overhang handling with an optional fallback to world surfaces.

There is a relaxation smoothing feature intended to reduce stretching and improve deformation quality. The interface provides a real-time preview for interactive setting changes before committing the result. One takeaway is that this is meant for fast conform tasks where the input mesh shape and UVs should stay predictable after the confrom step, instead of becoming a hand-tuned placement problem.

Baking, Nanite, and what it depends on

SmartConform Pro can bake the result to a static mesh, with Nanite readiness claimed after baking. Nanite support is described in the context of generating baked meshes suitable for high-detail rendering workflows, which aligns with how Nanite operates on static mesh assets.

Under the hood, the tool lists a C plus plus core powered by Geometry Scripting and an Editor Utility Widget interface. The listing also notes it requires the Unreal Engine Geometry Script and Geometry Processing plugins, referencing Geometry Processing as part of the dependency stack.

As always, new tools and workflow shortcuts should be tested on a copy of your project before they touch production assets, especially when deformation, baking, and downstream lighting or collision are involved.

Pricing and availability

SmartConform Pro is sold on Fab, with a Personal license for 55€, and a Professional License for studios / Entities beyond 100.00€ revenue a year, coming in at 96€.

What to watch for in real projects

The promise here is speed: fast placement for modular detailing and kitbashing, without leaving the editor. The real question for pipelines is how consistent the porjection results are across different mesh densities, collision setups, and target surface complexity, and how clean the baked meshes are for Nanite, LODs, and lightmaps once they leave the preview phase.

If this lands, it is the kind of editor utility that pays for itself by deleting a thousand tiny manual adjustments from every environment pass.

https://www.fab.com/listings/3df02265-3c86-4d3f-a17f-3fea15d418f1

The post Meshes in Unreal: Arvomis Oy ships SmartConform Pro first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The problem NanoGS tackles

3D Gaussian splatting can look like magic right up until it starts behaving like a tax audit. Big captures mean millions of splats. Millions of splats mean constant sorting work, a lot of memory pressure, and a very real risk that the renderer spends time drawing things the camera never sees. NanoGS targets that exact pain: rendering large-scale Gaussian splatting files in real time, while handling video memory pressure, sorting huge splat counts efficiently, and drawing only what the screen needs.

The approach focuses on a set of optimisation techniques: Nanite-style LOD clusters, screen-space error LOD selection, splat compaction, a global accumulator, and GPU radix sort. The headline promise is straightforward: large-scale Gaussian splatting scenes should render efficiently, with an emphasis on keeping memory usage low. That is a marketing claim.

Supported engine versions and what you actually install

NanoGS lists support for Unreal Engine versions UE5.6 and UE5.7. The workflow stays inside the familiar plugin lane. You download the plugin from the releases page, place it into your project’s Plugins folder, then import a PLY file using the plugin import button. That import creates a Gaussian Splat Asset, which you can drag directly into a level for rendering.

There is also an asset action to enable or disable Nanite if needed. It is an unusual sentence to write about splats, but that is the point: the tool is trying to make splats behave like a native citizen in the realtime world.

The controls that decide whether it feels stable

The plugin exposes settings grouped by intent. They map cleanly to the trade-offs most realtime teams already juggle: quality, performance, and final look. On the quality side, SH Order adjusts spherical harmonics quality. On the performance side, Sort Every Nth Frame changes how often splats get sorted. Enable Frustum Culling turns frustum culling on or off. LOD Error Threshold sets how sensitive LOD cluster switching should be. On the rendering side, Opacity Scale adjusts splat opacity, and Splat Scale adjusts splat size.

These are not vanity sliders. Sorting frequency can be the difference between a stable camera move and a shimmering mess. Culling can be the difference between a scene that fits and a scene that explodes memory. LOD sensitivity can be the difference between crisp detail and visible popping. And opacity and scale are the levers that decide whether the splats read as a coherent surface or as a cloud of regret.

About one third into your first test session, you will probably notice the same thing most teams do: the scene can look fine at rest, then fall apart during motion if sorting gets too infrequent. That is when you stop guessing and start dialing.

Debug commands that make problems obvious

NanoGS includes console commands designed for inspection and stress testing. gs.ShowClusterBounds 1 enables a Nanite cluster preview, and setting it to 0 disables that preview. gs.DebugForceLODLevel can force rendering at a specific LOD cluster level for debugging, with values like 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on.

Then there is the one that will get used the most in anger: gs.MaxRenderBudget. It limits the maximum number of visible splats after culling to save memory. The default is no limit, using 0. You can set a maximum cap such as 3,000,000. When the cap is active, the culling starts from splats far from the camera.

If you are trying to ship anything on fixed hardware budgets, this kind of explicit cap is refreshing. It makes the failure mode predictable. It also makes it easier to have honest conversations with art and production, because the tool draws a hard line instead of pretending everything will fit if you just believe harder.

Best practice: do not feed it one giant splat brick

NanoGS calls out a best practice that will sound familiar to anyone who has ever fought streaming, culling, or draw lists. A single big chunk of gaussian splatting file does not help performance optimization. Splats outside the camera view cannot be culled effectively. And if everything stays in one chunk, all splats stay engaged in sorting all the time.

The recommended format is to slice a large splat file into smaller pieces. Examples given include individual props for cinematic scenes or tiles for geo-spatial data. The repository includes a simple tile slicer written in Python to support that workflow.

Proof of concept, not a miracle

NanoGS is described as a proof of concept, with a clear warning not to expect perfect results. Issues can be reported on the project page. That framing matters for production teams because it sets the correct expectation: you are evaluating a technique and an implementation, not adopting a finished commercial renderer. The good news is that the tool is built to be tested, with the kind of switches and debug views that make evaluation less mystical.

New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production, especially when they touch core rendering paths and memory budgets.

Release, license, and what it costs

NanoGS is released under the MIT license.

The repository lists v1.0.1 as the latest release, dated March 20, 2026.

The plugin is free.

https://github.com/TimChen1383/NanoGaussianSplatting

The post NanoGaussianSplats for UE5 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The new CardCutter add-on for Blender converts texture masks into usable 3D geometry for Nanite-based projects in Unreal Engine 5. Created by developer Philipp Russo, the tool simplifies building game-ready foliage and decals by generating optimised meshes directly from source textures.

CardCutter operates as a geometry generation tool that converts 2D texture data, either alpha-masked colour images or greyscale masks, into fully triangulated 3D meshes suitable for Nanite rendering. The add-on functions within Blender’s Python API and supports Blender 4.0 or higher. According to the developer, the geometry output is designed to conform to Nanite’s mesh constraints, favouring dense, evenly distributed triangles over traditional quad-based topologies.

Each processed mask is interpreted as a binary image, with the alpha threshold defining the polygon contour. The tool applies an internal vectorisation step to trace the boundary of the visible region, followed by a polygon simplification algorithm to remove redundant vertices. It then uses a relaxation solver to re-distribute triangle density uniformly across the surface, creating stable topology for Nanite’s internal micro-polygon clustering.

Automatic atlas splitting

When the user provides a texture atlas (for example, a leaf sheet), CardCutter automatically detects discrete masked regions using connected-component labelling. Each detected region becomes a separate mesh object in Blender’s scene graph. This removes the need for manual cutting or polygon mask painting, which is typically required in foliage production. Each region retains its local UV coordinates, preserving the original texture mapping from the atlas. The output meshes can be exported directly as FBX or glTF, maintaining UV alignment and pivot orientation suitable for Unreal Engine import.

Geometry presets for performance tiers

CardCutter offers several density presets: Low, Medium, and High, which define the target number of triangles per pixel area. The lower settings generate lightweight meshes for background vegetation, while the higher settings produce Nanite-ready geometry that benefits from Unreal’s automatic cluster streaming.

The generated meshes are particularly intended for organic and irregular silhouettes like leaves, vines, ivy, ferns, but the developer also notes suitable use cases in flat debris, stickers, posters, and paper scraps, where alpha planes normally create overdraw problems.

In Nanite rendering, alpha cutouts are computationally expensive since masked fragments are still rasterised. By converting them into actual geometry, CardCutter removes the transparency pass entirely, allowing the GPU to perform visibility culling at the triangle level. This is beneficial for scenes with dense foliage or decal overlays.

Export workflow and integration

Meshes generated by CardCutter can be exported directly from Blender using Unreal’s standard FBX pipeline. The add-on does not alter material data; instead, it preserves UV maps for external shading setups. Unreal users can apply the same texture as an opacity mask or base colour without modification.

CardCutter also supports consistent vertex orientation to avoid flipped normals during export. According to the developer, all geometry is manifold and suitable for Nanite import without further cleanup, though it may require triangulation if the user modifies topology post-generation.

Pricing and licensing

CardCutter is distributed via Gumroad. The Individual/Freelance licence costs €12 and includes full functionality, updates, and one user seat. The Studio/Enterprise licence, priced at €50, allows unlimited installations within one facility and provides priority support for pipeline integration. Both include lifetime updates and are maintained by Philipp Russo under The Triangle Forge label.

Technical limitations and notes

At the time of publication, CardCutter is compatible exclusively with Blender 4.0 or newer. The add-on does not currently support real-time texture-to-mesh previews or batch automation through the command line.

Users should test export consistency when integrating the tool into complex Unreal foliage systems that depend on hierarchical instancing or runtime material overrides. The add-on outputs static geometry only, without procedural modifiers or animation rigs.

The post CardCutter turns texture into Nanite meshes first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Fab is Epic Games marketplace for 3D assets, replacing the Unreal Marketplace. It regularly offers time-limited free asset sets that you can permanently add to your library once claimed. These packs are commercially usable, work in most DCC applications and engines, and are a practical way to expand or start an asset collection without cost.

Two weeks to go before the calendar expires, and if you are looking to bury your good intentions somewhere scenic, Epic Games has the perfect spot. The Cryptic Realms Necropolis pack, normally $99.99, is free on Fab until 27 January 2026.

The pack offers 371 placeable objects to construct a stylised graveyard environment. It includes 80 modular meshes for ruins, tombs and crumbling architecture, plus graves, coffins, and set dressing items to complete the scene of your artistic demise.

Death by detail

Each asset includes 23 materials and textures, up to 4,096 by 4,096 pixels. The models support Nanite and Lumen, Unreal Engine’s systems for high-density geometry and dynamic lighting. There are three preset lighting setups to choose from, along with a modular environmental audio system to ensure your ghosts sound convincing. The pack is built for Unreal Engine 5.1 and later. However, the Fab Standard licence allows use in any engine or tool, including commercial projects, as long as the Fab EULA is followed.

Available now, before it’s dead again

The Necropolis pack can be downloaded free from Fab until 27 January 2026, after which it returns to its regular price. Perfect timing if you plan to give your old projects a decent burial before the new year arrives. As always, test assets thoroughly before using them in production or before the next resurrection of your pipeline.

The post Bury Your Good Intentions in 3D first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Epic Games has released the Ancient Temple Ruins asset pack as part of its time-limited free content on Fab. The pack includes 80 modular environment assets for creating ruined temple scenes and will remain free to download until 13 January 2026.

Created by Shapefarm Senior Environment Artist Rasmus Bagner, the set provides modular architecture (walls, roofs, floors), vegetation (trees, palms, rubber plants) and a range of small scatter props. The assets are built for Unreal Engine 5, making full use of Nanite virtualised geometry. All textures ship at up to 4096×4096px resolution.

Lumen lighting and engine flexibility

The included sample project demonstrates the assets within a Lumen lighting setup, featuring four predefined lighting environments. According to Epic, only the main tree asset includes LODs; all other models rely on Nanite for rendering efficiency. The pack is compatible with Unreal Engine 5.2 or newer.

Although designed for Unreal, the assets are released under the Fab Standard licence, which allows use in “any engine or tool”, including for commercial projects, as long as users comply with the Fab EULA.

Download and production notes

The Ancient Temple Ruins pack can be claimed from Fab’s listing page before the deadline. Once added to a user’s library, the assets remain available permanently. The models can be imported into other tools such as Blender, Maya, or 3ds Max through standard file export.

As with any new asset pack, we recommend testing performance and compatibility within active pipelines before using the models in production scenes. Seriously. Remember your New Year’s resolutions!

The post Epic drops 80 free temple assets on Fab first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Epic Games has officially released Unreal Engine 5.7. The update expands major systems across rendering, procedural content, materials, animation, and virtual production. It also introduces an in-Editor AI Assistant. Several features, including the Nanite Foliage rendering system, remain Experimental, while others, most notably the PCG framework and Substrate materials, are now designated production-ready. If you think “Didn’t you tell me all of this already?”: We had a Preview-News for the Preview and Teasers.

Procedural Content Generation (PCG) ready for production

Epic now considers the PCG framework suitable for use in final projects. The system allows artists to populate large environments procedurally, introduce variety, and automate level construction. Unreal Engine 5.7 adds a dedicated PCG Editor Mode, performance optimisations for GPU compute tasks, and a Procedural Vegetation Editor (PVE) for foliage placement. While PCG itself is stable, the PVE remains Experimental. Epic recommends verifying runtime performance and scalability before adoption in production environments.

Nanite Foliage enters testing

Nanite Foliage introduces a new geometry rendering pipeline for dense, animated vegetation in open-world environments. It combines Nanite Assemblies, Nanite Skinning, and Nanite Voxels to balance geometric detail with runtime efficiency. Epic lists the entire system as Experimental. Studios considering it for production should expect incomplete support for physics, collisions, and wind animation, and should validate performance on target hardware.

Substrate materials: modular and physically accurate

The Substrate framework for modular material authoring and rendering has graduated to production-ready status. It enables layering of physically accurate material types such as clear coat, metal, cloth, and skin, producing more realistic composite surfaces.

For material and look-dev teams, Substrate now replaces earlier shading models in complex asset pipelines. Epic recommends migrating projects incrementally and benchmarking shaders to ensure compatibility and consistency across devices.

Animation and virtual-production improvements

Unreal Engine 5.7 extends its animation toolkit with an overhauled Animation Mode, improved IK Retargeter and Skeletal Editor, and a new Dependency View for visualising control hierarchies.

For virtual-production users, the engine adds a Live Link Broadcast Component, allowing Unreal itself to act as a live animation source on-set. Composure, Unreal’s integrated real-time compositor, has been upgraded for improved handling of shadows, reflections, and colour accuracy during LED volume shoots. Incremental Cooking enters Beta, promising faster asset iteration for large virtual-production projects, though Epic cautions against immediate production use.

AI Assistant built into the Editor

A new AI Assistant now lives directly within the Unreal Editor. Users can ask technical questions, request code snippets in C++, or receive step-by-step instructions without leaving the viewport. The tool is designed to reduce context switching but is not intended to replace documentation or verified workflows. Its long-term reliability in multi-user pipelines remains untested, and Epic has not disclosed details about data handling or privacy.

Extended MetaHuman and cross-platform updates

The MetaHuman Creator plugin now runs on Linux and macOS, expanding platform support beyond Windows. Additional scripting APIs enhance automation and integration for character pipelines.

Here’s more about the Hairstyle generator.

Rendering, audio, and mobile improvements

Rendering updates include support for Android 15, new “Geometry Inspection” viewport modes for surface analysis, and expanded anti-aliasing and shadowing options. Nanite continues to gain broader coverage across rendering passes. Audio workflows benefit from “Audio Insights” (Beta), enhanced subtitle support, and updates to the waveform editor. These features target real-time review and iteration efficiency rather than final mixdown.

Caveats and production considerations

Despite multiple “production-ready” designations, Epic’s documentation lists numerous features as Beta or Experimental. Nanite Foliage, the Procedural Vegetation Editor, and MegaLights are explicitly unfinished. Documentation for several systems remains incomplete, and large projects upgrading from earlier versions will require shader recompilation and plugin verification. Studios are advised to test workflows in parallel, evaluate GPU and CPU loads, and confirm asset compatibility before upgrading live projects.

The post Unreal Engine 5.7: foliage, PCG and in-Editor AI first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Twinmotion 2025.2 introduces Nanite, Unreal Engine’s virtualised geometry system. Nanite uses a new mesh format and rendering technology to stream only the visible parts of geometry on demand, allowing pixel-scale detail and very high object counts. Imported geometry meshes can be converted to Nanite at the time of import or afterwards via the Properties panel. A new Convert all to Nanite option has been added to the Scene graph’s contextual menu, enabling batch conversion of all geometries under a selected parent object. A dedicated Nanite triangles viewport mode displays Nanite mesh detail directly in the viewport. This can be enabled through the View mode icon.

In practice, this allows Twinmotion users to import high-resolution models from CAD, scan data, or sculpting applications without a pre-optimisation pass. According to Epic, the system is capable of handling datasets with hundreds of millions or even billions of polygons while retaining real-time responsiveness. This opens doors for users in architecture or automotive, where models often contain overwhelming detail at the component level, from bolts in a car chassis to screws in a façade system.

The implication is that asset fidelity is no longer artificially constrained at the import stage. However, Nanite’s real-world performance is always hardware dependent. While Epic emphasises “real-time performance,” users should expect performance scaling based on GPU capability, VRAM, and I/O throughput. Twinmotion’s positioning of Nanite as “removing the need to optimise” should be read literally only in terms of workflow steps, not in terms of performance costs. Heavy assets still consume resources.

Parallax Windows

Twinmotion 2025.2 includes a new Parallax Windows library. This library provides 32 assets, including office, residential, and gym interiors, alongside 10 retail interiors developed with wParallax.

These parallax windows can be dropped into scenes to simulate interior spaces without modelling and furnishing every room. Properties include night cycle simulation with randomised lighting, glass overlay simulation for added realism, and controls for mirroring and dual-sided occlusion.

3D Grass Material

The update adds a new 3D Grass Material with several enhancements. An Accent meshes section introduces small vegetation elements that break up uniform grass distribution and create a more natural appearance. A new Presets section contains 15 curated setups combining grass types, accent meshes, and parameter settings. Colour blending has been reworked, and a Dryness parameter allows application of a dry, sun-scorched effect across grass surfaces.

Installer Size Reduction and On-demand Content

The Twinmotion installer has been reduced in size by moving content to cloud storage. This change simplifies network deployment and makes distribution lighter. A new content-on-demand system allows users to download legacy content as needed. A Download icon in the Library categories lets users fetch entire categories. Content packs can also be downloaded from the Library packs tab of the Home panel. Epic now distinguishes between a Standard Library Pack, containing the full drag-and-drop asset collection, and a lighter Starter Library Pack for demos or quick installs.

Fog Cards

Twinmotion 2025.2 introduces Fog Cards into the VFX category. These are lightweight particle cards designed to add fog layers to a scene. Seventeen Fog Card assets are included. They can be scaled, tinted, and given emissive colours. A set of wind-reactive properties enables fog cards to move with global wind or at custom speed and direction. Fog cards can be combined with existing fog features, such as the global Ambience > Env > Fog or smaller fog banks in Library > Objects > VFX > Fog.

Camera Synchronisation

Twinmotion 2025.2 adds Camera Synchronisation with DCC applications. Through Direct Link or Datasmith imports, both active viewport cameras and saved DCC camera views can be aligned with the Twinmotion viewport camera. A new Camera Sync icon appears in the viewport when a Direct Link or Datasmith connection is active. This opens a user interface with options to enable or disable sync, and to select which DCC view to synchronise.

Static Motion Blur

A new Static Motion Blur system is included. Two tools, Linear Blur and Circular Blur, are available in the Tools > Static motion blur section of the Library.

When a static mesh is made a child of one of these tools in the Scene graph, the chosen blur effect is applied. This allows simulation of motion in still renders, such as wheel rotation on a static vehicle or directional blur on crowds.

Virtual Camera (VCam)

Twinmotion 2025.2 connects with the Unreal VCam app on Android and iOS. This allows a handheld device to control a live camera in Twinmotion scenes. The system supports placement of live cameras and real-time control of focal length, focus, exposure, and navigation settings. Streaming quality can be configured in the Preferences panel.

Exploder

The update introduces Exploder as a new type of Animator tool. Exploders create exploded view animations by separating the parts of an object in space and optionally reassembling them. Exploder Animators include a Shape parameter (sphere, cylinder, or plane) to define movement direction. Per-object settings for Timing and Origin allow staggered offsets and pivot controls. Exploders affect only their direct children in the Scene graph. The Library includes Exploder tool presets, such as Gentle Push, Deconstruct, Inflate, Ring Peel, Pressurize, Plan Split, and Stack Reassemble. These presets can be customised and saved as new versions.

Static and Real-time Animations in Images and Panoramas

Twinmotion 2025.2 introduces a global Static / Real time animation toggle for images and panoramas. This allows creators to pause animations at a specific frame when rendering stills or panoramas, rather than being restricted to real-time playback.

Sony Spatial Reality Display Support

Configuration triggers are now supported on the Sony Spatial Reality Display (SRD). This enables switching between configuration states directly on the SRD device.

Custom LUT Support

Twinmotion 2025.2 adds support for custom LUTs (lookup tables) in .cube format. LUTs can be imported into the new LUT category under the FX tab of the Ambience panel.

Users can apply LUTs from libraries or create them externally in image editing software such as Photoshop.

Advanced Post-process Effects

The FX tab filter system has been redesigned. Filters are now grouped under an Effects category with new settings for sketch-style visuals. Options include hatching, Kuwahara filtering, and pen-style outlines. Parameters are fully exposed, allowing customisation and saving of filter presets.

Conclusion

Twinmotion 2025.2 is a major release, expanding across geometry handling, materials, animation, post-processing, and interoperability. With features such as Nanite integration, Parallax Windows, Fog Cards, Exploder Animators, VCam support, custom LUTs, and mesh tessellation, this update covers both headline capabilities and smaller workflow refinements. Studios should review these features against their production needs before integrating them into pipelines.

The post Nanite marches in: Twinmotion 2025.2 update first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

Epic Games’ official Unreal Engine 5.7 roadmap lists features under development, flagged either as experimental, planned, or in progress. Epic explicitly notes that roadmap items are not guaranteed for final release, and specifications may change. What follows are the features as listed by Epic, with technical implications described only where the roadmap itself provides detail.

Nanite Foliage Skinning

Epic’s roadmap lists Nanite foliage skinning (experimental) as part of the 5.7 cycle. The description reads: “Support for skinned animation on Nanite meshes, targeting deformable foliage assets.” Technically, this means skeletal deformation can be applied to Nanite-rendered meshes. In practical terms, foliage such as trees, bushes, and plants can now bend or sway while still rendered through Nanite’s virtualised micro-polygon system.

Epic labels the feature experimental. The roadmap does not specify performance costs on large foliage sets, nor does it explain how collisions or physics will be processed on skinned Nanite meshes. It is also unclear whether foliage interaction will support runtime forces such as wind or player contact, or whether it will be limited to authored skeletal animations. The division of labour between GPU and CPU during skinning operations is likewise not addressed. In other words, the roadmap confirms intent but does not provide implementation data, benchmarks, or sample assets. Until Epic publishes release notes or project examples, the system should be treated strictly as a test feature.

Procedural Content Generation (PCG)

The roadmap lists further PCG Graph improvements, but again provides only high-level notes. It mentions performance optimisations for large graphs, scalability improvements for complex scenes, and unspecified new node functionality. The PCG Graph will therefore see expanded tool coverage, though Epic does not provide any public node list, API changes, or user interface details.

Without supporting documentation, it remains uncertain whether these optimisations will impact runtime evaluation, editor evaluation, or both. No data is provided on memory usage, multithreading behaviour, or handling of collision data. The entry confirms that Epic continues to iterate on PCG, but no quantifiable detail is currently available.

Editor Improvements

Several roadmap entries fall under the heading of editor usability. Epic indicates that work is underway on viewport responsiveness under heavy scene complexity, faster asset loading inside the content browser, and adjustments to the handling of user interface layouts. These items are all listed as “in development” and are not accompanied by screenshots or changelogs.

Animation and Rigging

The roadmap also includes several animation workflow enhancements. Epic notes extensions to Control Rig workflows, updates to Sequencer, and further refinements to animation retargeting. Each of these entries is marked as “work in progress.”

No additional information is given about whether the changes will impact realtime rig evaluation speed, deformation accuracy, or interoperability with external animation pipelines. There is no detail about whether Sequencer improvements involve caching performance, timeline interactivity, or extended export formats. Likewise, retargeting updates are flagged without technical breakdown. The entries confirm active development in the animation and rigging space but do not provide implementation detail.

Rendering

Rendering updates are listed under 5.7, but the roadmap remains sparse on specifics. Epic confirms ongoing work on Lumen, improvements to Virtual Shadow Maps (VSM), and efforts to improve shader compilation efficiency. These items are described only as “in development.”

The roadmap does not indicate whether the Lumen work targets GPU memory usage, light transport artefacts, or platform compatibility. Similarly, it does not explain whether the VSM refinements relate to aliasing control, shadow cascade transitions, or long-distance artefacts. Shader compilation efficiency is referenced, but with no mention of distributed build support, caching mechanisms, or per-platform results. Without measurable data, the rendering entries remain directional rather than technical.

Miscellaneous but Useful

Several smaller items appear on the roadmap that, while not as flashy as Nanite foliage or Lumen updates, will have tangible workflow benefits. The Media Viewer (Beta) is designed to allow previewing of media assets inside the editor itself. In practice, it reduces the constant need to switch to external tools just to confirm what a clip looks like. Think of it as fewer alt-tabs to VLC.

The Chaos Visual Debugger will provide visualisation tools for the Chaos physics engine. Instead of guessing why your ragdoll exploded or your fracture simulation folded in half, you’ll actually see what the solver is calculating. This means more cubes falling over, this time for science.

The Live Link Hub consolidates device connections for motion capture and animation input. By centralising connections, it removes the need for manually juggling multiple plugin panels. It’s essentially speed dating for rigs and trackers—everyone meets in one place.

Finally, EXR Metadata per Render Layer gives rendered EXRs the ability to carry metadata with each individual layer. This is a small but meaningful step for compositors: it means fewer mysteries about which pass is which when “beauty_pass_37.exr” shows up in the comp.

Documentation and Transparency

A persistent theme across the 5.7 roadmap is brevity. Entries are limited to one or two lines, with no linked technical notes, screenshots, or change logs. This format provides visibility into Epic’s current areas of focus but leaves production teams without actionable information for pipeline planning.

Documentation for Unreal Engine has historically lagged behind public releases, and if 5.7 follows the same pattern, details may only become available after the features ship. Until Epic releases formal documentation and benchmarks, all roadmap features should be considered provisional.

Conclusion: Experiments, Not Guarantees

Unreal Engine 5.7, as described in Epic’s official roadmap, is primarily a collection of experiments and development goals. The most specific entry, Nanite foliage skinning, extends Nanite into deformable geometry for the first time, but Epic itself marks it experimental and provides no data on stability, memory overhead, or collision handling.

Other roadmap items, including PCG optimisations, editor usability changes, animation workflow extensions, rendering refinements, and smaller quality-of-life features, remain placeholders. The descriptions confirm that development is active but stop short of offering implementation detail.

For production artists, the conclusion is clear. Unreal Engine 5.7 is not yet a release to plan pipelines around. Every feature must be tested in controlled conditions before it can be considered safe for client-facing work. As always, Epic’s roadmap is a guide to areas of development, not a guarantee of final functionality.

The post Unreal Engine 5.7: Experimental Tech, Measured Expectations first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Epic Games’ Fab marketplace has rolled out a historically inspired treat for Unreal Engine users. The Traditional Chinese-Style Park asset pack, designed by Chen Jian, delivers 205 modular meshes for assembling rural Chinese architecture. Available free until August 12, 2025, this pack equips you to build everything from pagoda temples to riverside viewing decks. If your production has ever needed a Ming-era makeover, now is the time.

Every Module You’d Expect (and Some You Wouldn’t)

The pack’s modular pieces include doors, windows, railings, columns, Dougong bracket sets, and Que ti corbels. Full structures can be assembled using these modules to create temples, shrines, tombs, bridges, and classic waterside platforms. Rock formations and farmland props round out the environment, and, because every ancient village needs a spot of melancholy, two weeping willows are included. Also on the list: a ceremonial fish shrine and a decorative bridge.

Not Just Static—Dynamic Niagara FX Included

Version 2.0 brings dynamic visual upgrades. The scene includes a schooling fish system, rain effects, and volumetric fog, all built with Niagara for real-time flexibility. For full function, you’ll need the HDRIBackdrop and Niagara Fluids plugins enabled in Unreal Engine.

Ultra-High Textures, Nanite-Ready Meshes

All assets require Unreal Engine 5.3 or newer. Each mesh is built for Nanite, which means you get millions of vertices and no LODs to wrangle. Texture maps clock in at up to 8K resolution. For studios on older versions, Nanite can be toggled off (but expect some potential compatibility workarounds).

What’s Actually Included? Here’s the Roster

• Modular building blocks: doors, windows, railings, columns, Dougong brackets, Que ti corbels
• Fully constructed scene assets: temples, bridges, viewing platforms, tomb, ceremonial shrine, farmland, rock pieces, two weeping willows
• Dynamic scene FX: schooling fish (Niagara), rain, volumetric fog

One caveat: any Quixel assets pictured in promo shots are not part of the download. Only the bespoke Chen Jian pieces are included.

Licensing and Availability

The kit is distributed under Fab’s Standard License, which allows commercial use in any engine or tool, as long as you follow Fab’s EULA. Download is free until August 12, 2025. After that, pricing is at the mercy of market forces or Epic’s next PR push.

Fact Check: Test Before You Render

As with any marketplace asset, users should rigorously test in production pipelines before adopting in client work. No vendor will take responsibility for missed deadlines caused by bracket-misalignment or errant willows.

The post Free UE5 Pack: 200+ Ways to Build Your Own Dynasty (In Unreal) first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Epic Games has made its Project Titan Unreal Engine project available as a free download. Developed during one of the largest collaborative game jams to date, the project offers a vast 8km x 8km open-world environment alongside unique tools, assets, and training materials.

A Massive Collaborative Effort

From March 28 to June 7, 2024, over 1,400 participants contributed to Project Titan, producing more than 10,000 meshes, 200 skeletal meshes, 5,000 materials, and 180 Niagara particle systems. The result is a sprawling open-world landscape, now optimized for platforms ranging from mobile devices to high-end PCs.

Learning Unreal Engine 5 Technologies

The project serves as a learning resource for Unreal Engine 5’s cutting-edge technologies, including Nanite for virtualized geometry, Landmass for terrain manipulation, and Mover for character handling. Alongside these, the release includes custom plugins and tools developed during the jam.

Epic emphasizes that the project is not a showcase of “best practices” but a practical example for exploring world-building with Unreal Engine 5.5+. Training videos, mini-tutorials, and critiques by game industry professionals accompany the download, providing valuable insights for developers.

Licensing and Availability

Project Titan is available under Fab’s Standard license, allowing commercial use of its assets. Developers can download the project for free and start exploring the extensive resources it offers. For more details, visit Epic Games’ blog and download the project from Fab Marketplace.

The post UE Project Titan: Open-World Learning Resource first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Epic Games has launched the preview of Unreal Engine 5.5, delivering several key updates aimed at streamlining workflows for digital artists across film, VFX, and game production. The most notable addition is the Sparse Volume Global Illumination (SVGI), a new lighting feature designed to improve indirect lighting in real-time scenes. This system optimizes performance by using sparse volumetric representations, allowing for higher quality lighting with reduced computational overhead. Artists working on large scenes or complex lighting setups should benefit from faster renders without compromising visual fidelity.

In addition to SVGI, Unreal Engine 5.5 introduces enhancements to Nanite, Unreal’s virtualized geometry system. The update includes better support for large assets, ensuring smoother handling of highly detailed models. These improvements will help studios working on high-poly environments, allowing for real-time editing without lag.

For VFX artists, the engine now supports VFX Graph Enhancements, particularly in terms of GPU-driven simulations. With these updates, creators can work more efficiently on particle systems and complex visual effects. Unreal Engine 5.5 also integrates new debugging tools, which should simplify the troubleshooting process, making iteration cycles faster.

Game developers will notice refinements in the Animation System, with additional tools for handling complex character rigs and motion capture data. Artists can now more easily refine animations within the engine, streamlining the export process and reducing reliance on external software. The State Machine Workflow also gets an upgrade, making it more intuitive for handling character AI and interactive sequences.

The Pricing

Unreal Engine offers two main types of licensing, depending on the revenue generated by your project -these changed a little bit.

1. Free License:
   If your project (game, app, or other interactive media) generates less than $1 million in gross revenue, the license is free. You can use Unreal Engine for free during development, and you won’t owe any royalties until your revenue exceeds the $1 million threshold. This license also covers educators and schools, giving them access to all Unreal features at no cost.
2. Royalty-Based License:
   Once your product generates over $1 million in gross revenue, Unreal Engine now requires a 3,5 % royalty on all revenue exceeding that amount. This royalty applies to most revenue streams related to the product, including game sales, in-app purchases, and advertising. However, if you sell your product through the Epic Games Store, the royalty is waived for that portion of the revenue.

Additionally, for large companies or non-game projects, there’s a seat-based licensing model. Companies generating over $1 million in revenue and using Unreal Engine for internal tools or non-game applications may need to pay 1850 Us Dollar per seat, per year. For all the changes, head over to our friends at cg channel, who did a great roundup of the new pricing.

The post Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview Introduces New Lighting System first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.