Rendering
One shader file works in both the standard and the high-definition renderer. The high-definition renderer adds detail without triangle budgets (Facet) and real-time bounced light (Solstice), and from the next release both renderers share one tone curve, so a scene looks right in either.
Light bounces around the scene live: sun, sky and glowing surfaces light everything they face, and reflections include objects that are off screen. It needs a graphics card with ray tracing; without one, the scene uses simpler lighting and the engine reports why. Available in the high-definition renderer.
Engine capture
Peaks, lakes and forest in one view, rendered in real time in the high-definition renderer.
A shader code panel with colors, sliders generated from the code, error hints, a cost meter and a live preview. One shader file works in both the standard and high-definition renderers. Desktop exports prepare every shader while loading, so play does not stutter the first time an effect appears.
Meshes with millions of triangles draw only the detail the screen can show, so you stop hand-making lower-detail versions. Rocks, trunks and scanned props stay sharp up close and cheap far away. Geometry streams from disk as the camera moves. Available in the high-definition renderer.
Shipped in v0.6.0A scene that sets no exposure gets automatic exposure in the high-definition renderer, and both renderers share the same default tone curve, so a first scene looks right in either.
Shipped in v0.7.0In the high-definition renderer, sun shadows are cached and only redrawn where something moved, so wide views stay sharp and cheap, and point and spot lights cast shadows too. On graphics cards with ray tracing it can trace shadows, and swaying trees and animated characters show up in them as they move.
Shipped in v0.6.0A sun-driven sky with volumetric clouds, cloud shadows and distance haze. Available in the high-definition renderer. Optional automatic exposure, where the camera adapts like an eye between shade and sunlight, arrives in the next release.
Shipped in v0.6.0Metal, clear-coat car paint with flakes, back-lit leaves and cloth, and correct overlapping transparency in the high-definition renderer. Upscaling and multisampling keep edges clean.
Shipped in v0.6.0Distant trees turn into baked billboards automatically, so long view distances stay affordable. Available in the high-definition renderer.
Shipped in v0.6.0Emitters with eight ready-made presets such as fire, smoke, sparks and dust. At the Ultra preset, rough seas throw spray, and waterfalls make mist.
Shipped in v0.6.0More terrain detail, better distant forests, and the standard and high-definition renderers looking alike.
Planned for v0.8.0Squall will add fluid simulation and more ready-made effects, authored as data that you and an AI can both edit.
Planned for v0.8.0Bright skies and dark interiors both readable in the same view.
Planned for v0.8.0Light shafts through fog and haze, scenes with many lights, and better translucency and skin.
Planned for v0.8.0