Godot 4.6 Beta 1 released
Godot 4.6 Beta 1 has landed, and the latest developments in this major update are now available. As those who have been following closely know, the development snapshots have provided a great way to keep up with the engine's progress.
Since feature freeze has been reached, there are no new features to cover compared to the previous snapshot. Instead, Godot 4.6 as a whole will be highlighted, along with notable additions that didn't make it into the earlier snapshots.
Breaking changes are always a consideration; they're minimized whenever possible but sometimes necessary to address high-priority issues. When breaking compatibility is unavoidable, minimal adjustments in user projects are required (GH-110671 and GH-110077). For instance, glow blending now occurs before tonemapping, and softlight glow blending has changed to always appear as it did when using HDR 2D on your viewport.
On the animation front, Tokage's contribution includes IK support for SkeletonModifier3D via the new class IKModifier3D (GH-110120). This is based on lessons learned from SkeletonModificationStack3D, a class removed in the 4.0 transition and has been reimplemented with modern standards in mind. Having to account for many separate systems resulted in SkeletonModifier3D receiving eight new subclasses: IKModifier3D, ChainIK3D, IterateIK3D, CCDIK3D, FABRIK3D, JacobianIK3D, SplineIK3D, and TwoBoneIK3D.
Another notable change is the correction of quaternion initialization with identity under Variant (GH-84658). This improvement ensures that Quaternions are properly initialized, which can have a significant impact on animation performance.
Animation updates also include new features such as adding BoneTwistDisperser3D to propagate IK target's twist, add LimitAngularVelocityModifier3D to interpolate deterministic IK, and add option to BoneConstraint3D to make reference target allow setting Node3D. These improvements will provide more flexibility and control for animators when working with IK systems.
In addition to animation updates, the core of Godot has received significant attention in this release. Gergely Kis, Gábor Koncz, and Ben Rog-Wilhelm have laid out a foundation for building the engine as a standalone library: LibGodot (GH-110863). This will enable developers to access Godot as a library, making it possible for specialized workflows that require direct access to Godot's functionality.
Lukas Tenbrink has brought tracing profiler support to Godot (GH-104851), eliminating the need for manual integration and re-integration of profiling logic. This feature supports Tracy, Perfetto, and Apple Instruments' signposts, providing a comprehensive set of tools for engine developers to profile and optimize their code.
The editor has also undergone significant changes with the introduction of a new default theme called "Modern Theme" (GH-111118). This theme is based on the popular Godot Minimal Theme created by passivestar and has been updated to be more modern and visually appealing. The classic theme remains available as an option for users who prefer it.
In addition to the new theme, several other editor features have been improved or added, including a revamped array inspector (GH-103257), a reworked editor docks system (GH-106503), and support for visualizing delta angles in the 3D viewport. These changes aim to improve the overall user experience and make it easier for developers to create and debug their projects.
The GDScript language has also received several updates, including native support for tracy profiling (GH-113279) and improved performance when working with large scripts. Additionally, several new features have been added to GDScript, such as debug warnings for coroutines without await and step-out functionality in the debugger.
Finally, several other areas of Godot have seen significant improvements, including the input system, internationalization support, navigation systems, physics engines, and rendering. These changes aim to improve performance, add new features, and make it easier for developers to create complex scenes and effects.
As with any major release, there are also some breaking changes that users should be aware of. These changes include updates to the animation system, audio and video playback, core functionality, documentation, editor theme, and input handling. Users can find a list of these changes by filtering the merged PRs in the 4.6 milestone with the breaks compat label.
Dev snapshot: Godot 4.6 beta 1 – Godot Engine
Godot 4.6 enters beta!
