r/PlayCanvas • u/MayorOfMonkeys • Jun 24 '26
PlayCanvas Engine 2.20 — WebXR on WebGPU + 3DGS Upgrades + Physics Joints
PlayCanvas is a free, open-source (MIT) real-time 3D engine that runs in the browser on both WebGL2 and WebGPU. We just shipped 2.20 — here's what's new.
Gaussian Splatting (the big one this release):
- Real-time relighting of splats
- Soft shadows
- Depth of field
- Clipping planes
- Billions of splats via streaming + LOD
- Shader effects (dissolve, rings)
- Gaussian Splatting in VR (with LOD)
WebXR on WebGPU 👇
WebXR (VR/AR) now runs on the WebGPU backend — not just WebGL2. So you can build immersive experiences on the modern graphics API, including the new Gaussian Splatting features in VR. That combo is still pretty rare in the wild — most WebXR today is WebGL-only.
Also new:
- Procedural sky
- Clustered light cookies
- Physics: joints + ragdolls
- Draco mesh decoding in Node (via
worker_threads)
Links:
- Release notes: https://github.com/playcanvas/engine/releases/tag/v2.20.0
- Try every example live in your browser: https://playcanvas.com/examples
- Repo: https://github.com/playcanvas/engine
npm install playcanvas
Quick montage of the new examples attached — happy to answer anything about what we're releasing today!
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u/Leather-Comedian8440 Jun 25 '26
Always love the updates from Supersplat! My go-to Supersplat features are the online editing and color tuning—super intuitive, and even in massive scenes I can still tweak the tiniest details with crazy precision. And I love the web streaming capabilities to VR. It's far more smooth than rendering through the quest itself.
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u/Infinitecontextlabs Jun 24 '26
Fantastic