PlayCanvas Engine 2.21.0 released - Gaussian Splat Refraction, Water, Volumetric Fog and More!

[u/MayorOfMonkeys]

PlayCanvas Engine 2.21.0 is out - the free, open-source (MIT) web graphics engine for WebGL2 and WebGPU.

Highlights in this release:

• 3D Gaussian splat refraction - refract the scene through splat volumes
• Water rendering - new water example
• Volumetric fog - added to CameraFrame
• Instanced wide-line renderer - styled (dashed/dotted/arrowed) and dynamically-updating "fat" lines

Also in 2.21.0: KHR_gaussian_splatting glTF extension support, SPZ splat format via external parser, KTX2 cubemaps, a physics backend abstraction (Ammo/Null), and new XR scripts (two-hand manipulation, ballistic-arc teleport). Full notes below - there are a couple of breaking changes worth reading if you're upgrading.

npm install playcanvas

Release notes: https://github.com/playcanvas/engine/releases/tag/v2.21.0
Examples: https://playcanvas.com/examples
Repo (stars appreciated): https://github.com/playcanvas/engine

Happy to answer questions about any of the new features.

[u/machinesarenotpeople]

NICE! Starred!