Video-game engine maker Unity Technologies has launched Unity 4, the new version of its Unity development platform.
The new game engine comes with Mecanim character animation system, DirectX 11 support, "hypermodern" mobile graphics as well as introduces Linux, Adobe Flash as new publishing platforms.
Mecanim is a character animation technology brings characters to life in a few mouse clicks with natural motion, combining simpler interface with the tools for creating state machines, blend trees, IK rigging and auto retargeting of animations all inside of the Unity editor.
Unity 4 supports Microsoft’s DirectX 11, allowing developers to harness the GPU for increased shader capabilities with shader model 5, tessellation for smoother models and environments in game worlds and compute shaders for advanced GPU computation.
The new tool features real-time shadows on mobile, skinned mesh instancing, the ability to use normal maps when baking lightmaps, and a refined GPU profiler.
Unity 4 enables developers to create a new game, or take existing Unity 3D content and publish it to the Adobe Flash Player. It also creates 3D content for the Adobe Flash Player by leveraging its Editor productivity tools, Lightmap and Lightprobe baking, and Occlusion Culling tools.
The new game engine will include a preview of a new deployment option to publish games to Desktop Linux. It also features 3D texture support and a shuriken particle system that supports external forces, bent normals and automatic culling.
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