5 key features for CG artists in Godot 4.3
The Godot team has released Godot 4.3, the latest version of the open-source game engine.
The release notes describe it as a “massive” update, with over 3,500 separate commits – over twice the total for Godot 4.2 – including changes throughout the key toolsets.
Below, we’ve picked out five of particular significance to CG artists, as opposed to programmers, including updates to shader authoring, character animation and FBX file import.
1. Revamped visual editor makes it easier to manage large shader graphs
For day-to-day work, one key change in Godot 4.3 is the revamped visual shader editor.
The editor has been “redesigned from the ground up”, both to make it more visually appealing, and to make it easier to ‘read’ large, complex shader graphs at a glance..
Nodes are now colored based on their category and the colors of connections have been adjusted to be easier on the eye. Clicking on a node now highlights it for better visibility.
The update also adds two new node types for keeping graphs organized: the reroute node can be added to connections between existing pairs of nodes in order to move the connections around freely, while the frame node bundles related nodes visually.
Flames in Godot 4.3 displayed with additive (left) and premultiplied alpha blending (right).
2. Premultiplied alpha blending creates more realistic fire and smoke
Another change to shading is the new premultiplied alpha blend mode for 3D materials.
The change makes it possible to perform custom per-channel processing of shader output colors, and to create custom colored lighting effects.
Suggested use cases include rendering particle effects like fire, with the same particle now able to use additive blending for the flame and premultiplied alpha blending for the smoke.
3. Easier retargeting of skeletal animation
Animators get new features to streamline the process of retargeting animation sets in Godot 4.3, particularly animations imported in FBX format.
Key changes include the option to import a rest pose as a reset animation, making it easier to restore the character skeleton to its imported pose, or to a T-pose.
It is also possible to import data as a skeleton only, without any character meshes.
4. Copy and paste keyframes between the track and graph editor views
Animators also get a simple, but very important, quality-of-life update: it is now “finally” possible to select, copy, paste and duplicate keyframes.
Behavior is consistent between the regular AnimationTrackEditor and the AnimationBezierEditor, making it possible to copy and paste keys from the track editor to the graph editor.
5. Native support for FBX files
Another important quality-of-life change in Godot 4.3 is native support for FBX files.
The new ufbx importer makes it possible to import characters and animations in FBX format directly, without the need to download the external FBX2glTF converter.
FBX files are also now supported on all platforms that Godot supports, and can be accessed via scripting using the new FBXDocument API.
Other new features and performance improvements
Godot 4.3 also features a number of improvements to the 2D toolsets, including a new all-in-one Parallax2D node for creating parallax effects, and support for frame interpolation for 2D physics.
Game designers and programmers get updates to navigation meshes, the audio features, and to the Godot Editor, and C# and GDScript scripting.
Rendering performance has been improved, with an increase in frame rates of “5% to 15%” in standard 3D scenes, and greater increases in scenes that make extensive use of GPU particles.
For Windows titles, the Direct3D 12 render driver is now included, removing the need to build a custom version of Godot to support Direct3D 12.
The update also improves support for XR hardware, particularly Meta headsets.
Availability and system requirements
Godot 4.3 is available under the MIT license for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, and 64-bit Linux and macOS. There are also browser-based and Android ports of the Godot Editor.
Read a full list of new features in Godot 4.3 on the Godot team’s blog
Download Godot from the game engine’s website
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