Epic Games releases Twinmotion 2025.1
Epic Games has released Twinmotion 2025.1, the next major version of its Unreal-Engine-based real-time visualisation software.
It’s a sizeable update, adding a new volumetric clouds system, support for Virtual Shadow Maps, a LOD system, and updates to materials, lights, rendering and Sequence creation.
A real-time tool for 3D visualization and virtual production
Originally created by visualization studio KA-RA and acquired by Epic Games in 2019, Twinmotion is a real-time visualization tool for architectural, automotive and product design.
It imports hero models in a range of 3D file formats, or via live links to CAD software, with users able to dress the scenes using a library of stock assets.
Atmospheric properties – including clouds, rain and snow, and ambient lighting based on geographical location and time of day – can be adjusted via slider-based controls.
The software is now free to indie artists and studios with revenue under $1 million/year, following Epic Games’ recent changes to the pricing of its products.
Epic Games is also now increasingly pitching the software at the entertainment marked, as an ‘on-ramp’ to Unreal Engine for virtual production and real-time VFX.
Twinmotion 2025.1 introduces a new volumetric clouds system, made possible by the underlying update of the software to Unreal Engine 5.5
Twinmotion 2025.1: features Unreal Engine’s Volumetric clouds and Virtual Shadow Maps
Twinmotion only got one major release last year instead of the usual two, so Twinmotion 2025.1 is a double-size update.
Under the hood, the software has been updated to Unreal Engine 5.5, the latest version of the engine, leading to some significant new features.
One is the new volumetric clouds system, which makes it possible to add realistic, animatable, shadow-casting clouds to outdoor scenes.
The feature is still experimental when using Twinmotion’s Path Tracer render mode, leading to visual differences to real-time mode, and reduced performance on AMD GPUs.
Twinmotion also now supports Unreal Engine’s Virtual Shadow Maps, providing more visually accurate shadows in real-time mode, although currently on Windows only.
New automatic LOD system
Twinmotion 2025.1 also adds another feature familiar from game engines: a Level of Detail system.
The new Automatic LOD Generation system automatically reduces the poly count of imported meshes according to their distance from the camera, improving rendering performance.
It comes with three presets, generating between three and eight LODs.
Twinmotion’s accompanying asset library now features a new Projector Light type.
Updates to materials, lights, rendering and Sequence editing
The release also updates Twinmotion’s core functionality, with the Fog system getting new Height and Color control sliders, and higher maximum fog density.
The Sky system gets new Turbidity and Atmosphere density settings.
Changes to materials include a new Tire base material, which generates UVs for cylindrical objects like car tires, and new controls in the Car Paint material, including surface imperfections.
The Twinmotion Library, the asset library bundled with the software, gets new new Projector light type, for projecting videos onto geometry, and a new Confetti particle system type.
The Sequences system, for creating and editing cinematic video sequences, gets a new Orbit Cam rig, and the option to set a target for the Action Cam.
User interface, workflow and pipeline integration changes
Other changes include a redesign of the Environment tab in the Ambience panel to create a clearer distinction between sky- and HDRI-based lighting.
There is also a new Modeling panel, accessible from the footer, for making simple edits to imported meshes: initially, mirroring meshes, and flipping normals on faces to fix artifacts.
Changes affecting pipeline integration include the option to import geometry in .wire format from automotive design tool Alias, and to import two-sided geometry.
There are also a number of smaller workflow improvements: you can find a full list of changes via the link at the foot of the story.
Price, system requirements and release date
Twinmotion 2025.1 is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 12.5+.
Integration plugins are available for CAD and DCC apps including 3ds Max 2017+, CityEngine 2022.0+ and SketchUp Pro 2019+.
The software is free to users with gross annual revenue under $1 million/year. The free edition lacks access to Twinmotion Cloud, but is otherwise fully featured.
For larger studios, subscriptions cost $445/seat/year.
Read an overview of the new features in Twinmotion 2025.1 on Epic Games’ blog
Read a full list of new features in Twinmotion 2025.1 in the online changelog
Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.