Credit: Epic Games
Epic Games has released a preview version of Unreal Engine 5.7. This pre-release build offers game developers and other Epic Games partners the opportunity to test the engine’s new features.
The main change will be the readiness of the Procedural Content Generation Framework (PCG) for use in real projects. PCG enables procedural content creation; it was previously available in test mode.
The PCG framework adds GPU overrides, improved scaling, and expanded cross-platform support, including FastGeo. A new PCG editor mode enables spline drawing and volumetric texture creation, and PCG graphs can now run standalone.
Unreal Engine 5.7 introduces a new Procedural Vegetation Editor as an experimental plugin. It allows for the direct creation and customization of Nanite-ready foliage right within the Unreal Editor, offering the ability to “grow” and shape trees, improve leaf and branch quality, and export meshes without the need for third-party tools. Nanite Foliage is also available as an experimental plugin. It combines assemblies, skinning, and voxels to render dense, detailed vegetation with playable performance.
Additionally, the MegaLights lighting technology has entered beta testing. It now supports directional lights, the Niagara particle system, transparent materials, and hair.
The full release of Unreal Engine 5.7 will take place soon, with the exact release date to be announced later.