What's New in 8.0.0?

The major 8.0.0 Blocksmith update is here! It opens up 3D creation to younger age-groups, and allows for the fastest scene building ever with Builder Lite mode.

Community feature requests were also a major focus of this release, like the Player's Back Slot addition, and a Stickiness Physics setting that makes games like mini-golf or pool possible. Also, you can beautify your water-themed scenes with four new and dazzling water materials!

Many existing features like 3rd-person players, scene soundtracks, and 3D modeling have received extensive improvements as well. Those changes not only will enhance existing games and scene design, but also open up entirely new possibilities.

There have also been some small quality of life improvements like updated buttons in the Builder, the ability to instantly restart a scene for faster testing, and usability upgrades to set text and image events. What's more, the 3dmodels and projects hubs have had their powers combined to create a one-stop shop for all your design needs in a new hub called "resources".

See the full release notes for all features, fixes, and improvements.

Major Features in 8.0.0

Builder Lite

The Builder now supports two general modes: Builder Full and Builder Lite. The Full mode has all of the tools and traditional features you are familiar with. Builder Lite has simplified UI, a vast 3D model library, and has quick alignment tools to make scene design easier and faster.

Builder Lite opens 3D design to younger age-groups by providing pre-made 3D models that all naturally fit together. Objects move and scale in 25cm increments, perfectly aligning with other objects and the Indoor Room scenario.

Switch to Builder Lite mode using the switch in the top right corner of the Builder's toolbar and try it out!

New Water Materials

Four new water materials have been added to enhance specific water-themed scenarios.

Want a river running through a scene? Check out the River water material and watch the stream flow by.

Looking for waves on an ocean beach? Apply the Ocean water material and see how it ripples and moves.

Want to create a serene fishing game on a lake? The Lake water material provides a relaxing atmosphere.

Don't forget to try out the Toon water material for low-poly stylized scenes!

Stickiness Physics Setting

The Physics system in the Builder has received a major upgrade which allows for new and improved types of physics based games and experiences. The setting is called "Stickiness" and it governs the threshold for objects bouncing off each other. The higher the setting, the more objects stick together, whereas the lower it is, the more they bounce even with small collisions.

Games like mini-golf or pool, which rely on precise small collisions, will significantly benefit from this new setting.

Player Back Slot

The Player has received a new object slot, on their back. It is more tightly bound to the player than the hand slots, so objects connected to the back of the player will not move or rotate like objects in hand slots. This is great news for anyone who likes jetpacks, backpacks, or player costumes!

Better 3rd Person Movement and Animations

A lot of attention has been paid to 3rd person players in this update. Their movement in general has been improved, especially for running, crouching, and jumping. That will make any platformer/parkour games with 3rd-person players much easier to play.

Also, character animations, especially when characters are holding objects, have been revamped. Not only do handheld objects now move with the animation, but you can see them in the animation preview as well.

Sidescroller games with 3rd-person players have also been enhanced, and are easier to make than ever.

OpenXR Support

Blocksmith's VR Viewers now support OpenXR, extending capability to new platforms and also improving existing features. The full compliment of supported devices is:

• All Meta Quest versions
• SteamVR
• Oculus
• Vive and Vive Elite
• Windows MR

OpenXR support allows the Blocksmith VR Viewer to show hand models instead of controllers and adds a new, much requested, glide movement mode.

Improved WebGL Performance

Both Web Builder and Viewer performance were drastically overhauled with this release. Both platforms will run faster and take less time to load overall. Ever have a game run slow on the web? Try it out again to see much better performance.

Smoother 3D Model Updating

Updating 3D models was never as smooth as updating an experience or game. That is now totally changed so you can improve on your 3D models as fast and easy as saving an experience.

Reworked Scene Sound Options

The old scene sound system only ever allowed for one sound track per scene, which kind of limited the background or soundtracks available in a game or project. But now you can add as many soundtracks or background sounds as you want, and easily switch between them using Events. Time to add radios to your games!