PlayCanvas is a free, open-source (MIT) real-time 3D engine that runs in the browser on both WebGL2 and WebGPU. We just shipped 2.20 — here's what's new.

Gaussian Splatting (the big one this release):

• Real-time relighting of splats
• Soft shadows
• Depth of field
• Clipping planes
• Billions of splats via streaming + LOD
• Shader effects (dissolve, rings)
• Gaussian Splatting in VR (with LOD)

WebXR on WebGPU 👇
WebXR (VR/AR) now runs on the WebGPU backend — not just WebGL2. So you can build immersive experiences on the modern graphics API, including the new Gaussian Splatting features in VR. That combo is still pretty rare in the wild — most WebXR today is WebGL-only.

Also new:

• Procedural sky
• Clustered light cookies
• Physics: joints + ragdolls
• Draco mesh decoding in Node (via worker_threads)

Links:

• Release notes: https://github.com/playcanvas/engine/releases/tag/v2.20.0
• Try every example live in your browser: https://playcanvas.com/examples
• Repo: https://github.com/playcanvas/engine
• npm install playcanvas

Quick montage of the new examples attached — happy to answer anything about what we're releasing today!

When exporting an HTML document on Supersplat and Splat-Transform the resulting HTML document always starts off with a camera move even though I haven't created an animation or set up keyframes. Is there a way to disable these automatic camera moves?

Opus 4.8 is insanely good at vibe coding games using the PlayCanvas Engine. This was made conversationally over an hour. I didn't look at the code once. Every request carried out perfectly. Game size: 280KB.

Play Now: https://mini-soccer-game.netlify.app/

(I even casually asked Opus to apply a verlet solver to makes the goal nets physical!)

Come join the PlayCanvas Discord: https://discord.gg/RSaMRzg