Twinmotion 2024.1 Preview is now available.
You can download and install the latest release from the Epic Games Launcher on your computer.
If you're a new user, you can get started here.
Feel free to start a New Discussion in the Twinmotion support community to share your thoughts on this release. If you need to report a bug regarding this release please contact Customer Support.
Twinmotion 2024.1 is a new version. You can open projects created and saved in previous versions. However, projects created and saved in 2024.1 Preview will not open in previous versions.
After you install Twinmotion on MacOS, you may notice that the Launch icon displays the Unreal Engine logo instead of the Twinmotion logo. Rest assured, this is a visual discrepancy that does not impact any functionality. Please note that this issue will be addressed and corrected in the final release.
Recommended Configuration For Twinmotion 2024.1 Preview
For complete details on the recommended hardware and software specifications for Twinmotion, please refer to Hardware and Software Specifications.
What’s New
Unreal Engine 5.4 Support
Twinmotion has been upgraded to run on Unreal Engine 5.4, enhancing the rendering capabilities of both Lumen and Path tracer for superior visual quality.
Spacing and Area Tools
We have introduced two new scattering tools that help you quickly place large amounts of assets along paths or within defined areas.
With the Spacing tool you create paths, and with the Area tool you define specific areas in the scene. Once your paths or areas are defined, they are automatically populated with the assets of your choice. Both the Spacing and Area tools have settings to create organic or systematic placement and can be found in the Populate panel under Place.
Limitations
- Rigged animated objects are not supported.
- Assets can only be placed on horizontal surfaces.
Render Layers
You can now assign Layer ID information to assets in Twinmotion and export them separately. These exported layers make it easier to select parts of the image during post-production.
To create render layers, select one or more objects in the scene, then in the Properties panel enable the Layer ID option and select an ID number. When you export media, you can then choose to export these layers (optionally as black and white layer masks) in addition to the beauty pass.
Limitations
- Render layers are only available when exporting images and image sequences. Exporting Layer IDs for videos is possible only if the export is set to PNG.
- Each exported render layer increases the rendering time, especially in Path tracer mode.
- In Real time rendering mode (Standard and Lumen):
- Objects do not benefit from the reflections and global illumination of surrounding objects if they are not on the same layer when exported.
- Transparent objects do not behave correctly as holdouts (See TM-14916).
- The Sky layer is not completely opaque.
- At this time, fog and weather effects always act as holdouts and cannot be exported as specific layers.
- The alpha channel cannot be included when exporting as JPG. JPG should not be used when render layers are needed. However, if necessary, we recommend using the black-and-white mask option.
Simplified Material Creation Process
We have simplified the material creation process in the Materials dock. In previous versions, after you selected a material type in the material type selection menu, you needed to then click the Add (+) icon to create the material and add it to the Materials dock. In this new version, once you select the material type, the material is automatically created and added to the Materials dock.
Ambient Occlusion Texture Input
In the Standard and Lumen rendering modes, there is sometimes a lack of occlusion.
To increase visual consistency, we have added a new ambient occlusion texture input and an intensity control on the Standard material.
Information
- Supported in Standard and Lumen rendering modes only.
- Ambient occlusion effects and controls are disabled in Path tracer rendering mode.
- Values range from 0.0 to 2.0 (up to 5.0 if entered manually).
For more information about the settings for Standard materials, see Standard Materials.
Bloom Improvements
A Bloom and flares section has been added in the Camera tab inside the Ambience panel.
This section now regroups the Bloom, the Lens flare and the Lens dirt features. The intensity for each of these effects is managed by an intensity slider.
A library of bloom kernel textures is also available.
For more information, see Bloom and Flares in the "Ambience Settings" documentation.
Improved Fabric Material
We have introduced a new approach for representing different types of fabrics using two methods - Standard and Thin fabrics.
A wide range of textiles commonly found in the industry can now be created. This includes, but is not limited to: cotton, linen, silk, wool, polyester, and velvet.
Ten (10) new materials have been also added to the Materials > Fabric category in the Library.
See Fabric Materials for more information about this feature.
New Foliage Material
A new Foliage material has been added, which makes imported vegetation geometry reactive to the Twinmotion seasons.
This material, among other features, includes:
- Season color and Leaves lifecycle management
- Backface fade
- Translucency
- Automatic Ambient occlusion
The Foliage material has also been applied to the trees in the Twinmotion Library.
See Foliage Materials for more information about this feature.
Because of this material change and the new way of managing season colors and the lifecycle of leaves, the general visual aspect of Twinmotion trees will change slightly in legacy files opened in this new version. In addition, the season in which fruits and flowers appear was incorrect on certain trees and has been revised.
Filmback Option
In the Camera tab of the Ambience panel, Filmback settings can now be enabled for precise camera matching of real-world camera profiles in Twinmotion. Selecting a filmback preset applies real-world camera sensor or film frame dimensions, which affect the focal length, depth of field intensity, and image aspect ratio. Additionally, custom values can be entered.
Filmback can only be used for images, videos, and sequences, and when Twinmotion is in Media mode.
For more information, see Filmback in the Ambience Settings documentation.
Revamped Camera Settings
Certain user interface changes have been made in the Ambience panel to ensure a more consistent placement of settings between the Environment and Camera tabs. Exposure and white balance options can now be found in the camera section.
New 'Sequence' Media Type
A new type of media called a Sequence has been added to the Media dock.
Within a sequence, you can create complete animation scenarios on a timeline based on chronological order by combining camera movements and animations from imported animated files.
Sequences are exported as videos in the Export panel. An icon has been added on sequences in the Export window to differentiate them from videos.
Limitations:
- A sequence always contains a camera part.
- Camera parts cannot be reordered.
- Media videos cannot be used in a sequence.
See Sequences for more information about this feature.
New Camera Type for Sequences: Action Cam
We have introduced a new kind of camera part available only in sequences called the ''Action cam''.
With this camera, you can:
- Add camera position keyframes over time.
- Incorporate camera movement pauses by creating additional keyframes at the same camera position.
- Adjust keyframes in time to speed up or slow down movements.
- Retime keyframes automatically for a consistent camera speed with the Smooth speed option in the properties of camera parts.
You can preview the path of the camera in the Media preview window.
We have emphasized the Media preview function by placing the icon next to the Quit media mode button.
Media Preview Window: Important Change for all Media
Previously, when creating keyframes in Media preview mode, the point of view in the Viewport was used. With this new version, the point of view of the camera object that is visible in the Viewport is used.
There are some major differences now when using the Media preview window:
- The camera now exists as an object in the scene when switching to Media preview mode. (This camera is usually named Cine Camera Actor in Unreal Engine.)
- This Cine Camera object can be selected and moved in the context of the camera walkthrough.
- Scrubbing along the timeline only affects the Cine Camera object and its preview, it does not affect the Viewport.
- Keyframes are added to camera parts using the preview position in the Media preview window instead of the Viewport.
These changes are significant conceptual shifts in animation playback and the creation of camera keyframes.
Deterministic Animation
With this feature, you can create and play identical animation sequences in exported media. For example, if two distinct videos both contain an animation, and both animations were created using the same parameters, the animation sequence in both videos will be identical.
This applies to the following Twinmotion assets:
- All Twinmotion characters in the Animated humans category.
- All Twinmotion paths: Character/Vehicle/Bicycle/Custom.
Each of these asset types now includes a Random seed value to alter or regenerate the same sequence. The Animated humans category particularly benefits from this randomness value, as it is applied to character animations upon creation and duplication. Consequently, two identical characters will not play the same animation synchronously by default, resulting in a more natural appearance in the scene.
Parenting Animators
It is now possible to combine Animators (Rotators and Translators) in the Scene graph to create more sophisticated animations. To combine animators, drag a Translator onto a Rotator (or vice versa) in the Scene graph.
Twinmotion to Unreal Engine Improvements
You can now import a Datasmith file created in Twinmotion into Unreal Engine without having to install the Datasmith Twinmotion Content for Unreal Engine plugin in Unreal Engine.
When exporting your Twinmotion project to Datasmith, save the .udatasmith file and assets in the root folder of your Unreal Engine project.
To import the Datasmith scene into your Unreal Engine project, open the Create menu and click Datasmith > File Import, then select the .udatasmith file of the project and click Open. When the process completes, the content is imported into the current Level inside the Unreal Editor.
Bugs Fixed in 2024.1 Preview
Animation
TM-13689 - Fixed a crash when trying to import .gltf files as animated files.
TM-13668 - The values in the XYZ panel now correctly reset to zero (0) after resetting transforms on imported animated files.
Content
TM-12845 - The Monica character now loads correctly in legacy scenes.
TM-13694 - Fixed an issue where undesired assets were appearing and a crash occurred when searching in the Megascans category in the Library.
TM-13798 - Fixed an issue where visual artifacts were appearing on the Plane 1000m primitive object when in Path tracer rendering mode.
TM-7569 - Fixed an inconsistency between native and cloud assets for the screens on electronic devices in the Library.
TM-13548 - Fixed an issue where the physics part of the flags did not behave properly and led to difficulty in selecting flags in the Viewport.
TM-13554 - Fixed an issue where the textures for flag instances were not updated when the texture on the original flag was changed.
TM-14773 - Fixed an issue where the hopscotch decal was not visible for Animated human children characters using the Playing 3 animation type.
Core
TM-13737 - Fixed random crashes on exit.
TM-13966 - Fixed a crash that occurred when opening certain files containing vehicle paths.
TM-14324 - Fixed a crash that occurred when Twinmotion was left idle.
TM-15011 - Fixed an issue where the playback speed of Video materials was incorrect in certain exported videos.
Interoperability
TM-11229 - Fixed an issue where reimporting only replaced the original instance of the object.
TM-13218 - Fixed an issue where the material parameters in Datasmith files were broken.
TM-13546 - The Reset materials on selection command now works as expected when editing materials in imported files.
TM-13779 - Fixed an issue where light positions were not updating after syncing or reimporting them.
TM-7961 - Fixed an issue where point cloud E57 files were sometimes corrupted when imported.
TM-11434 - Fixed an issue where elevation maps were not displayed for point cloud meshes.
Presenter
TM-11713 - Fixed an issue where media thumbnails were appearing as white boxes when a large quantity of media was added to Presentations or Panorama Sets.
TM-11792 - Fixed an issue where the media inside Local Presentations did not remain centered when resizing the Presentation window.
TM-13253 - Fixed an issue where the Ground plane was missing in the thumbnails inside Local Presentations.
TM-6625 - Fixed an issue where painted or scattered vegetation was missing in the thumbnails inside Local Presentations.
TM-15156 - Fixed a crash that occurred with Presentations when quitting Twinmotion.
Render and Export
TM-13056 - Fixed an issue where the progress bar was showing long unrealistic rendering times when exporting media.
TM-12631 - Fixed an issue where mesh conflicts were not stored per media.
TM-12864 - Fixed an issue where the Measure tool was casting a lot of light to surrounding objects in Lumen.
TM-13739 - The Intensity setting for Waves in the Water materials now functions on Sketchfab assets.
TM-14042 - Fixed a Path tracer render issue with Cutout characters.
TM-8943 - Fixed an issue where clay was not applied correctly on instanced cars after reopening the file.
TM-13730 - The Clay render effect is now applied to all parts of the bicycle in the Morgan Posed human character.
TM-14943 - Fixed a performance issue where exporting an EXR was slower than exporting a PNG.
TM-14476 - Fixed a crash that occurred when closing Twinmotion during a video export.
TM-11586 - Fixed an issue where the thumbnail of Image 1 was incorrect in exported Presentations.
TM-15335 - Fixed an issue where Clay render ignored the Invert option of Opacity.
Tools
TM-5510 - Fixed an issue where the backface of objects with two-sided materials could not be selected.
TM-12059 - Fixed an issue where doors did not fit to frame and were losing geometry when using the Undo and Redo commands.
TM-12205 - The Strip angle and Uniform/Wild settings are now correct on detailed grass.
TM-4562 - Fixed an issue where materials were not preserved when modifying certain parameters.
TM-13611 - Fixed an issue where the thumbnails of Sketchfab assets became white in the Replace object area if they had previously been used.
TM-13415 - The Media Preview window no longer disappears when switching the Viewport to Full screen mode.
TM-14737 - Fixed an issue where duplicates of media with orthographic views did not have the same camera view as the original.
TM-12850 - Doors fitted to a frame are no longer broken after deleting them and then undoing the deletion.
TM-12956 - Fixed an issue where the Move to new container command created a container under the mouse if animators with attached objects were selected.
TM-14102 - Fixed a crash when reordering Panorama Sets in the Media dock.
TM-13270 - Cars in Vehicle paths now spawn in heavy scenes.
TM-7613 - Fixed an issue where the door pivot was not adjusted after reopening or changing style.
TM-7984 - Fixed an issue where undoing the deletion of a compounded asset expanded all its hierarchy in the Scene graph.
TM-9398 - Fixed an issue where the Measure tool was detached from the Gizmo after placing the first instance of it.
TM-6924 - Fixed an issue where the Preview panel for trees and grass remained open when clicking and placing objects in the scene.
TM-10555 - Fixed an issue where the text in Notes was broken in legacy scenes when expanding the z-axis of the Notes.
TM-4747 - The textures for materials on urban context grabbed from OpenStreetMaps now appear correctly.
TM-14670 - Fixed an issue in Path tracer rendering mode where changing the Ambience settings of a media restarted the Path tracer's accumulation of samples.
TM-13582 - Fixed an issue where changing object sizes resulted in incorrect transforms.
TM-14607 - Fixed a random crash that sometimes occurred when the mouse button was released.
Twinmotion Cloud
TM-11869 - Fixed a crash that occurred when a Presentation containing a LED wall was exported to Twinmotion Cloud.
TM-4451 - Fixed an issue where the contents of Cloud Presentation packages created on MacOS had irrelevant paths.
TM-14066 - Fixed a Cloud Presentation crash that sometimes occurred with certain client scenes.
UI
TM-11632 - Sketchfab assets no longer stay in Favorites after unmarking them.
TM-11612 - Fixed an issue where Sketchfab assets marked as Favorites were no longer in Favorites after closing and reopening Twinmotion.
TM-13445 - The TMICreationHelper no longer appears when Sketchfab assets are dragged into the Viewport in Multidrop mode.
TM-13920 - Fixed the UI of animation in media images.
TM-14566 - Fixed an issue where the cursor jumped to the end of multi-line text when typing fast.
TM-13100 - Shape of brush is no longer missing the hover/click state.
TM-11692 - Fixed an issue where Full screen mode could not be exited.
TM-15238 - Fixed an issue where the buttons in the Glass, Fabric, and Foliage materials were positioned vertically instead of horizontally.
TM-13569 - Fixed a carriage return user interface issue with the Text input field.
VR
TM-11777 - Fixed an issue where the point of view of the camera when viewing media inside Presentations was placed higher than it really was.
TM-11775 - Fixed an issue where the UI was blurry in certain Presentations.
TM-13787 - Fixed a performance degradation in Twinmotion 2023.2.
TM-12981 - Fixed an issue where the eye level was not correct compared to the camera position of the media.
Known Bugs and Limitations Affecting 2024.1 Preview
Animation
TM-13998 - The altitude of objects changes when attached to the Translator.
TM-14191 - Deterministic animation of vehicle paths is not working properly.
TM-15037 - 'Key time' value in sequences lacks frame (identifier) when timeline is set to FPS.
TM-15359 - Keyframes may be added on top of each other in added camera parts of sequences.
TM-15397 - Crash after using the undo / redo command after taking a Snapshot in sequences.
TM-15421 - The Start delay option for animated files is not always properly executed.
TM-15411 - On MacOS, selecting a keyframe in a sequence may copy the Ambience settings of the selected keyframe to all other keyframes.
TM-15409 - Pasting parts enables adding keyframes on top of the first keyframe in sequences.
TM-15395 -Tracks are not updated after undoing and redoing keyframe creation in sequences.
TM-15378 - Issue in skeletal animation in imported FBX animated files.
TM-15521 - Visibility is not correctly managed between keyframes in the sequencer.
Content
TM-14260 - Problems on LODs of bicycles on Bicycle paths.
TM-14853 - Flickering on leaves.
TM-15215 - Windblown leaves become blurred if there is an animator tool enabled in a tree.
TM-15444 - Discrepancy between Twinmotion versions for bus headlights and side mirrors when using the High quality setting.
TM-15413 - Door handles do not follow the height parameter of doors.
TM-15414 - Crash when instantiating a door.
Core
TM-15254 - Checkerboard pattern is displayed on surfaces when applying a material while Clay rendering is enabled.
Interoperability
TM-14062 - Artifacts appear in rendering of high poly FBX objects imported via Interface.
TM-14379 - Sketchup model imports as an empty container when imported via Interchange.
TM-14114 - Imported material is incorrectly tinted when imported via Interchange.
TM-14430 - Twinmotion hangs when importing an .obj file.
TM-14079 - All objects imported through Interchange use smooth shading.
TM-14401 - Reimport with new file does not work for Datasmith files if the Interchange flag is enabled.
TM-14272 - Material is not replaced by default material after .udatasmith file reimport.
TM-15198 - Material cannot be selected with the Material picker on imported animated FBX files.
TM-15302 - GLTF file is imported with "Placeholder material".
TM-15093 - The RGB values of materials on FBX files are not correctly imported.
TM-15161 - Glass materials on imported animated FBX files are imported as Standard materials instead of glass.
TM-15200 - Crash occurs when exporting large Twinmotion files to Datasmith in Standard mode.
TM-15446 - Disabling substitution does not revert to the original object.
Presenter
TM-15345 - Local Presenter displays animations only on the computer that authored it.
TM-15305 - In Local and Cloud Presentations, the only type of paths that appear in media thumbnails are Custom paths.
TM-15342 - Backward compatibility issue causing a crash when opening Local Presentations.
Please let us know if you face similar issues.
Rendering and Export
TM-14617 - Visual bug with Lumen in the Viewport on Fabric base materials.
TM-14860 - Unusual image distortion in Panorama set.
TM-15130 - LPV inserts wrong light intensity values in specific scenes on Intel MacOS.
TM-15076 - Export dialog remains on screen after images are exported on MacOS.
TM-15022 - In Path tracer, the Sun disk in the Twinmotion Dynamic sky does not produce the Bloom, Lens flare and Lens dirt effects.
TM-14916 - Materials with transparency still visible in alpha with holdout in Render layers.
TM-15286 - Render layers do not work with media on which a filter is applied.
TM-15303 - In the Real time rendering mode, the landscape sculpting gizmo is visible in the Sky mask in Render layers.
TM-14047 - Random crash occurs when path tracing is disabled.
TM-15448 - Rendering mode may change after applying a material.
TM-15382 - Render layer masks do not work in HDRI environments when exporting in Path tracer mode.
Tools
TM-14930 - Play button in Local Presentations is not displayed initially.
TM-14779 - Measure tool length value lacks color effect.
TM-14774 - The text in a Note appears in the thumbnail of the Note property.
TM-14869 - Objects explode away upon hitting the ground when ‘Rotate’ and ‘Move with collision’ are enabled.
TM-15059 - Changing the position of the spline points in the Spacing or Area tools randomizes the objects on each frame.
TM-15316 - The weather is occluded by the vegetation scattered with the Spacing or Area tools.
TM-15185 - Crash when undoing/redoing/undoing deletion of objects used by the Spacing or Area tools.
TM-15427 - The scale of FBX files imported as Landscapes is different than when imported as Geometry.
TM-15371 - Twinmotion crashes when clicking an icon in the dock while creating a spline with the Spacing or Area tools.
TM-15030 - Clipping option in the Viewport does not work.
TM-15133 - Selecting assets that use an alpha mask material with dithering is difficult.
TM-15379 - The rotation handles to rotate the gizmo are missing when using the Pivot edit tool.
TM-15422 - Collision is not enabled for User library assets when using the Spacing and Area tools.
Twinmotion Cloud
TM-14017 - Commands in the Twinmotion menu bar become unavailable when the export to cloud authentication dialog is canceled.
UI
TM-14800 - The Orbit rig in sequences appears in phasings.
TM-15003 - Mismatch between Orbit rig thumbnails and the camera position.
TM-14998 - Camera roll control should be removed from the interface.
TM-15324 - The menu of thumbnails in Action cam parts inside sequences is cropped and appears behind the thumbnails.
VR
TM-15272 - Twinmotion freezes after starting in VR mode with the HTC Vive Pro 2 headset.
There are known issues when using Vive headsets that require the Vive Console software, such as the Vive Cosmos, Vive Pro 2, Vive Focus, and Vive XR Elite. Older Vive headset models that rely on SteamVR (Vive and Vive Pro) should work properly. We are currently waiting for a fix from the hardware vendor.