Twinmotion 2024.1 Release Notes

Twinmotion 2024.1 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 Forum to share your thoughts on this release. If you need to report a bug regarding this release please contact Customer Support.

Recommended Configuration to run Twinmotion 2024.1

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. The benefits include:

Global

Faster hardware ray tracing for both Lumen and Path tracer rendering modes.

Lumen

• Memory optimizations for real-time software.

• More lights now supported (same amount as Path tracer).

• Support for multi-bounce reflections.

• Translucent meshes are captured for reflections and refractions.

• Global performance optimization.

Path tracer

• Optimized shader compilation when launching the Path tracer.

• Performance optimization on decals and volumetric fog.

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.

For more information, see Spacing and Area Tools.

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.

  • 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.

For more information, see Render Layers.

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 Standard and Lumen rendering mode, 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, Lens flare and 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.

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.

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 re-ordered.

• 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.

For more information, see the Media Preview documentation.

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.

For more information, see Importing Projects Into Unreal Engine.

Bugs Fixed in 2024.1

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.

TM-15691 - Fixed an issue where the spacebar play shortcut in sequences was not working after interacting with the playhead.

TM-15690 - Fixed an issue where pressing the spacebar after creating keyframes triggered unexpected results in sequences.

TM-15581 - Fixed a crash when loading a specific file with animation data.

TM-15652 - Fixed an issue where the camera could be linked to Animators.

TM-15601 - The initial value of the Loop multiplier is now correct.

Content and Library

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.

TM-15583 - The two-sided option now works for all materials.

TM-15572 - Fixed a crash that occurred when opening scattered 'Eastern White Pine' assets saved in previous versions.

TM-15646 - Fixed an issue where some ivy assets were not affected by wind.

TM-15565 - Car Paint UV is now working when rotating an object.

TM-15254 - Fixed an issue where a checkerboard pattern was displayed on surfaces when applying a material while Clay rendering was enabled.

TM-15444 - Fixed a discrepancy between Twinmotion versions for bus headlights and side mirrors when using the High quality setting.

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 were incorrect in certain exported videos.

TM-12902 - Fixed an issue where the "Do you want to save?" dialog did not always show up on MacOS when closing Twinmotion.

TM-15573 - Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when saving a scene after enabling Lumen.

TM-15599 - Fixed a random crash that occurred when exiting Twinmotion without saving the scene.

TM-15573 - Fixed random crashes when attempting to save files after enabling Lumen.

TM-15627 - Fixed random crashes when opening files.

TM-15593 - Fixed file corruption and crashes when saving and opening a file after using the Place tools.

Import and 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.

TM-15544 - Clay render is now applied on Posed humans.

TM-14860 - Fixed an unusual image distortion in Panorama Sets.

TM-15578 - Fixed an issue where the grass faded in the distance in exported images.

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 scenegraph.

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.

TM-4748 - Fixed an issue where using the Replace object command on Animator child objects moved the position of the replaced objects to 0,0,0.

TM-15592 - The Delete key now works on objects placed in the dropbox of Spacing and Area tools.

TM-15185 - Fixed a crash that occurred when undoing/redoing/undoing the deletion of objects used by the Spacing or Area tools.

TM-15582 - Fixed an issue where assets placed with the Spacing tool were positioned on top of other assets when reopening the file.

TM-15634 - Fixed an issue where adding media on the right side in Panorama Sets and Presentations was not working as expected.

TM-15712 - The Megascans decals now appear correctly when applied with the Spacing and Area tools.

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 - Fixed an issue where Sketchfab assets in the Library were still marked as Favorites even 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.

TM-15551 - Fixed a blurry interface issue on MacOS that occurred because HighResolutionCapable was not in the info.plist.

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

Animation

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-15455 - The first thumbnail in sequences is always broken.

TM-15567 - Editing splines breaks the action cam sequence.

TM-15629 - Materials and geometry are sometimes incorrect in imported animated .fbx files.

TM-15645 - Sometimes tracks do not update after undoing and redoing an action in sequences.

TM-15697 - Start delay precision is lost on save/load.

Content and Library

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-15450 - Library search may make the application hang.

TM-15457 - Performance regression on vegetation assets compared to 2023.2.

Core

TM-15580 - Random crash at startup on certain configurations.

TM-15637 - OpenStreetMap may fail to load upon location search.

Import and 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-15552 - Material is unexpectedly changed to glass material in imported .fbx file.

Rendering and Export

TM-14617 - Visual bug with Lumen in the viewport on Fabric base materials.

TM-15130 - 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-14047 - Random crash occurs when path tracing is disabled.

TM-15591 - Rain puddles flicker due to movement of the tree leaves.

TM-15605 - Motion blur is not applied randomly in sequences rendered in path tracing and exported as PNGs.

TM-15624 - Motion blur is incorrect in Path tracer.

TM-15626 - No camera Motion blur in Path tracer.

TM-15741 - Pixelated shade transition in reflected objects when rendered with Lumen.

TM-15740 - Mirror materials are solid gray when SSR is disabled.

TM-15739 - Unnatural shadow light level in reflections when rendered with Lumen.

Tools

TM-15059 - Changing the position of the spline points in the Spacing or Area tools randomizes the objects on each frame.

TM-15427 - The scale of FBX files imported as Landscapes is different than when imported as Geometry.

TM-15133 - Selecting assets that use an alpha mask material with dithering is difficult.

TM-15549 - Not all trees are rendered when Spacing is set to 1m and Path tension to 0% in the Area tool.

TM-15554 - Objects are not removed from the XYZ panel when object placement is undone.

TM-15586 - Clicking the Update button in the Spacing tool after a terrain change updates only the arrows, not the path.

TM-15587 - The Spacing tool paths twist unexpectedly when snapped to sloping surfaces.

TM-15588 - Resnapping nodes does not reset the spline curvature to the snapped surface.

TM-15590 - Crash sometimes occurs when enabling the Gravity tool on part of a Sketchfab object.

TM-15640 - Paths nodes may appear black in shaded areas.

UI

TM-14800 - TheOrbit 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-15721 - Visual helpers checkbox is not working.

Workaround: Press the G key on your keyboard to enable or disabled visual helpers.

VR

TM-15272 - Twinmotion freezes after starting in VR mode with the HTC Vive Pro 2 headset.