CryENGINE 3.1 enhances the CryENGINE Sandbox toolset with a new Shader Editor showcased at GDC 2010, improved profiling tools to maximize performance and quality, upgrades to animation tools and the introduction of new features such as Procedural Deformation, Irradiance Volumes and physics-driven animations. All these features can be created with the unique Crytek “What You See Is What You Play” real-time pipeline, simultaneously across all supported platforms.

CryENGINE 3.1’s Blend Shader eradicates tiling of identical materials throughout games, without the need for large texture sets. A new Visual Budget System lets developers maximize performance and quality in their games, in real-time. Upgrades to the incorporated CryENGINE 3 Asset Browser ensure increased development speed for all designers and artists using CryENGINE Sandbox. Work has also been done to give directors and animators more control over their creations. The cut-scene and cinematic tool, TrackView, has been given a major overhaul, while the introduction of AnimGraph 1.5 not only facilitates access to parameters and blending values, but also features new tools that smoothly integrate animations with audio, particles, game events and effects.

Aside from the tools improvements, new features such as Light Propagation Volumes further enhance the already-impressive graphics of CryENGINE 3, making stunning interior, exterior and cinematic lighting effects possible in real-time. The powerful CryENGINE 3 Physics System now gives an unprecedented level of interaction with the game world by adding support for secondary damage effects from procedural destruction: deformation of materials in real-time, physics-driven hit reactions for animated characters in games and customized destruction for any material.

Further enhancements within CryENGINE 3.1 include optimizations in lighting and HDR, support for more artist-content creation tools, and improvements to CryENGINE LiveCreate, which allows real-time and simultaneous development of multiplatform games. Many of these are in response to the needs of the CryENGINE user community.

 “With the rendering power of CryENGINE 3 and the beautiful graphics and realism we showcase on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, it can be easy to forget that the CryENGINE Sandbox tools are also state-of-the-art and the only 100% real-time toolset available today. We’ve always had a vast array of intelligent and efficient tools integrated with our all-in-one game engine and we continually improve these tools for the benefit of our licensees. The latest version of CryENGINE 3 includes some of the excellent work our tools team have produced since October, to make the creation of AAA games easier, more efficient and more enjoyable. At Crytek, we’re confident our tools match our engine power – and are the best in the business. Developers can easily evaluate the new version of CryENGINE 3 through our mycryengine.com portal. Our dedicated support team is ready to help them discover how much fun they can have making amazing games in CryENGINE 3,” says Carl Jones, Director of Global Business Development CryENGINE.