UPBGE 0.50 launches with GPU skinning, faster add object, 2D filter overhaul, and more

UPBGE 0.50 has been released as the latest version of this free and open source 3D game engine, now built on Blender 5.0.1. As a stand-alone fork of Blender, UPBGE restores and advances the real-time development tools removed from Blender's core software with the release of Blender 2.80 in 2018.

With this release, users gain experimental GPU skinning. Mesh deformation is offloaded to compute shaders, aiming to boost performance for animated characters. In addition, a new fast AddObject system allows near-instant spawning of object copies by marking an object as a dupli base. This optimization bypasses Blender's heavy dependency graph and offers runtime speeds similar to the original Blender game engine.

Meanwhile, 2D filters have been refactored to use Blender's ShaderCreateInfo system. This enables custom post-processing effects to work seamlessly across both OpenGL and Vulkan backends without complex manual declarations. Although the VideoTexture module has been partially adapted for both Vulkan and OpenGL, it is not fully restored yet after previous compatibility updates.

Alongside rendering changes, SoftBodies code has been updated to correct transformation issues and ensure unique shapes for replicas. The release also improves the Logic Nodes and uplogic Python modules, as well as delivering various bug fixes and workflow improvements.