Now available for pre-order, Unity 4 boasts what is claimed as a complete overhaul of the Unity engine, designed to accommodate new features such as the platform's new character animation system, dubbed Mecanim.
Evolving as one
Also on offer in Unity 4 is DirectX 11 support, "hypermodern" graphics for mobile, and publishing support for both Adobe Flash and - in preview form - Linux.
The company claims desktop Linux standalone publishing will be available to all Unity 4 users at no additional cost.
Madfinger Games' Shadowgun for Linux
"We've been working on Unity 4 for a long, long time and are happy to finally be able to unveil its imminent arrival and outline its core features that will change the industry," said Unity CEO David Helgason.
"The revolutionary animation system and add-on deployments to Adobe Flash and Linux are some of the critical features introduced in Unity 4, which together maintain Unity as the strongest, fastest evolving modern games development platform available."
It's Mecanim that's likely to gain the most attention of all the
new features, however.
Motion and emotion
In Unity's view, it's the most powerful and innovative animation technology currently available for supported platforms.
To help developers of all abilities, Unity claims a wide array of retargetable animations will be available from the Unity Asset Store come launch, helping to bring characters to life with "fluidity and grace."
Unity 4's new animation tool Mecanim
"The introduction of the Mecanim suite of animation tools into Unity will completely change how developers integrate interactive animations and will result in awesome new gameplay experiences from the Unity community," added lead animation director Robert Lanciault.
"These tools will allow animators to work directly in Unity to create advanced and detailed animation blend trees and state machines for incredible and natural character animation."
Further insight on Unity 4 will be given at Unite 12, which runs in Amsterdam from 22-25 August.
Unity 4, which supports iOS, Android and web browser amongst other platforms, is available for pre-order from the firm's website now.
Developers who pre-order now will also be offered early access to the Unity 4 beta.
Check out our exclusive interview with Unity CEO David Helgason about Unity 4 here.
