AudioSource playback now survives a device lock / audio-session interruption and resumes automatically on unlocktypeof window/globalThis !== undefined guards were always true and could throw outside a browser (SSR / Node)
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Added
<needle-app> — embed a published Needle Engine app in any web page (with custom code etc) (docs)Changed
<needle-app>: improved cross-origin handling and src parsingScrollFollow: now works inside an iframe (uses the top window)Fixed
AudioSource playback now survives a device lock / audio-session interruption and resumes automatically on unlockSceneSwitcher: ?scene= is now honored for scenes referenced as in-scene Object3Ds; scene preview loading supports prefabs and correct parenting under the SceneSwitcherDragControls: widened the two-pointer scale clamp range and now reads world scale from the matrix columnsEventList: corrected the arguments passed to overridden methodsserializeObject: fixed Color / Euler / object-reference serialization, and OneEuroFilter.reset()TypeError when a scene-data error proxy is coerced to a stringFixed
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preload property for AudioSource for smoother audio playbackdensity property for ColliderstargetBound with improved gizmo interactionSeeThrough.overrideAlpha minimum value Download Blender Addon Download Samples
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HighlightsYour glTF and GLB scenes now come with auto-generated TypeScript types. Access nodes, components, and properties with full autocomplete and type checking via ctx.sceneData or the new needle shorthand — no configuration required. Types regenerate automatically whenever your scene files change, and it works with local files, remote URLs, and Needle Cloud assets alike.
const cam = ctx.sceneData.MyScene.MainCamera.$object; // THREE.PerspectiveCamera
const orbit = ctx.sceneData.MyScene.MainCamera.$components.OrbitControls; // typed!
orbit.autoRotate = true;
Needle Engine now feels at home in any modern web stack. SSR support lets you import the engine in SvelteKit, Next.js, and Nuxt without crashes, JSX type declarations bring full autocomplete to React, Preact, SolidJS, and friends, and the new needle shorthand gives you instant access to the current context from anywhere — components, button handlers, or plain JavaScript.
import { needle } from "@needle-tools/engine";
needle.scene.traverse(obj => { ... }); // access the three.js scene
needle.renderer; // access the WebGLRenderer
<needle-app>Drop a published Needle Engine app into any web page with a single element — no build setup, custom code, or framework required. It handles cross-origin loading for you and works inside iframes.
<needle-app src="https://your-app.needle.run"></needle-app>
A new set of builder APIs lets you create animations, animator controllers, and timelines entirely in code, with typed keyframes and inline track definitions. Great for procedural content, runtime-generated sequences, and tooling.
const timeline = TimelineBuilder.create("MyTimeline")
.animationTrack("Walk", animator).clip(walkClip, { duration: 2 })
.activationTrack("FX", vfxObject).activate({ start: 1, duration: 0.5 })
.build();
director.playableAsset = timeline;
The build pipeline gets a major upgrade with new ways to shrink your builds automatically. Audio compression turns heavy WAV files into compact, web-friendly clips, and HDRi → PMREM (FastHDR) compression converts environment maps into a format that loads up to 10× faster and uses a fraction of the GPU memory — all on top of the existing Draco/meshopt geometry and KTX2 texture compression. Smaller downloads, faster loads, no manual work.
DragControls received a major overhaul with a new constraint system: keep-scale, two-touch scaling with min/max limits, refined hit regions, and a dedicated screen-space drag mode for AR. Single-touch dragging is now more predictable, and reliability is improved across snapping, side views, and multi-input scenarios.
The bundled MaterialX runtime jumps to 1.7.0 with faster environment lighting (new radiance sampling modes and PMREM support), better Three.js integration, and overall performance improvements. MaterialX export from Needle Engine projects no longer requires a PRO license.
Needle AI is integrated directly into the Unity inspector and hierarchy, with awareness of your local Unity and web project so its assistance is relevant to what you’re actually building.
Added
ctx.sceneData / needle.sceneDataneedle shorthand (preview) for quick access to the current engine context from anywhere<needle-app> — embed a published Needle Engine app in any web page (docs)Context.events — a typed event bus for decoupled component communication:context.events.on("scene-content-changed", e => console.log(e.object));
context.events.emit<{ pts: number }>("scored", { pts: 10 });
autoCleanup on Behaviour — register disposables and cleanup tied to the component lifecycleTimelineBuilder, AnimatorControllerBuilder, and AnimationBuilder for defining timelines, controllers, and animations in code with typed keyframes and inline tracksDragControls: new constraint system with keepScale, two-touch scale limits, refined hit regions, a screen-space AR drag mode, and EventList supportSkybox: new background-rotation / environment-rotation attributes and background-image-loaded / environment-image-loaded eventsWebXRImageTracking: per-frame imageTracked event with typed access to the tracked object, plus resetImage / resetAllImages to re-arm markers without restarting XRAudioClip type with standalone playback control, AudioSource spatial blend and .opus supportcontext.lights array and context.mainLight getter for quick access to scene lightingNeedleXRSession.appClipUrl — launch a custom-branded Needle AppClip experience on iOS AR (provide your registered appclip.needle.tools/x/… URL or experience id) for your own App Clip card title and imageincludeTriggers optionInput, Networking, and XR event subscriptionsneedlePlugins() can now be called without arguments — the Vite command is resolved automaticallyChanged
OrbitControls now uses lookAtTarget / lockLookAtTarget, with smoother focus and camera transitionscontext.postprocessing); tonemapping-only setups skip the extra passAnimationTrackHandler → TimelineAnimationTrack)GroundProjectionEnv.applyOnAwake now defaults to true, matching Unity and BlenderFixed & Improved
DragControls reliability improvements across snap points, AR drag, side views, and multi-input handoverfitCamera, scene clearing)Skybox attribute handling and load deduplicationAudioSource on iOS now survives a device lock / audio-session interruption and resumes automaticallySceneSwitcher: ?scene= honored for in-scene object references, with prefab preview supportVoIP improvements including better iOS mic handling and shared AudioContextSceneSwitcher improvements: drag-and-drop, per-scene toggle buttons, unload button, preview, and scene closingWebXRImageTracking component now exposes an imageTracked UnityEvent// @header directive emits a Unity [Header(...)] attribute to group and label fields in the inspector (works alongside // @tooltip):// @header Movement Settings
@serializable()
speed: number = 1;
SceneSwitcher with dependencies)needle-cloud CLI to version 2 with security hardening Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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Fixed
SyncedTransform: added world scale support — networked objects now keep the correct scale across clients, even when nested under scaled parents, with smooth interpolation Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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HighlightsShips with Needle Engine 5.1 — bringing improved DragControls, spatial audio blend, and smoother OrbitControls camera transitions.
DragControls received a major overhaul with refined hit regions and a dedicated screen-space drag mode for AR. New dragStarted, dragUpdated, and dragEnded events let you react to drag interactions without code.
AudioSource now supports spatial blend for smooth 2D/3D crossfade and survives iOS device lock without losing playback. VoIP gains volume, speakingThreshold, and createMenuButton properties with improved iOS mic handling.
keepScale property and dragStarted/dragUpdated/dragEnded events for DragControlsvolume, speakingThreshold, and createMenuButton properties for VoIP componentlookAtTarget/lockLookAtTarget Download Blender Addon Download Samples
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Fixed
Audio sources now clone correctly
Objects with HideFlags export reliably
Corrected the default camera field of view
Added: the bundled dist/three now exposes the full Three.js API for import-map setups
Changed: updated MaterialX to 1.7.1:
three) — shares Needle Engine’s Three.js Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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Fixed
screenshot2 — capture and share photos of your AR experience right from the sessionGroundProjection: AR background blending stays intact when the camera clears the background Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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Changed
DragControls: improved 2D rotation Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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navigator crash during server-side rendering Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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Added
GaussianSplat component (experimental) — load .ply / .spz / .sog splats via Spark, with LOD and correct raycasting/boundsuseAnchors) are now enabled by defaultChanged
Fixed
setSession now works with WebXR emulators/polyfills that supply a non-native session (falls back to the XRWebGLLayer path)GroundProjection re-fits once they’re readyMesh objects (e.g. splats)@needle-tools/gltf-build-pipeline 4.0 — adds compressed splat (SOG) support and replaced-source events Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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NEEDLE_CLOUD_TOKEN environment variable or -token argument, without an interactive browser login (required on build machines where no browser is available) Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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Added
WebXRImageTracking: friendlier addImage API for registering marker images/.node_modules/.needle/logs)Fixed
WebXRImageTracking tracked images are no longer dropped on the first AR entry, and markers now register correctly even when AR starts before the scene has finished loading Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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.opus audio files can now be selected for audio propertieswidthInMeters now defaults to 0.2.wav audio file warning Download Blender Addon Download Samples
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Try the Gaussiansplatting demo here
Added
.rad file support — compressed splats in seekable chunks, enabling streaming and progressive loading of large splat scenesContext.xrFrameRateLimit — cap the frame rate of XR sessions (applied through WebXR updateTargetFrameRate where the device supports it); the mobile splat quality preset caps AR at 30 fps to keep phones coolChanged
Fixed
GaussianSplat: point cloud preview in the scene view — referenced splat files (.ply / .spz / .sog / .splat) show as a sampled point cloud with real bounds, sized points and depth cues instead of an empty box Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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PostProcessing.enabledshowHandModels toggle now reliably shows or hides XR hand modelsSyncedRoom warns (in development) when a room-name URL parameter overrides the roomName set on the component, making it easier to diagnose ending up in an unexpected room Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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customARPlacementReticle property for WebXR — use your own 3D object as the AR placement reticle instead of the default onePostProcessing.enabledroomName set on the component Download Blender Addon Download Samples
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Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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exportAsGLTF onlyVisible option to export only the visible objectsPostProcessing.enabled to toggle the whole postprocessing stack at runtimeshowHandModels reliably shows/hides themSyncedRoom warns (in dev) when a URL parameter overrides the component’s roomNameGaussianSplatGaussianSplat inspector shows splat count and content size Download Unity Plugin Install from NPM
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