U3D is a open source, lightweight, cross-platform 2D and 3D game engine implemented in C++ and released under the MIT license. Forked from Urho3D and greatly inspired by OGRE and Horde3D.
Main website: https://u3d.io/
Licensed under the MIT license, see LICENSE for details.
- Cross-platform support: Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, tvOS, Android, Raspberry Pi (and other generic ARM boards), and Web with Emscripten
- Powerful and configurable rendering pipeline, with implementations for forward, light pre-pass and deferred rendering
- OpenGL, OpenGL ES, WebGL and Direct3D11
- All-in-one editor built with ActionScript, allowing you to easily customize the editor to your game needs
- Two scripting languages available for creating game logic: Lua and AngelScript
- UI, localization and database subsystems
- Component based scene model
- Skeletal, vertex morph and node animation
- Point, spot and directional lights
- Cascaded shadow maps
- Particle rendering
- Geomipmapped terrain
- Static and skinned decals
- LODs
- Automatic instancing
- Software rasterized occlusion culling
- Post-processing
- HDR and PBR rendering
- 2D sprites and particles that integrate into the 3D scene
- Task-based multithreading
- Hierarchical performance profiler
- Scene, object and prefab load/save in binary, XML and JSON formats
- Keyframe animation of object attributes
- Background loading of resources
- Keyboard, mouse, joystick and touch input
- High-performance math library
- Physics powered by Bullet and Box2D
- Networking powered by SLikeNet
- Pathfinding and Crowd Simulation via Recast/Detour
- Supported images: JPEG, PNG, TGA, BMP, PSD, GIF, HDR
- Compressed image support: DDS, KTX, PVR
- Import virtually any 3D file format via Assimp
- 2D and 3D audio playblack, Ogg Vorbis and WAV support
- TrueType font rendering
- Built as a single external library, can be linked statically or dynamically
- Productive: Do not reinvent the wheel. Engine should reduce development time. Less yak shaving, more game making.
- Fast: Compile and run fast. Parallelize when possible.
- Modular: Only use what you need. Flexibility for power users.
U3D uses the following conventions and principles:
- Left-handed coordinates. Positive X, Y & Z axes point to the right, up, and forward, and positive rotation is clockwise.
- Degrees are used for angles.
- Clockwise vertices define a front face.
- Audio volume is specified from 0.0 (silence) to 1.0 (full volume)
- Path names use slash instead of backslash. Paths will be converted internally into the necessary format when calling into the operating system.
- In the script API, properties are used whenever appropriate instead of Set...() and Get...() functions. If the setter and getter require index parameters, the property will use array-style indexing, and its name will be in plural. For example model->SetMaterial(0, myMaterial) in C++ would become model.materials[0] = myMaterial in script.
- Raw pointers are used whenever possible in the classes' public API. This simplifies exposing functions & classes to script, and is relatively safe, because
SharedPtr&WeakPtruse intrusive reference counting. - When an object's public API allows assigning a reference counted object to it through a Set...() function, this implies ownership through a
SharedPtr. For example assigning a Material to a StaticModel, or a Viewport to Renderer. To end the assignment and free the reference counted object, call the Set...() function again with a null argument. - No C++ exceptions. Error return values (false / null pointer / dummy reference) are used instead. Script exceptions are used when there is no other sensible way, such as with out of bounds array access.
- Feeding illegal data to public API functions, such as out of bounds indices or null pointers, should not cause crashes or corruption. Instead errors are logged as appropriate.
- Third party libraries are included as source code for the build process. They are however hidden from the public API as completely as possible.
U3D's development is community-driven and completely independent, empowering developers to build and design better tools to help indie game development. We invite you to familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and get to know us on:
- Discord: Community chat room
- GitHub Discussions: Technical discussions about the roadmap, issues, bugs
If you'd like to help build U3D, we have a guide just for you! Check it out: Contributor Guide.
U3D is greatly inspired by Urho3D, OGRE and Horde3D. Additional inspiration & research used:
- Rectangle packing by Jukka Jylänki (clb) http://clb.demon.fi/projects/rectangle-bin-packing
- Tangent generation from Terathon http://www.terathon.com/code/tangent.html
- Fast, Minimum Storage Ray/Triangle Intersection by Möller & Trumbore http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/pubs/1997/MT97.pdf
- Linear-Speed Vertex Cache Optimisation by Tom Forsyth http://home.comcast.net/~tom_forsyth/papers/fast_vert_cache_opt.html
- Software rasterization of triangles based on Chris Hecker's Perspective Texture Mapping series in the Game Developer magazine http://chrishecker.com/Miscellaneous_Technical_Articles
- Networked Physics by Glenn Fiedler http://gafferongames.com/game-physics/networked-physics/
- Euler Angle Formulas by David Eberly https://www.geometrictools.com/Documentation/EulerAngles.pdf
- Red Black Trees by Julienne Walker http://eternallyconfuzzled.com/tuts/datastructures/jsw_tut_rbtree.aspx
- Comparison of several sorting algorithms by Juha Nieminen http://warp.povusers.org/SortComparison/
U3D uses the following third-party libraries:
- AngelScript 2.35.1 WIP (http://www.angelcode.com/angelscript)
- Boost 1.64.0 (http://www.boost.org) - only used for AngelScript generic bindings
- Box2D 2.3.2 WIP (http://box2d.org)
- Bullet 3.06+ (http://www.bulletphysics.org)
- Civetweb 1.7 (https://github.com/civetweb/civetweb)
- FreeType 2.8 (https://www.freetype.org)
- {fmt} 9.1.0 (https://fmt.dev/)
- GLEW 1.13.0 (http://glew.sourceforge.net)
- SLikeNet (https://github.com/SLikeSoft/SLikeNet)
- libcpuid 0.4.0+ (https://github.com/anrieff/libcpuid)
- Lua 5.1 (https://www.lua.org)
- LuaJIT 2.1.0+ (http://www.luajit.org)
- LZ4 1.7.5 (https://github.com/lz4/lz4)
- MojoShader (https://icculus.org/mojoshader)
- Mustache 1.0 (https://mustache.github.io, https://github.com/kainjow/Mustache)
- nanodbc 2.12.4+ (https://lexicalunit.github.io/nanodbc)
- Open Asset Import Library 5.4.3 (http://assimp.sourceforge.net)
- pugixml 1.13 (http://pugixml.org)
- rapidjson 1.1.0 commit 2024/12/10 (https://github.com/Tencent/rapidjson/commit/58c6938b73c8685d82905ed55ec5b59e8f163687)
- Recast/Detour (https://github.com/recastnavigation/recastnavigation)
- SDL 2.30.9 (https://www.libsdl.org)
- SQLite 3.36.0 (https://www.sqlite.org)
- StanHull (https://codesuppository.blogspot.com/2006/03/john-ratcliffs-code-suppository-blog.html)
- stb_image 2.29 (https://nothings.org)
- stb_image_write 1.16 (https://nothings.org)
- stb_rect_pack 1.01 (https://nothings.org)
- stb_vorbis 1.22 (https://nothings.org)
- tolua++ 1.0.93 (defunct - http://www.codenix.com/~tolua)
- WebP (https://chromium.googlesource.com/webm/libwebp)
- ETCPACK (https://github.com/Ericsson/ETCPACK)
- Tracy 0.7.6 (https://github.com/wolfpld/tracy)
- DXT / PVRTC decompression code based on the Squish library and the Oolong Engine.
- Jack and mushroom models from the realXtend project. (https://www.realxtend.org)
- Ninja model and terrain, water, smoke, flare and status bar textures from OGRE.
- BlueHighway font from Larabie Fonts.
- Anonymous Pro font by Mark Simonson.
- NinjaSnowWar sounds by Veli-Pekka Tätilä.
- PBR textures from Substance Share. (https://share.allegorithmic.com)
- IBL textures from HDRLab's sIBL Archive.
- Dieselpunk Moto model by allexandr007.
- Mutant & Kachujin models from Mixamo.
- Skies from Polyhaven. (https://polyhaven.com/license)
License / copyright information included with the assets as necessary. All other assets (including shaders) by U3D authors and licensed similarly as the engine itself.
