Topia's upgraded renderer: Faster loading, smoother movement, and more responsive editing

Takeaways

• Editing is easier than ever with the new pan and zoom features. You can now move your viewport anywhere while in edit mode.
• Avatar movement will feel smoother and more game-like when navigating with your keyboard.
• Users with older devices or slower internet connections should experience better performance and less lag as they move through the world.

Introducing Topia’s new renderer — our optimized, faster engine for more immersive game mechanics and experiences

We’ve rebuilt our core renderer from the ground up. This will allow our team to evolve the experience in worlds to include more immersive game mechanics and features that would not have been previously feasible. In the immediate term, we’ve added a few new world editing features (more updates are coming very soon to world building) and optimized multiple core experiences in the world that you may notice during your Topia travels.

• Note: The renderer is the part of Topia responsible for visually displaying graphics in worlds (examples: assets, avatars, and world background) and handling interactive experiences with assets (examples: media, zones, interactive links).

New Features

Pan anywhere while editing

Turn on edit mode and right click + drag the canvas with your mouse to pan anywhere in the world. This update untethers the editing experience from your avatar, and allows you to edit any part of your world without having to walk there.

• Note: If you’re using a trackpad, click and drag with two fingers to pan.

‍

Zoom in and out while editing

Scroll your mouse wheel up or down to freely zoom in and out on the canvas while in edit mode. You can travel vast distances across the world and find the ideal zoom level for editing an area in a matter of seconds.

• Note: If you’re using a trackpad, slide two fingers vertically to zoom in and out.

‍

Optimized Experiences

Moving, editing, and dropping an asset

The asset editing experience is smoother and more responsive to your mouse actions. Assets you move will follow the path of your cursor much more closely. The edit pencil will render more quickly on hover and display on all overlapping assets, which makes it much easier to find the asset you’re looking for. Also, assets will render more quickly on the canvas after you drop them. 

‍

Loading assets in world

Asset loading times are faster. Walk through a world packed with incredible assets and you’ll see little to no evidence of assets loading to the canvas. You’ll experience an even more continuous sense of immersion as your avatar makes its way through worlds.

‍

Avatar movement with keyboard

Transitions when changing avatar direction with your keyboard (WASD or arrow keys) are quicker and more responsive. Also, your avatar’s walk and transportation movements are now uninterrupted by restarts. Hold down a direction key and you’ll see the movement animation run continuously (and smoothly) until you stop, which transitions your avatar back to a standing position.

‍

Improved performance on more devices

The optimizations to avatar movement and loading assets made our mobile experience more performant too. Also, users with older devices or slower internet connections should experience better performance and less lag as they move through the world.