CopperCube update 5.7.1 is now available.
This is a maintenance release, including mostly bug fixes and minor improvements. It is free for all existing users, as always. Changes in this update:

• Better WebGL Pointer Lock support
  When you use WebGL in fullscreen mode you can additionally enable pointer lock - meaning First Person Shooter controls work on the website as in a desktop app game:
  The mouse cursor gets hidden and you move the the view by moving the mouse. This feature now works nicely on all modern browser supporting this, and additionally features using mouse coordinates (like the "When clicked on this" or "hovered by mouse" behaviours) work nicely as well by assuming the mouse cursor is now in the center of the screen.
  
  
• There is now a new property value named "PositionAbs" supported by all scene nodes, which returns the absolute position of an object when using ccbGetSceneNodeProperty()
  
  
• Fixed a problem when using a static object with a game AI behavior: Previously, if this object had collision enabled, it wasn't able to correctly shoot because it would cause to collide with itself (if collision was enabled for this object). This has been fixed now.
  
  
• Fixed a problem causing custom behavior scripts not work when loading an
  external .ccb file into the game using ccbSwitchToCCBFile()
  
  
• Fixed a bug causing jumpy camera when clicking and pointer lock is enabled in WebGL
  
  
• Updated documentation with missing parameters, for example for the ccbSteamSetAchievement() command
  
  
• Updated french translation
  
  
• Updated swedish translation
  
  
• Default Window size for new Windows apps is now 800x600
  
  
• Default canvas size for new WebGL apps is now 800x600
  
  
• Fixed a bug which prevented changing the color of dynamic lights sometimes
  
  
• Fixed bug with deserializing light data when using JavaScript
  
  
• Fixed a bug causing animated foliage not to be rendered sometimes in WebGL client

CopperCube Game Engine 5.7 is now available.
This free updates includes a handful of new features:

CopperCube can now draw dynamic shadows, by using shadow maps. This works nicely for outdoor scenes: Put a directional light into your scene and activate the "realtime shadows" checkbox of the root scene object.

You can have both static lighting (light maps), dynamic lighting (shadow maps) and no lighting (white) for objects in the same scene. The technique used is pretty fast and also works nicely in WebGL on websites:
It is possible to select manually which object should cast shadows and which should not.
There are also a few parameters which can influence the look of this. There is a new tutorial showing how all this works.
Limitations: This works only for Windows .exe target with Direct3D and for the WebGL target. Only one, namely a directional light source is supported for shadow casting. (You can also add other light sources of course, but they won't cast shadows)


The Windows target now supports a new window mode which is known as "borderless windowed" or "dynamic" mode. It has a few advantages:

If your game uses a lot of data like textures / sounds / scenes etc, CopperCube now makes it easy to do this as well: You can now dynamically load levels and scenes at runtime. There is now a scripting function named 'ccbSwitchToCCBFile()', which when invoked will wipe the memory and load/start that new file. This makes it possible to split your game up easily into multiple files. Works for Windows .exe and MacOS apps.

If you are using a newer Android SDK, your CopperCube generated Android game can be uploaded again directly to the store without the need to manually zip-align it. Background: Google moved the zipalign tool location in newer SDKs to another location. CopperCube now detects this.

Additionally, CopperCube is now also compatible with Android Studio.

The editor will now detect missing installed DirectX runtimes and provide a download link to install them.

C++ code (windows.exe / mac os x): Floating point render to texture formats are now supported

You can now save textures to disk using the new scripting function ccbSaveTexture(). This is for example useful when using the built-in 3d model texture packer, and you want to export the model or texture. You can also save textures directly in the editor by right-clicking the texture and choosing "save as...".

• The default Android update mode is now 'every frame' instead of 'when scene changed', resulting in a more smooth gameplay. Also, this will reduce the 'stuttering' which some people noticed on faster Android devices.
  
• The editor now uses some bigger default window sizes when run on bigger screens
  
• Windows .exe Apps no longer store their variables in the "CopperCubeApp" folder in the registry, but in a folder named after the application name.
  
• The engine now uses less memory when run on Windows / Mac OS
  
• WebGL: Replaced local files warning with updated information (the "allow-file-access-from-files" flag doesn't work anymore with Chrome)
  
• Fixed a bug causing dynamic point lights not to rendered correcty sometimes when there was a directional light active as well
  
• Improved polish translation
  
• Fixed a problem when using the "Restart scene" action which caused memory to leak.
  
• Resetting a behavior now using the "Reset" action causes the FPS camera and keyboard controlled camera also to reset their keyboard states.

CopperCube Game Engine 5.6 is now available.

This free updates includes lots of new features:

Grass, leaves and other vegetation can now be moved by the wind. This works for grass on terrain, leaves of the trees, or any other object you like: It is a new material type setting. See the image above.

This works on WebGL, Android and Windows/D3D targets. On systems not supporting this, the system automatically falls back to static vegetation.

The Windows target now supports a new window mode which is known as "borderless windowed" or "dynamic" mode. It has a few advantages:

• In windowed (= non fullscreen) mode, the window is resizeable
  
• It is possible to switch between fullscreen and windowed mode during runtime easily at any time
  
• Fullscreen mode is now automatically sized to the resolution of the users screen
  
• Task switching between game and other apps now is possible and very fast
  
• Switching to fullscreen at any time is now possible by clicking the 'maximize' window button

The procedural trees generator now creates much nicer looking trees.

Apps for the targets Windows .exe and Mac OS X .app can now save screenshots.
The new scripting function ccbSaveScreenshot(filename) saves the current content of the screen to a image file on the disk. Supported file formats are .bmp, .jpg, .tga, .psd, .pcx, .png and .ppm.

When using Direct3D, the engine now runs in high precision mode, causing your interpolations look smoother in certain edge conditions

- There is now a way to get the current fog settings direct from the video driver, using IVideoDriver::getFog()
- It is now possible to set integer shader constant arrays (previously, only floats were supported)
- Various other small improvements here and there

Android multitouch input now also works nicely with newer, faster Android devices, where sometimes the input controller would hang under certain circumstances.

• Updated lots of parts of the documentation
  
• Added swedish translation
  
• Fixed a bug causing trees not to be regenerated when changing the texture in the tree generation dialog
  
• Fixed a problem causing JavaScript's Date() class not to return the correct time anymore after a D3D device reset
  
• Fixed a bug causing tree instances not to be stored on the terrain sometimes

CopperCube Game Engine 5.5 is now available on Steam. This free update includes lots of new features:

Games created with Coppercube as Windows .exe now automatically have Steam integration built-in. There is support for the Steam-Overlay and an easy way to use Steam Achivements, even without programming.

(Note: This of course only works if your game will be published on Steam.)

Several improvements for this behavior where backintegrated from the game 'PostCollapse', including:

• Repeated jumping is now no longer possible by holding down the space bar
  
• Moving and strafing at the same time now longer lets the player move faster that way
  
• When the system is hanging shortly (like for example if Windows Defender suddenly causes Windows to slow down), the movement will behave smoothly as before

Users of the pro edition now have access to the full C++ client source code. It consists of VisualStudio (Windows) and XCode (Mac OS X) projects and can be used to extend your game in any way possible. For details, take a look into the documentation.

Users of the pro edition now have access to the full Flash client source code. It consists of about 150 .as ActionScript 3 files, and can be used to extend your game in any way possible. For details, take a look into the documentation.

It is now possible to use multiple 2D mobile input Overlays at the same time on Android target, making the games there feel more natural.

The first person shooter camera on Android now is much easier to use. Although first person shooters are more unusual on this platform, it works now much nicer and easier to handle.

The new scripting function ccbGetCurrentNode() returns the current scene node. When running some JavaScript code via an 'execute JavaScript' action, there is always a "current node" set, usually the node in which the action is being run. This function is available on all platforms.

• Mesh import improved: Imported mesh name is now reflected in the scene graph explorer
  
• Improved Chinese Translation
  
• There is a downloadable action available for using Steam achivements without scripting
  
• Fixed a bug causing 'plant rendering' advanced material flag not to be set when anisotropic rendering isn't checked as well.
  
• Fixed a bug causing CopperCube to crash when modifying a mesh which has been imported as animated mesh although it is static.
  
• Fixed a bug causing Oculus Rift support not to work on some systems
  
• Fixed a bug in WebGL causing Particle Systems as children of rotated nodes not to show up correctly at some viewing angles.

CopperCube Game Engine 5.4.2 is now available. This free update includes these new features:

It is now easily possible to have a day-night cycle in your games and simulations:

There is now a downloadable day-night cylce behavior from the extension script page[www.ambiera.com]. Additionally, it's now possible to change the color, radius and direction of realtime lights using scripting. The new properties are 'Radius' (for point lights), 'Color', and 'Direction' (for directional lights).

Added anisotropic filtering option to the advanced materials settings. This is an advanced filtering option for materials. Because it is memory and computationally intensive, and likely slowing down your game, you have to enable it manually for surfaces where it should be applied to. It makes sense to do this for example for grounds or walls with a very detailed pattern on them. Works on Windows .exe and Mac OS X .app platforms.

Collision detection now also works nicely with degenerated and irregular geometry on all targets. This means that if you are not using the physics engine for movement but the built-in fast collision/response system, you are not likely to get stuck anymore if your 3D world consists of unclean modelled 3d data.

There is now a free new downloadable action available which disables the browser's menu to appear when right-clicking in a WebGL app. You can download it from the extension website[www.ambiera.com].

First person camera controls now work a lot more nicer on touch devices like phones and tablets, for the WebGL target.

It is now possible to enable showing CopperCube irrEdit/Irrlicht views. This is basically a property window for Irrlicht Engine properties, where you have some more options for influencing materials and properties of various objects for Windows .exe and Mac OS X targets. It is also very useful when using CopperCube for developing Irrlicht apps.

1. When scripting and using the function ccbSetSceneNodeProperty(), it is now also possible to set a color using its RGB values, for example by ccbSetSceneNodeProperty(s, "Color", 255, 128, 0);
   
2. It is now possible to change the background color of the scene using scripting. Use 'BackgroundColor' of the root object for this.
   
3. It is now possible to change the fog color of the scene using scripting. Use 'FogColor' of the root object for this.
   
4. WebGL client now again shows details of errors if a specific file could not be loaded.
   
5. Various small bug fixes and improvements
   
6. Added translations:
   - Farsi
   - Hindi
   - Chinese
   - Polish
   - Czech
   

CopperCube Game Engine 5.4 is now available on Steam. This free updates includes lots of new features:

If you want to sculpt your 3D world terrain with another software, you can do this now, too.

Coppercube now is able to import terrain heightmaps of the formats .raw, .r16, .r32, .png, .tga and .pgm. It also has the option to automatically apply textures to imported terrain and distribute grass onto it.

CopperCube now has an integrated texture packer. This is useful if you are using 3D models (for example downloaded from the web) which weren't optimized for games. Most of 3D models available online have lots of textures applied to them, which slows down your game while rendering. You can now simply right-click such a model in your game, and select "Modify -> Pack all textures of selection into one". This will optimize your 3d model and make it render much faster.

CopperCube now generates up to -80% smaller files for WebGL (depending on content). Files are now compressed, causing WebGL websites to download and start much quicker. This feature is optional and can be turned off in the publishing settings.

The first person shooter camera now has a new property named 'movement smoothing', which when turned on causes the movement of the player to be much softer, even on very slow systems. This is nice especially for mobile apps and the WebGL target, but movement also on the Windows and Mac OS X apps feels now much more natural, when turned on.

There is now an option in the publishing settings to enable your game/app to use the full web page size.

It is now possible to play foot step sounds easily. Simply attach the 'footsteps' behavior to any object, and once it is moving, one random of three actions is run, after a specific foot step length. Use those actions to play sounds, blow up dust, or similar. The footstep behavior is available as free downloadable extension behavior from the extension download page.

The "On proximity do something" action now has a setting named 'testArea'. Set this to 'box' instead of the default 'sphere', and your objects will be tested against a box, which is more exact and useful in a lot of cases. Also, the box is rotated and scaled with the object, so you can also test for non-orthogonal areas now.

You can now specify if a 2D image drawn as part of a 2D Overlay will be drawn 'sharp/pixelated' or 'blurry/filtered' when it is scaled. Both options make sense, depending on the type and use case of your 2D overlay. Now you can choose manually which option will be used.

The command for recalculating tangents and binormals, which is intended to be used for normal mapped geometry only now also works for all kinds of static geometry. It has also been renamed accordingly "Recalculate normals and tangents...". You can use it to recalculate and fix normals for all kinds of static meshes now.

1. Possibility to update static Phyics geometry
   
2. Pan support for Model Viewer Camera
   
3. Improved .OBJ file loader
   
4. Increased WebGL performance
   
5. Updated documentation with examples and more details
   
6. Improved french translation
   
7. Extension scripts in WebGL now also can handle right mouse button events
   
8. A handfull of smaller bug fixes.
   

Just uploaded 3 new free high quality 3D models for your 3D games, created with CopperCube. In total, there are now more than 80 free 3D models available for download.

As always, all 3D models are all optimized to be used in CopperCube, and animated models have all the animations needed by the standard CopperCube behaviors. The lastest 3 new additions have been contributed by CopperCube Efe, and are an excavator, a race car and a coast guard. If you want to contribute to, just send in your models exported as CopperCube prefabs.

You can download the models directly here from the official CopperCube prefabs website[www.ambiera.com].

CopperCube Game Engine 5.3 is now available on Steam. This free updates includes lots of new features:

Added Fog rendering support. You can now add fog to your scenes simply by clicking the "Fog" checkbox on the root node of your scene. Looks great on terrain. Fog color and density are adjustable.

CopperCube can now import most low poly Blender .blend files without problems. If you are using Blender as 3D modelling software, you probably don't need to export your files anymore, and can just import the .blend files directly into CopperCube.

The editor now can import .FBX files with the following limitations: Import works for static meshes, working are FBX version 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Users of the pro edition now have access to the full Android client source code. It consists of about 150 java files, and can be used to extend your game for example to include ads, or similar.

Sound output now runs about 20% faster on Windows and Mac OS X. Also, on Android, WebGL and Flash, collision detection is now much more smooth and faster, using even less CPU time now.

There is now a new action named "Stop Sound". This can be used to stop a specific single sound. Very useful for controlling the sound environment, and to create stuff like dialogs which can be cancelled, and similar. There is also a corresponding new scripting function available, see below.

Added support for touch pinch gesture detection in WebGL: Pinches are reported as mousewheel events.
Also, if you are using the open source WebGL library for scripting your games, there is now the possibility for loading additional files as scenes during runtime on the fly. This means you can now create even bigger games and scenes and only load them when needed. See the CopperLicht::load() function documentation for this.

In addition to the already existing 7 translations, the editor now is also available in Spanish. It will switch automatically to spanish if your operating system uses that language, you can switch it back in the options menu.

1. New scripting functions:
   - ccbStopSound: Stops a single specific sound, similar to the action "stop sound"
   - ccbSetSceneNodeParent: Sets the parent scene node of a scene node
   
2. There is now a new command "Load new mesh from disk..." to replace the mesh with a new mesh for existing static meshes in the scene
   
3. The font in the debugger window of the Windows .exe and Mac OS X .app target is now much bigger and better readable
   
4. Added a tutorial to the documentation on how to create 3D geometry using scripting in the editor
   
5. Improved, more helpful error messages when loading of a 3D file failed
   
6. Extended documentation with more examples and hints here and there.
   

There are now a few new free 3D models available which your can use in your 3D games, created with CopperCube. In total, there are now 13 model packs available for download.

The 3D models are all optimized to be used in CopperCube, and animated models have all the animations needed by the standard CopperCube behaviors. The lastest 2 new additions have been contributed by CopperCube user Jaime A. Z. B. If you want to contribute to, just send in your models exported as CopperCube prefabs.

You can download them directly here from the official CopperCube prefabs website[www.ambiera.com].