Artists and augmented reality designers will have a lot to play around with in the newest iteration of Unity Technology’s 3D game engine. The Unity 5.5 release features all new implementations for improved particle simulation and rendering, as well as better rendering tools for lines, and native HoloLens support.

The details on the latest release were made public over on the official Unity website. In the post we learn that holographic emulation is made available within the Unity Editor and it gives developers access to workflow environments that allow them to easily construct and build applications for the HoloLens headset. They have specific documentation available for those curious about diving into the creative sea of augmented reality.

Another highlight is the improved particle systems within Unity 5.5. Artists are now able to attach real-time, physical based lighting entities to particle sprites and particle systems. This means that you can create firefights that cast directional lights across the environment, or use fire embers to light up the face of a character during a crucial cutscene. They even provided some video examples you can view below to see how they operate in real-time.

Most impressive is that the particle systems have been updated to coincide with improved physics systems and performance throughput, especially for GPUs. This includes better optimizations for rendering content on consoles, PC and mobile devices.

And speaking of mobile devices… games being designed to use in-app purchases and cash shop microtransactions can benefit from the new codeless editor in Unity that allows developers to easily integrate in-app purchase options and microtransaction stores into their game.

Other updates and improvements include being able to send tangents to shaders and allow for normal mapping, as well as implementing custom data to send to particles and shaders for specific results. This is perfect if you plan on using specific emitters or particles that change shape or constitution based on certain conditions within the game, such as a fireball that can turn blue or muzzle fire that alters colors based on bullet types.

You can learn more about the new updates in the Unity 5.5 update by visiting the official Unity website.