Download Unreal Engine 5.7 from the Epic Games launcher, GitHub, or for Linux!
You can check out the release notes here!
Unreal Engine 5.7 delivers new tools to build large, detailed worlds rendered in real time on current-generation hardware.
You can now procedurally generate massive environments, create physically accurate materials, and use more lights with improved performance.
This release also expands animation, MetaHuman, and virtual production workflows, all supported by a new in-editor AI Assistant.
Open world tools
The Procedural Content Generation (PCG) framework is now production-ready, enabling you to quickly populate environments with natural variety.
The new PCG Editor Mode provides a library of customizable tools built on PCG, letting you draw splines, paint points, or create volumes. Each tool is linked to a PCG Graph for real-time control and no-code customization.
Performance has improved with faster GPU compute and parameter overrides for GPU nodes.
A new Polygon2D data type and operators support closed areas, and there are also new operators for working with splines, while the Procedural Vegetation Editor (PVE) showcases PCGâs flexibility.
PVE lets you create and customize vegetation assets inside Unreal Engine, outputting Nanite skeletal assemblies.
The first Experimental release supports new Quixel Megaplants (currently available for free download in Fab) with five species offering size and structure variations, and more coming.
High-fidelity rendering
The new Experimental Nanite Foliage system enables efficient rendering of dense, detailed environments. Using Nanite Voxels, it draws millions of tiny overlapping elements that form solid, high-detail surfaces like canopies or ground clutter without LODs or popping.
It also uses Nanite Assemblies to reduce storage, memory, and rendering costs, and Nanite Skinning for dynamic effects such as wind response. Nanite Foliage supports meshes created with PVE and can import trees from external tools via USD.
Substrate, Unreal Engineâs modular material system, is now production-ready. It supports physically accurate layering of materials such as metal, clear coat, skin, and cloth, enabling realistic effects like multi-layered car paint or oiled leather. Teams can define custom shading logic, and the system is fully integrated into UEâs lighting pipeline for consistent, high-quality results across all platforms, including mobile.
MegaLights advances to Beta, supporting far more dynamic, shadow-casting lights per scene for realistic soft shadows from complex sources like area lights.
This release also improves overall visual fidelity with better support for directional lights, translucency, Niagara particle shadows, and more accurate hair shading. Out-of-the-box performance and noise reduction have also been enhanced, reducing the need for manual light optimization.
MetaHuman integration
The MetaHuman Creator Unreal Engine plugin is now available on both Linux and macOS, enabling users on those platforms to enjoy all the benefits that Unreal Engine integration brings. MetaHuman Animator support for Linux and macOS is planned for a future release.
You can now automate and batch process MetaHuman assets using Python or Blueprint scripting, and conform meshes in varied poses with UV space vertex correspondence for DCC round-tripping via FBX.
Supported through Live Link Face, you can now capture performances in real time from external cameras on iPad or Android devices.
You can now author and control hair guides and strands using joint-based deformation, painting, and mesh-based manipulation in Unreal Engine, blending between simulated hair physics and art-directed animation. The latest MetaHuman for Houdini update now offers a guide-driven workflow for creating hairstyles using pre-authored data. The tool comes with a number of adjustable preset hairstyles for artists to use as starting points.
Animation and rigging
Unreal Engine 5.7 builds on the rigging and animation improvements introduced in 5.6 with a refactored Animation Mode that streamlines workflows and optimizes screen space.
The new Selection Sets feature lets you quickly select multiple rig controls or mirrored counterparts with one click, hide or show sets for focus, and share them across teams.
The IK Retargeter now offers better foot-to-ground contact, supports squash and stretch animations, and uses spatial awareness to prevent self-collision and maintain accurate contact points across characters of different sizes.
The updated Skeletal Editor adds industry-standard sculpting workflows, allowing seamless transitions between bone placement, weight painting, and blend shape sculpting. Instant updates make creating rigs with dozens of blend shapes faster and easier.
New one-way physics world collisions let characters interact naturally with environments, producing more realistic ragdolls and gameplay tests.
A new Dependency View visualizes data flow through Control Rigs in a clear, node-based graph, simplifying debugging and optimization of complex setups.
Virtual production
This version also introduces new features that expand possibilities for virtual production and motion capture workflows.
The new Dynamic Constraint Component for Props automatically attaches props to hand positions, smoothly interpolating motion for natural results even during complex actions like juggling. An example implementation is included in the Mocap Manager, and the system can be customized in Blueprint to define unique constraint behaviors.
The Live Link Broadcast Component lets Unreal Engine act as a source of animation data across a network. This enables multi-machine virtual production setups, such as offloading retargeting to another Editor session and streaming Transform, Camera, or Animation data back into the main scene.
The updated Composure real-time compositing tool is now more accessible and capable. It supports live video input and file-based media plates with real-time playback at 24 fps. Enhancements include integrated shadow and reflection rendering for seamless blending of live-action and CG elements, along with an improved keyer for higher-quality results.
In-editor AI Assistant & new Home Panel
A new AI Assistant that provides real-time guidance is now directly available in the Editor. It can answer questions, generate C++ code, and offer step-by-step help all from a dedicated slide-out panel so you can stay focused on your work.
You can open the AI Assistant just like a tooltip by hovering over any interface element and pressing F1, which starts a contextual conversation about that feature.
The new Home Panel also centralizes access to tutorials, documentation, news, forums, and recent projects. New users can explore an interactive Getting Started sample that launches directly in the Editor.
Additional notes:
- As always, if you encounter any bugs please report them and let us know about them!
- Beginning with UE 5.7, Linux will transition from SDL2 to SDL3. Users with customizations to SDL2 code who are interested in switching to UE 5.7 should be aware that they will need to rework those changes for SDL3.
- Weâve introduced Experimental Windows arm64 and arm64ec support. Arm64ec functions in full source builds but not in the Launcher editor. Arm64 packaging via the Launcher is highly experimental.
- Find the current known issues here!
Solution: UE 5.7 Crash on Launch - âUnable to use default cache graphâ
ZenServer reinstalls automatically
