# Wallpaper Engine Wallpaper Engine 2.4 - Lighting & Shader Improvements, Local Storage & More

- Product: Wallpaper Engine (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/wallpaper-engine)
- Vendor: Wallpaper Engine
- Date: 2024-02-15
- Original notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/431960/view/4062878835622722556
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/wallpaper-engine/releases/2024-02-15-wallpaper-engine-2.4-lighting-shader-improvements

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- **added** — Real-time shadows for 3D models with the ability to enable shadows for lights and models
- **added** — Volumetric lighting system for spot and point lights
- **added** — Vegetation shader to mimic wind gusts and create double-sided lighting for leaves
- **added** — Fur shader to add volumetric hair to models with support for real-time shadows
- **added** — Chroma shader for two-colored metallic shine that changes based on viewing angle and distance
- **added** — Distance and height fog features to improve environment visuals
- **added** — Texture projection feature for spot lights in 2D and 3D wallpapers to project images, videos, or layers
- **added** — Local storage capability in SceneScript to persist data across system restarts
- **added** — Puppet warp vertex editing and vertex animation for precise shape and facial animations
- **added** — Ability to test user properties while previewing wallpapers in the editor
- **added** — User property group functionality to organize and hide related properties
- **changed** — Upgraded lighting system to use more intuitive radius and intensity controls with new falloff customization per light
- **added** — Alpha to coverage blending for shadow mapping of foliage and similar materials
- **added** — Post-processing controller layer to adjust volumetrics rendering order
- **added** — lookAt script function for renderables
- **added** — getChildren script function to iterate hierarchies
- **added** — Support for Microsoft's latest changes to Windows Insider Editions and future stable releases of Windows

Hey everyone,

Wallpaper Engine 2.4 largely builds on top of the new 3D features we have added with the previous update but also improves on the existing 2D wallpaper feature set.

##### New 3D Features

##### Real-time Shadows

 As an extension to the new lighting features we have added in the last updates, we are introducing real-time shadows for 3D models. You can enable shadows for your lights and models with just a few simple steps.

##### Volumetric Lighting

 Another addition to the lighting features of Wallpaper Engine is a new volumetric lighting system. This works especially well in combination with Bloom and Display HDR, as it allows you to create very scenic scenarios with lights.

As always, we have prepared a tutorial on our designer documentation website which you can use as a step-by-step guide:

- [3D Advanced Lighting - Wallpaper Engine Designer Documentation](https://docs.wallpaperengine.io/en/scene/models/lighting.html)

##### Model Shaders

 We also took some time to experiment with shaders for model textures. We have added three shaders which you can make use of:

[table noborder=1 equalcells=1]

        **Vegetation shader**

This shader allows you to mimic gusts of wind in trees and adds the ability to create double-sided lighting for leaves and other similar materials.

        **Fur shader**

This shader enables you to add volumetric hair to a model and can be tweaked for a wide variety of use-cases. Also works well with real-time shadows.

        **Chroma Shader**

The Chroma shader adds a two-colored metallic shine to an object that changes depending on the viewing angle and distance.

Take a look at our designer documentation to learn more about these shaders and how to utilize them:

- [3D Model Shaders - Wallpaper Engine Designer Documentation](https://docs.wallpaperengine.io/en/scene/models/shader.html)

##### Distance Fog

 Another small yet useful addition are the new fog features. The new distance and height fog settings allow you to improve the visuals your environment. Take a look at the following guide to learn more:

- [3D Distance Fog - Wallpaper Engine Designer Documentation](https://docs.wallpaperengine.io/en/scene/models/fog.html)

##### Additional New Features

##### Texture Projections

 One more addition to lights, which is available in 2D and 3D wallpapers, is the new texture projection feature. It allows you to project an image, a video or even an entire layer including all effects using a spot light which enables some interesting new approaches to lighting.

Learn more about this in our designer docs:

- [Texture Projection - Wallpaper Engine Designer Documentation](https://docs.wallpaperengine.io/en/scene/lighting/lights.html#texture-projection)

##### SceneScript: Local Storage

 Previously, it was not possible to store data in Scenescript across system restarts. We are now adding the ability to store data in a local storage so that it can be accessed again from the same wallpaper even after a system or program restart. This allows you to store some data and re-use it again at a later time. As a showcase, we have updated the existing **Dino Run** default wallpaper with a new high-score element in the upper right corner.

To learn more about this feature, see our Wallpaper Engine Designer Documentation:

- [Local Storage in SceneScript - Wallpaper Engine Designer Documentation](https://docs.wallpaperengine.io/en/scene/scenescript/tutorial/localstorage.html)

##### 2D - Puppet Warp: Vertex Editing & Blend Shapes

 Another new feature that we have created is the ability to animate the shape of puppet warp textures. This allows for very precise facial animations along the geometry of a puppet warp texture.

As part of the update, we have also overhauled the geometry setup for puppet warp models and added the ability to precisely reposition each element of the geometry.

To learn more about these changes, take a look at the relevant [designer documentation](https://docs.wallpapere

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