Horde3D is a small open source 3D rendering engine. It is written in an effort to create a graphics engine that offers the stunning visual effects expected in next-generation games while at the same time being as lightweight and conceptually clean as possible. Horde3D has a simple and intuitive interface accessible from virtually any programming language and is particularly suitable for rendering large crowds of animated characters in next-generation quality

The latest version of Horde3D features a completely rewritten renderer. Besides some heavy performance optimizations to reduce call overhead, a flexible and configurable rendering pipeline has been introduced. The engine offers the possibility to define render targets and fill them with data using a simple XML syntax. These targets can be bound in subsequent rendering steps making it possible to do a plenty of post processing effects. Thanks to the new rendering architecture it is also possible now to use standard forward rendering instead of the deferred shading which was default up to the previous version. Additionally the release brings a plenty of bugfixes and smaller improvements. The camera is represented as a scene node now and the animation system was extended with a very convenient additive blending mode.

The new release features the Horde3D Integration Library which offers a simpler and more efficient way to integrate Horde with other middleware like a physics engine. Another important new feature are particle systems which are fully integrated into the pipeline making it possible to let particles cast shadows or receive other effects like motion blur. The documentation got a plenty of updates and has a usage guide now that should help you to get started. Finally the SDK includes a new sample application which shows how to do animation blending, use the new particle systems and apply a cool post processing effect (see new screenshot).