In the Unreal Engine 5.5 release, the animation toolset received several updates, including improvements to Sequencer, Unreal Engine's nonlinear animation editor. New features such as nondestructive animation layers allow animators to manage layers with additive or override options, animate layer weights, and interactively adjust dynamic cinematic sequences. Additionally, the release updates Control Rig, which is now in beta, with modular components for bipedal and quadrupedal rigs and an enhanced interface. The Animator Kit plugin offers pre-built rigs and deformers for creating realistic or stylized animations, such as stretching and squashing effects.

Rendering has undergone significant improvements: Lumen now achieves 60Hz performance on platforms with supported hardware, and Path Tracer is now production-ready. Path Tracer has gained Linux support and enhanced quality, providing high-quality rendering for applications requiring precise visual results. Substrate, the material creation platform, has entered beta, offering a flexible set of tools for creating real-time and linear materials. Movie Render Graph, also in beta, provides an improved workflow for rendering sequences, including EXR metadata and better support for complex rendering scenarios.

An interesting new addition is MegaLights, an experimental feature designed to handle hundreds of dynamic light sources with minimal impact on performance. For virtual production, Unreal Engine 5.5 improves its in-camera visual effects tools, now fully supporting SMPTE 2110 for IP video streams. Other updates include an enhanced camera calibration tool for precise lens and camera parameter estimation, as well as an updated virtual viewing toolkit, compatible with OpenXR HMD.

The new color grading panel offers a more user-friendly interface for adjusting color across the entire scene. The mobile version update focuses on enhancing visual clarity and performance. The Mobile Forward Renderer now supports features like volumetric fog, D-buffer decals, and improved screen reflections. Developers also benefit from automatic caching of pipeline state objects during runtime, simplifying shader compilation workflows. The iteration process for developers is improved with the production-ready Zen Server, which provides faster asset streaming and data storage. Additional tools, such as the Unreal Build Accelerator and Unreal Horde Continuous Integration, further streamline development workflows, reducing iteration time for large projects.

Unreal Engine 5.5 also integrates Fab, Epic's unified content marketplace, allowing users to easily add high-quality assets, including Quixel Megascans, directly into their projects. Numerous other features have been added, and further details can be found on the Epic Games website.