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DanceXR 2026.9 Release Notes

DanceXR 2026.9 is a major step forward for the whole DanceXR family. DanceXR Native graduates from public preview with PMX support, multi-character scenes, and both desktop and VR modes. The new DanceXR Launcher brings every Windows runtime and companion app together in one place. In the Unity app, Interactive Pose makes physical multi-character posing possible, while substantial upgrades improve ragdolls, procedural walking, PMX compatibility, and experimental fluids.

What is New

DanceXR Native is ready for release

  • DanceXR Native has graduated from public preview. The standalone path-traced app is now ready for everyday use on ray-tracing-capable Windows PCs.
  • Native now loads PMX models as well as XPS/XNALara models. PMX support includes VMD animation, append and inherited bone deformation, IK, morphs, and rigid-body physics.
  • Multi-character scenes are now supported. Load, arrange, animate, and save several characters together in the same fully path-traced environment. The free edition remains limited to one character; an activated Pro installation unlocks multiple characters.
  • Native can now launch in desktop or OpenXR VR mode, with the launcher checking the required hardware and runtime before starting it.
  • Saved scenes preserve the character roster, placement, materials, and assigned motions, making Native a complete scene-building workflow rather than a single-model viewer.

One launcher for the DanceXR family

  • The new DanceXR Launcher finds installed HD, LW, RT, and Native runtimes and gives each one a clear launch entry in a single window.
  • If HD or Native is not installed, the launcher can download and install its free edition directly, making it easier to get started on a new PC.
  • The launcher automatically checks the installed versions of DanceXR Discovery and DanceXR Operator, then offers install, update, or repair actions when needed.
  • Native has separate desktop and VR launch buttons, while compatibility checks catch missing DXR or OpenXR support before startup and offer a suitable fallback where possible.
  • Downloads are verified and staged before replacing an existing companion installation, so an interrupted update does not discard the working copy.

Interactive Pose for multi-character scenes

  • Interactive Pose is now available in Pro. Put several characters into the mode and pose them as self-balancing physical figures that can press against and react to one another.
  • Characters brace through their feet and shift their balance under contact instead of simply passing through each other or collapsing.
  • A dragged hand can stay anchored to another character as that character moves, making connected multi-character poses much easier to arrange.
  • Contact, pin strength, pose recovery, surface friction, body drive, and motion controls can be tuned for anything from a firmly directed pose to a looser physical reaction.
  • Seated poses receive dedicated support, allowing the hips and trunk to respond to a seat while the character keeps a directed posture.

Better ragdolls and body contact

  • Ragdoll collision bodies now follow the figure more closely with improved head, waist, torso, hip, limb, and other body-region shapes.
  • New per-body shape and fine-tuning controls make it possible to adapt collision coverage to unusual character proportions.
  • Ragdolls recover toward their pose more reliably, no longer stick to the floor after contact, and clean up correctly when a character or motion is removed.
  • Interactive Pose and the standalone ragdoll system now coordinate ownership, preventing two physics rigs from fighting over the same character.
  • Collider and joint visualization can be switched on when tuning a setup.

More natural procedural movement

  • Catwalk motion has been extensively refined with adjustable walking speed, step height and timing, foot-lift shape, knee bend, toe-off, heel presentation, torso lean, and head follow.
  • Walking speed now drives a more coherent relationship between cadence and step length.
  • Characters can aim and move faster, with improved body swing, motion extent, and transition timing.
  • Seated and airborne poses behave more predictably, including better decisions about when feet should remain pinned.

Improved PMX model compatibility

  • PMX append/inherited transforms, deform order, and pre-/post-physics bone evaluation now follow the model’s authored metadata more closely.
  • Constrained PMX model IK chains are now supported, improving models that rely on their own IK beyond DanceXR’s standard leg rig.
  • PMX damping, per-body friction, per-axis joint springs, and free-axis limits now map more faithfully into the XPBD solver.
  • PhysX-only controls are hidden while XPBD is active, reducing settings that had no effect under the current physics engine.

Experimental fluid surface rendering

  • HD builds gain an optional Ray March Surface renderer that turns fluid particles into a smooth, refractive surface. It remains explicitly experimental and is disabled until enabled in the fluid settings.
  • Water and milk presets provide quick starting points, with controls for tint, opacity, ambient light, specular response, Fresnel rim, refraction, surface radius, and rendering detail.
  • New pulse emission can create repeating bursts, alongside expanded controls for attraction, cohesion, viscosity, stickiness, friction, particle size, and kernel range.
  • Fluid-ground, mesh, and SDF collision behavior has been refined, including fixes for friction, collision gaps, cleanup, recreation, and leaked rendering resources.

Quality-of-Life Improvements

  • New render-scale setting for balancing image quality and GPU performance.
  • Material groups now expose the full material controls, plus reliable Hide All and Reset All actions.
  • An alternative input can be assigned for moving upward.
  • Mesh-collider visualization updates correctly and no longer leaves stale objects behind.
  • Numerous physics fixes improve ground contact, friction, collision consistency, and stability across cloth, particles, fluids, and ragdolls.

In This Update at a Glance

  • DanceXR Native graduates from preview with PMX, multi-character, and VR support
  • A new launcher for starting runtimes and installing free editions
  • Automatic version checks and managed updates for Discovery and Operator
  • Interactive Pose for physical multi-character posing in Pro
  • Better-fitting, tunable ragdoll collision bodies
  • Seated-pose support and more reliable pose recovery
  • A more natural and deeply adjustable procedural walk
  • More faithful PMX IK, bone deformation, damping, friction, and joint springs
  • Experimental smooth fluid surfaces with water and milk presets
  • Render scaling and improved material-group controls

DanceXR 2026.9 brings the product family together: a release-ready native path tracer, a launcher that makes every Windows app easier to find and maintain, and characters that share a scene with more convincing motion, contact, and physical presence.