Unity Technologies has launched Unity 2.6, a new version of its 3D creation tool for designing iPhone games. The upgrade offers a variety of enhanced graphical features such as improved shadow map rendering, anti-aliasing, and integration of ambient occlusion. It provides users with a profile maker that displays where computer resources are being sent or what scripts are currently running, as well as a hierarchical CPU-usage data. Additional support has been added for Visual Studio and Utility Pro, enabling use with Subversion, Perforce and Bazaar apps.

Version 2.6 includes a built-in search function for finding projects or scripts, and graphical improvements for placement snapping, terrain and vegetation rendering, or applying matrix parameters. The animation editor now allows users to animate any property including objects, materials or lights, while providing full control over game code alterations to match animations.

The software also delivers a series of new scripting and audio backed features, bug fixes for Mac OS X, and improvements to both the Asset Server and Asset Pipeline.

Lastly, on top of the new upgrade, Unity Technologies has also made its formerly-known Unity Indie app available for free. Unity Pro is still priced at $1,500 per single-user license. The company will be holding software demonstrations from October 27 to 30 at the Unite Conference in San Francisco this year, as well as a free-to-attend 1-day boot camp for Flash users.