RenderDragon

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

RenderDragon is a rendering engine used in Bedrock Edition^[1] that runs on DirectX and OpenGL ES.

Features[]

RenderDragon features edge highlighting and new lighting techniques as part of the soon-to-be visual and performance upgrades, and also adding ray-tracing support. It supports a range of graphics features, depending on the device's capability.^[2] Most devices have some graphics and performance enhancements, but not all devices can support ray tracing. As of August 2021, the only devices that officially support ray tracing are Windows 10/11 PCs with NVIDIA® GeForce RTX or AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 series graphics cards.^[3]

Third party shaders resource packs are currently not supported on devices using RenderDragon.^[3]

History[]

Bedrock Edition
June 20, 2019		An image of RenderDragon v0.0.2 running in Minecraft Earth is released by Helen Zbihlyj on Twitter.
1.13.0	beta 1.13.0.13	The Xbox One port now uses RenderDragon.^[4]
1.14.0		The PlayStation 4 port now uses RenderDragon.
RTX Beta	beta 1.15.0.8	The Windows 10 port now uses RenderDragon and supports ray tracing.
RTX Beta	beta 1.15.0.9	Fixed several bugs related to RenderDragon and RTX.
1.16.100	beta 1.16.100.54	Windows 10 now uses RenderDragon outside RTX Beta, but without ray tracing support.
	beta 1.16.100.55	RenderDragon is disabled in the beta for Windows 10.
	beta 1.16.100.59	RenderDragon is re-enabled in the beta for Windows 10.
	beta 1.16.100.60	RenderDragon is disabled again in the beta for Windows 10.
1.16.200	beta 1.16.200.51	RenderDragon is re-enabled again on Windows 10.
	beta 1.16.200.53	RenderDragon now supports ray tracing outside RTX Beta.
	release	Windows 10 now uses RenderDragon outside Beta.
1.17.40	beta 1.17.40.20	Android devices that run on ARMv7 now support RenderDragon for testing.
1.17.40	beta 1.17.40.21	RenderDragon is disabled for Android devices that run on ARMv7.
1.18.10	beta 1.18.10.22	RenderDragon enabled on all Android devices for testing.
1.18.10	beta 1.18.10.26	RenderDragon is disabled again for Android.
1.18.30	beta 1.18.20.21	RenderDragon is enabled again for Android.
	beta 1.18.20.25	RenderDragon is disabled again for Android.
	beta 1.18.30.20	RenderDragon is enabled again for Android.
	beta 1.18.30.20	iOS and iPadOS devices now support RenderDragon.
	release	The Fire and Nintendo Switch ports and Windows 10 x86 devices now use RenderDragon.^[5]

Trivia[]

According to Helen Zbihlyj, RenderDragon was designed to be usable in Java Edition.^[6] However, according to Felix Jones, there's nothing in it that indicates this.^[7]

Gallery[]

An image of the RenderDragon v0.0.2 released on Twitter by Helen Zbihlyj.^[1]
An image of ambient occlusion with the RenderDragon.
An image of atmospherics and sunbeam with the RenderDragon.

References[]

[Helen-1] "Someone doesn't watch our official livestreams! 😄 It's ok, I forgive you. 😉 We're still working on RenderDragon, the new graphics engine for Bedrock that also drives Minecraft Earth. Check the pic if you want proof that RenderDragon is still in development." – @HelenAngel on Twitter, June 20, 2019

[2] MCPE-98861

[faq-3] "Minecraft with Ray Tracing and Advanced Graphics FAQ" – Minecraft Help Center.

[4] "What's New: Moar Beeeezzz! - Sept 12, 2019"

[5] ttps://feedback.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/5520890863245

[6] "Only if the Java team implements RenderDragon. RenderDragon was designed as such that it could be used in the Java codebase as well just in case the Java team wanted to use it." – @HelenAngel on Twitter, August 23, 2019

[7] "From what I've seen so far, there's currently nothing in RenderDragon that indicates it is usable in the Java codebase. I'm not convinced it would be good for RenderDragon if Java Edition used it, for now it's best we don't pollute RenderDragon with Java Edition's many issues." – @Xilefian on Twitter, March 10, 2021

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]