Candera has released Candera CGI Studio 3.16, the latest version of its HMI development software, designed to support faster, smarter and more flexible human machine interface (HMI) development.
The release extends the capabilities of Candera CGI Studio across the entire workflow from design and validation to deployment, and enables development teams to create and scale modern user interface concepts more efficiently across industries, hardware platforms and a wide range of use cases.
“With Candera CGI Studio 3.16, HMI development gets smarter and faster, combining AI-assisted tools, flexible workflows, and broad platform support,” said Roland Winkler, senior product development manager at Candera.
Improvements and updates
The Scene Composer experience has been enhanced with a new View Editor that simplifies automotive HMI workflows by allowing developers to preview scene combinations and manage transitions within a structured framework.
An Embedded Player enables seamless switching between design and runtime simulation inside Scene Composer, while a standalone Player remains available.
Multi View in the Scene Editor adds up to four synchronized views with selectable camera angles, improving inspection of complex 3D interfaces and enabling quick switching between single and multi-view modes.
Localization and documentation workflows are improved with built-in XLIFF 2.0 support. Developers can import, merge, edit and export localized text in a standard XML-based format, making CGI Studio easier to integrate into existing localization toolchains.
The new AI Docs Agent provides in-workflow support by delivering tailored answers in any language, helping users find information more quickly and reducing day-to-day friction. Each response also includes direct links to relevant Candera CGI Studio documentation, enabling users to access source material immediately.
Solution templates and advanced 3D
Another highlight of Candera CGI Studio 3.16 is the expansion of ready-to-use automotive HMI templates. The new In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) template includes building blocks for navigation, weather, media, phone, HVAC and digital twin scenarios. It supports both 2D and 3D use cases, with advanced visualizations and customizable application screens.
The new Instrument Cluster Solution Template integrates advanced driver assistant system functions such as adaptive cruise control (ACC), lane departure detection (LDD) and side assist alongside essential dashboard elements like speed gauge, media, telltales, time, odometer, temperature and turn-by-turn guidance. These templates help teams accelerate prototyping and shorten time to value.
The update enhances 3D capabilities with full glTF 2.0 support and features such as clear coat rendering. It also adds HDR rendering with tone mapping and automated import of image-based lighting cube maps for global illumination. Together, these improvements enable more realistic HMI visuals across automotive, industrial and embedded applications.
Engine and platform improvements
On the platform side, Candera CGI Studio 3.16 expands deployment flexibility with native rendering support for Apple iOS, enabling developers to build applications for Apple devices using Xcode and Metal.
The release also introduces Vulkan support as a modern graphics backend for 3D GPUs, improving CPU and GPU efficiency on Linux and Android platforms.
Another key addition is Software Rendering, which enables Candera CGI Studio 3.16 to run on platforms without a GPU. This enables platform-independent rendering across a wide range of targets, including ESP32-S3, ESP32-P4, Traveo II Body MCU, Raspberry Pi Pico and Linux-based systems. The renderer supports transformations, blending and visual effects while achieving up to 60 FPS depending on the platform and configuration, with low memory requirements.
Additional engine optimizations round out the release. Candera CGI Studio 3.16 now supports the new Monotype Spark Engine, designed for low memory usage and high performance. The update also includes newer versions of FreeType and HarfBuzz, delivering significant cache improvements for more efficient text rendering.
Candera CGI Studio 3.16 also streamlines behavior configuration through automatic code-size optimization using the SC plugin and CMake integration. These improvements help developers reduce memory footprint, improve performance and simplify overall project setup and configuration.
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