1. Project Overview

LayaAir Engine

LayaAir Engine, developed by Layabox, is a cross-platform 3D engine that supports publishing to all major platforms. It is used in numerous fields, including gaming, education, advertising, marketing, digital twins, the metaverse, AR guided tours, VR environments, architectural design, and industrial design.

2. Open Source License

Licensed under MIT

3. Screenshots

4. Feature Overview

The LayaAir Engine supports 2D and 3D game and application development. Develop once and publish to multiple platforms, including HTML5, mini-games, and native iOS/Android apps. LayaAir is China's most mature open-source 3D engine, widely used in the mini-game ecosystem, including WeChat Mini Games, QQ Mini Games, Baidu Mini Games, Alipay Mini Games, Bilibili Mini Games, ByteDance Mini Games, Xiaomi Quick Apps, OPPO Mini Games, vivo Mini Games, and Huawei Quick Apps. It holds over 90% of the 3D engine market share in the mini-game sector.

The LayaAir Engine has been adapted to numerous mainstream graphics APIs, including
WebGL/WebGPU/OpenGL/Vulkan, etc. It also supports an open, programmable rendering pipeline, next-generation PBR rendering, ClusterLighting multi-light technology, the Forward+ rendering pipeline, and many other mature and feature-rich capabilities.

The LayaAir Engine supports one-click publishing to multiple gaming platforms. In addition to HTML5 WEB, it supports Native APPs (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux) and mini-games (WeChat Mini Games, ByteDance Mini Games, Alipay Mini Games, OPPO Mini Games, vivo Mini Games, Xiaomi Quick Apps, Taobao Mini Games, etc.).

The LayaAir Engine provides a powerful IDE integration environment, including a 3D scene editor, material editor, particle editor, visual scripting editor, animation editor, physics editor, and UI editor. The IDE offers extensive customization and extension capabilities, allowing developers to create their own workflows. Developers can also upload plugins to the resource store for sharing and selling.

The LayaAir Engine actively embraces AI and includes a built-in AIGC framework, providing features such as AI-powered content creation, AI-controlled IDE operations, and AI customer support.

5. Tech Stack

Get the LayaAir Engine

Direct Download

Download LayaAirIDE directly from the official LayaAir website. The corresponding engine version is included in the IDE.

LayaAir Engine Download.

Compile from Source Code

Install Dependencies

In the engine root directory, execute the npm install command from the command line, as shown below:

npm install

Running Example

In the engine root directory, execute the npm run start command from the command line, as shown below:

npm run start

Build the Engine

In the engine root directory, execute the npm run build command from the command line. After execution, a build folder will be generated in the root directory, containing the compiled engine files. See below:

npm run build

How to Use the Source-Built Engine in the IDE

To replace the engine bundled with the IDE with your own compiled version, copy the JS files from the engine's "build/libs" folder to "your IDE project root directory/engine/libs". You do not need to copy all JS files; you can copy only the files you want to override.

How to Choose a Branch

• LayaAir_3.x: For example, LayaAir_3.1 and other versions are stable releases of the LayaAir 3 engine. Each minor version corresponds to a separate branch.

• LayaAir_2.x: For example, LayaAir_2.13.3 and other versions are stable releases of the LayaAir 2 engine. Each patch version corresponds to a separate branch.

• Master3.0: The active development branch for LayaAir 3. Do not use it in production environments.