Production Build Settings

Optimization & Compression

This guide is part of Optimization & Compression. See also: Texture Compression, Mesh Compression, Progressive Loading & LODs.

Configure how Needle Engine compresses and optimizes your project for production deployment.

Understanding Build Types

Development Builds

Development builds are optimized for fast iteration during development:

  • No texture compression (KTX2) – faster build times
  • No mesh compression (Draco) – faster build times
  • No progressive loading – simpler debugging
  • Larger file sizes – not suitable for production

When to use: During active development and testing.

Production Builds

Production builds are optimized for performance and file size:

  • Texture compression using KTX2 (ETC1S or UASTC)
  • Mesh compression using Draco or Meshopt
  • Progressive texture loading for faster initial load
  • Automatic mesh LODs for better performance
  • Minimal file sizes for fast loading

When to use: For deployment to production websites.

UnityUnity Build Window

Open File → Needle Engine → Build Window:

Unity Build Window

Available Options:

  • Build to Disk – Create production build in the dist folder
  • Preview Build – Build and start a local server to preview the final result
  • Development Build – Disable compression for debugging (not recommended for production)

BlenderBlender Build & Deployment

In the Viewport Sidebar → Needle Engine tab, find the Build & Deployment section:

Blender Build Options

  • Build: Development – Export without compression (for debugging)
  • Build: Production – Full compression pipeline (texture compression, mesh compression, LOD generation)
  • Deploy to Needle Cloud – One-click deploy to Needle's hosting

Preview Compression During Development

Preview how your production output will look and perform without doing a full build.

Unity: Preview Compression toggle

The Needle Engine component has a Preview Compression toggle at the bottom of its Inspector panel. When enabled, the full production compression pipeline runs automatically every time you export your scene during local development (e.g. when clicking Play or saving the scene with auto-export enabled).

This applies the same compression and LOD generation as a production build — including texture compression (KTX2), mesh compression (Draco/Meshopt), and progressive loading LODs — directly to your local development server.

You can also manually trigger compression steps from the context menu on the Needle Engine component under Needle Engine → Compression (e.g. Run Full Compression, Run Compression only, Run LODs Generator, or Clear Caches).

Blender: Auto Compress toggle

In the Needle Engine Project Settings, enable Auto Compress (next to "Export On Save"). When enabled, the production compression pipeline (texture compression, mesh compression, progressive LOD generation) runs automatically after each export — so you can preview production-quality output during local development. This option is off by default.

UnityCompression and LOD Settings Component

The Compression and LOD Settings component controls all compression and LOD generation settings for the export. It is located on the Needle Engine / ExportInfo object and lets you configure texture formats, mesh compression, LOD generation, and per-texture or per-mesh overrides.

Unity Compression and LOD Settings

Node.js is only required during development

The distributed website (using our default Vite template) is a static page that doesn't rely on Node.js and can be hosted on any regular web server.

Node.js is only required if you want to run our minimalistic networking server for multiplayer experiences.