Add first draft of blog post for 4.4 dev1

Still needs cover image

collections/_article/dev-snapshot-godot-4-4-dev-1.md

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+---
+title: "Dev snapshot: Godot 4.4 dev 1"
+excerpt: "The first snapshot after releasing 4.4!"
+categories: ["pre-release"]
+author: Rémi Verschelde
+image: /storage/blog/covers/TODO.webp
+image_caption_title: "TODO"
+image_caption_description: "TODO"
+date: 2024-08-22 13:00:00
+---
+
+This is the first dev snapshot for 4.4! During the beta a release candidate stages of 4.3, we accumulated a lot of PRs
+that were great quality, but deemed too risky to include in 4.3. We have begun merging those PRs now and have quickly
+gathered a lot of changes that warrant a dev release!
+
+Most of the changes in this release are bug fixes that will be backported to Godot 4.3 and released in 4.3.1! So please
+test this release well so we can be confident with the changes and release 4.3.1 with them as soon as possible.
+
+Keep in mind that while we try to make sure each dev snapshot is stable enough for general testing, this is by
+definition a pre-release piece of software. Be sure to make frequent backups, or use a version control system such as
+Git, to preserve your projects in case of corruption or data loss.
+
+[Jump to the **Downloads** section](#downloads), and give it a spin right now, or continue reading to learn more about improvements in this release. You can also [try the **Web editor**](https://editor.godotengine.org/releases/4.4.dev1/) or the **Android editor** for this release. If you are interested in the latter, please request to join [our testing group](https://groups.google.com/g/godot-testers) to get access to pre-release builds.
+
+-----
+
+*The cover illustration is from* [**TODO**](TODO), * by [TODO](https://TODO).*
+
+## Highlights
+
+After only a week of development we are bringing you a bunch of fixes and improvements
+
+### Metal Rendering Backend
+
+We hinted that a Metal backend was in the works and it is finally here ([GH-88199](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/88199))! 
+
+Metal is a low-level graphics API similar to Vulkan or D3D12. Currently Godot supports using Vulkan or D3D12, but
+neither of those are available on MacOS and iOS, so we use a library called [MoltenVK](https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK)
+to run Vulkan over Metal. MoltenVK is great and has worked well for us. But having our own Metal implementation is more efficient
+and allows us to have a greater control over what features we support and what performance tradeoffs we make. 
+
+Earlier results show that the Metal backend on MacOS is at least as fast as the Vulkan backend and in many cases, much faster.
+
+Right now we only support Metal on Apple silicon devices. That includes all iOS devices and the M1/M2/M3 Macs. Other
+Apple devices will continue to work with the MoltenVK backend. Currently this limitation is simply due to the fact that
+few contributors working in this area have access to non-Apple Silicon devices. 
+
+### 3D physics interpolation
+Godot 4.3 came with physics interpolation for 2D nodes, and now the 3D counterpart has been merged ([GH-92391](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92391))!
+Not only that but support for MultiMeshes has also been merged ([GH-91818](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/91818))!
+
+Physics interpolation is a technique that allows you to run your physics update at a very low FPS while maintaining
+smooth movement. This allows you to both save CPU overhead and make your game look much smoother. 
+
+<video autoplay loop muted playsinline>
+ <source src="/storage/releases/4.4-dev1/physics-interpolation.mp4?1" type="video/mp4">
+</video>
+
+### Lightmap Bicubic sampling
+Bicubic sampling is a method for reading from a lightmap that smooths our sharp edges. It is especially useful when
+you bake lightmaps with shadows at a low texture resolution. We supported this in Godot 3, and have now brought it back in
+[GH-89919](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/89919).
+
+![Comparison between shadows with bicubic on and off](/storage/releases/4.4-dev1/bicubic-compare.webp)
+
+Bicubic sampling does come with a small run-time performance cost. So it can be disabled in a project setting if needed.
+
+### Betsy Texture compressor
+The [Betsy](https://godotengine.org/article/betsy-gpu-texture-compressor/) texture compressor is a tool to compress
+images into various GPU texture formats. Currently, compressing images for the GPU (in Godot using the "VRAM Compressed"
+import setting) can be quite slow. Betsy is a texture compressor that runs on the GPU and is able to compress images
+significantly faster than our current compressors. This reduces import time dramatically. 
+
+While Betsy was written a few years ago, we are just beginning to integrate it into the engine now ([GH-91535](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/91535)).
+Currently it is only implemented for HDR images set to "high quality". However, soon we will extend it to many more
+compression types and begin to use it internally for things like lightmaps. 
+
+The improvement is most obvious when importing HDRIs, here are a few examples from the PR:
+
+| image | CVTT | Betsy |
+|--------|------|-------|
+| [Symmetrical garden 8k .hdr with mipmaps](https://polyhaven.com/a/symmetrical_garden_02) | 92.4s | 475ms |
+| [Cobblestone Street Night .hdr 4k with mipmaps](https://polyhaven.com/a/cobblestone_street_night) | 26.5s | 217ms |
+| [Laufenurg Church 8k .hdr with mipmaps](https://polyhaven.com/a/laufenurg_church) | 99.3s | 440ms |
+| [Little Paris 8k .hdr with mipmaps](https://polyhaven.com/a/little_paris_eiffel_tower) | 92.7s | 467ms |
+
+Dev1 also brings optimizations to other stages of loading HDRIs that should make them much faster across the board:
+- Optimize converting half float and full float formats (~10x improvement) ([GH-92291](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92291)).
+- Optimize loading HDRIs (~25x improvement) ([GH-95291](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95291)).
+
+### Optimizations
+Contributors have been hard at work on various optimizations across the engine. Now that Godot 4 is being used more and
+the core feature set is feeling stable, we can turn our minds to optimizing the existing features. Many optimizations
+were finished and tested before the 4.3 release but were too late to merge. So now we get them all in one big batch.
+Here are a few:
+- [Core] Return memory allocations in when formatting strings ([GH-94558](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/94558)).
+ This makes formatting strings about 2X faster.
+- [Core] Optimize Array.insert ([GH-94353](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/94353)). This makes inserting new
+ elements into an Array about 10X faster on average. 
+- [Core] Optimize `String.insert` ([GH-92555](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92555)).
+- [Core] Optimize `String.join` ([GH-92550](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92550)).
+- [Core] Optimize `String.replace` ([GH-92546](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92546)).
+- [Import] Disable normal raycaster by default ([GH-93727](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/93727)). This makes
+ importing meshes with LODs approximately 2X faster. We expect that the quality of imported LODs will be the same.
+ If you notice any issues, please let us know. You can re-enable the raycaster in the object's import settings under
+ `lods/raycast_normals`.
+- [Editor] Optimize editor grid recalculation ([GH-92734](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92734)).
+- [Editor] Optimize closing the editor settings ([GH-95704](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95704)).
+- [Rendering] Optimize meshes for vertex cache ([GH-94241](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/94241)). In scenes
+ with a lot of geometry this can result in a 20% improvement in frame time. 
+- [Rendering] Optimize materials with `ambient_light_disabled` ([GH-92213](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92213)).
+
+
+### And more!
+
+There are too many exciting changes to list them all here, but here are a few more. 
+
+- [Editor] Fix `uid://` paths fail to load at editor startup ([GH-95689](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95689)).
+- [Editor] Correct rotation gizmo plane math for off-center perspective view ([GH-95402](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95402)).
+- [Editor] Make viewport grid visible on all three planes in ortho camera view ([GH-93869](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/93869)).
+- [Editor] Expose GDScript syntax highlighter to editor plugins ([GH-95764](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95764)).
+- [Rendering] Fix generated light probes placing too close to manual light probes ([GH-83497](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/83497)).
+- [Rendering] Antialias direct light samples in LightmapperRD ([GH-95828](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95828)).
+- [Rendering] Add fixed fog to the sky in the Compatibility renderer ([GH-95662](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95662)).
+- [Rendering] Implement visual layers for DirectionalLight3D ([GH-95379](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95379)).
+- [Rendering] Fix LightmapGI not taking environment sky rotation into account when baking ([GH-95000](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/95000)).
+- [Import] Add support for loading less common DDS formats ([GH-86204](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/86204)).
+- [Import] Add Option for Exporting Geometry Nodes Instances in blend importer ([GH-87735](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/87735)).
+- [Android] Memory cleanup and optimization ([GH-94799](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/94799)).
+- [Core] Handle the smoothstep degenerate case of empty range ([GH-93149](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/93149)).
+- [Navigation] Add triangulation partition option to 2D navigation mesh baking ([GH-92560](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/92560)).
+- [XR] OpenXR: Add support for visibility mask ([GH-91750](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/91750)).
+- [Physics] Fix SoftBody3D pinned points breaking when reloading scene ([GH-86310](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/pull/86310)).
+
+## Changelog
+
+**TODO contributors** submitted **TODO improvements** for this release. See our [**interactive changelog**](https://godotengine.github.io/godot-interactive-changelog/#4.4-dev1) for the complete list of changes since 4.3-stable.
+
+This release is built from commit [`TODO`](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/commit/TODO).
+
+## Downloads
+
+{% include articles/download_card.html version="4.4" release="dev1" article=page %}
+
+**Standard build** includes support for GDScript and GDExtension.
+
+**.NET build** (marked as `mono`) includes support for C#, as well as GDScript and GDExtension.
+- .NET build requires .NET SDK 6.0 or later ([.NET 8.0](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/8.0) recommended) installed in a standard location.
+- To export to Android, .NET 7.0 or later is required. To export to iOS, .NET 8.0 is required.
+
+{% include articles/prerelease_notice.html %}
+
+## Known issues
+
+There are currently no known issues introduced by this release.
+
+With every release we accept that there are going to be various issues, which have already been reported but haven't been fixed yet. See the GitHub issue tracker for a complete list of [known bugs](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Abug+).
+
+## Bug reports
+
+As a tester, we encourage you to [open bug reports](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues) if you experience issues with this release. Please check the [existing issues on GitHub](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues) first, using the search function with relevant keywords, to ensure that the bug you experience is not already known.
+
+In particular, any change that would cause a regression in your projects is very important to report (e.g. if something that worked fine in previous 4.x releases, but no longer works in this snapshot).
+
+## Support
+
+Godot is a non-profit, open source game engine developed by hundreds of contributors on their free time, as well as a handful of part or full-time developers hired thanks to [generous donations from the Godot community](https://fund.godotengine.org/). A big thank you to everyone who has contributed [their time](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/AUTHORS.md) or [their financial support](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/DONORS.md) to the project!
+
+If you'd like to support the project financially and help us secure our future hires, you can do so using the [Godot Development Fund](https://fund.godotengine.org/) platform managed by [Godot Foundation](https://godot.foundation/). There are also several [alternative ways to donate](/donate) which you may find more suitable.