Pretty cool of Epic Games to release Unreal Engine 5.1 preview since the last update came in April, right? There are a ton of improvements with this release and I'll list just a few. We can expect Nanite and Lumen to be better, meanwhile there's native support for Apple systems in the editor. My favourite new feature is ODSC, shortened for On-Demand Shader Compilation. Now you'll get less waiting for your shaders to compile!
Unreal Engine's preview release was announced on its own forum:
5.1 Preview Summary
Unreal Engine 5.1 improves upon the features delivered with the release of UE5, creating more streamlined and easy-to-use workflows for real-time 3D content creation.
Developers will see improved performance with Lumen, Nanite, and Virtual Shadow Maps (VSM), now supporting games running at 60 fps on next generation consoles and PCs. Build expansive worlds using new functionality and improved workflows for World Partition, including support for Large World Coordinates. And enjoy significant improvements to cinematic pipelines, such as performance and usability improvements for ICVFX.
Explore the in-depth list of features and updates coming in Unreal Engine 5.1—please note, not all updates may be listed, and complete release notes will be available with the final 5.1 release.
New features and updates are explained on the Unreal Engine development roadmap. Be sure to check the known issues report if you run into any trouble. Obviously this is a preview release and should NOT be used in a production environment. If you would like more information on the UE 5.1 learn more here