This week, we delved deeper into Unreal Engine, beginning with the fundamentals such as the tools, user interface, and various features. We also explored the organization of elements within Unreal Engine and learned how to effectively manage levels inside a project.
When doing world partitions and world level design Unreal Engine is faster, easier and more efficient and due to introduction of nanite structures it can become incredibly detail.
The assets which we import are saved in the Content Folder as .uasset files and levels are saved as .umap files and projects are saved as .uproject files.
If don’t know what is where placed and not being able to find something in Unreal Engine just search for it in Unreal Engine.
Upon launching Unreal Engine, the Unreal Project Browser appears, allowing us to choose a location for our project and assign it a name. Today, we selected “Film/Video & Live Events” as the project type and opted for Starter Content. The Raytracing option is optional and can be enabled later within the project.
Content Drawer Shortcut: Ctrl + Space
To enlarge the view port press F10 key but we will still have the access to content drawer and other options and F11 makes the view port full screen and then we can not use the content drawer.
In this lecture, I learned that organizing assets into levels can enhance efficiency by facilitating the separation of different elements, making them easier to locate. Typically, there is a main level, within which we can create sub-levels.
Lighting is essential for creating realistic environments. I explored Unreal’s advanced lighting tools, including the Environmental Light Mixer, Directional Light, Sky Atmosphere, Sky Light, Exponential Height Fog, and Volumetric Clouds. Rotating the Directional Lights changes the time of the day in the scene. Ctrl + L + Left Click Drag is the short cut for rotating the Directional Light in the scene.
Created a new Emissive Material by multiplying a colour with parameter and connecting the node from the multiply to Emissive Channel.
Shortcut for creating a Three Colour Constant in Materials: 3 + Left Click
Shortcut to create a Parameter: 1 + Left Click
Just drag and drop the Emissive Material on any object to apply it on them.
The Quixel Bridge add-on allows for quick world-building by importing assets into the scene. Assets can be downloaded in Quixel Bridge and then easily dragged and dropped into Unreal Engine.
Props can be merged using the “Merge Actors” option in the Tools menu. Grouping props allows for rearrangement or further editing, but if no changes are needed, they can be merged into a single entity.
Landscapes can be added to a scene, or a new landscape can be created using Landscape Mode, which also allows for sculpting and shaping the terrain.