General
test
Here's your getting started video with Control Rig in Unreal Engine (video was made with UE4 in mind but should be applicable to UE5)
Animation FAQ https://forums.unrealengine.com/docs?search=FAQ%20Animation&topic=493405
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe7fYS9qxmk
Here is a tidbit of information that I learned from my procedural animation R&D ( and with help from @p@t ):
The lighting bolt icon representing "fast path" actually means that the animation is multi-threaded, despite the underwhelming tool tip.
If a single node is missing fast path, EVERY node in the chain is single threaded (anything that doesn't take parameters will never show this icon, as its always fast path)
Simply breaking structs on an anim node will lose fast path as breaking structs is an execution
"Local to Component" and "Component to Local" nodes are extremely expensive (they rely on fast path to be affordable)
I don't know why its a subtle icon with misleading tooltip instead of a blaring red siren on every single node on the chain, but there you go.
Death Clonic — 08/05/2019 https://forums.unrealengine.com/development-discussion/animation/1395844-free-animation-toolkit-for-maya-lt-users Unreal Engine Forums Dear Community,
I would like to share my Maya LT animation toolkit with you for free. Download link: GoogleDrive (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EgYnrxcrAw591g6i
jfaw — 12/18/2018 This is a really good, informative lecture by the Lead Technical Animator for Fortnite breaking down in detail how they use AnimBPs for all of their rigging and animations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjQRBHvltOk
Audio
Dannthr — 03/14/2022 What timing, Dave and Richard's class on Quartz was just uploaded to the free online courseware! https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/onlinelearning-courses/quartz-music-system
Dannthr — 02/08/2021 Also, for beginners, I've compiled all our official learning resources here: https://forums.unrealengine.com/development-discussion/audio/1820471-online-learning-resources-and-livestreams-for-unreal-audio Which includes several free online video courses!
AaronMcLeran — 06/01/2018 Also, posted this to this channel a while ago 😃 Attachment file type: acrobat AudioEngineArchitecture.pdf
Joseph — 06/01/2018 Epic's Lead Audio Programmer ( @AaronMcLeran ) gives a full overview of audio in unreal https://www.twitch.tv/videos/265040293
Cinematics
Datasmith
https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/WorkingWithContent/Importing/Datasmith/datasmith-sdk/
geometry-scripting
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/geometry-script-reference-in-unreal-engine/
graphics
How to open a texture right from the content browser into photoshop or other image editing tools: https://twitter.com/Luos_83/status/1498648966027694080
overlapping uv's is one of the first problems people come across. (and one of the most common google searched for unreal engine) its related to the lightmap uv of your mesh, generally UV1 (not UV0) those uv's need to be within the 0-1 space, cannot be overlapping, or mirrored. they also need padding between them, how much depends on the lightmap resolution
how triangles work on gpu's https://www.g-truc.net/post-0662.html http://www.humus.name/index.php?page=News&ID=228 http://fragmentbuffer.com/gpu-performance-for-game-artists/
https://unrealartoptimization.github.io/book/pipelines/ https://jesshiderue4.wordpress.com/real-time-rendering-an-overview-for-artists/ https://unreal.tips/en/what-are-draw-calls/ https://simonschreibt.de/gat/renderhell/
UE4 Texture/Material/Cascade optimization tips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-guvLUfwk7fcVOuHCTEehJWf7i6AoDoU65jIKwSIG6Q/edit?usp=sharing
Luos - Yoeri Vleer — 03/26/2021 written by @Deathrey:
What is a grass cluster? Hand placed stack of leaf cards, that is usually 8 tris So what if:you use generic mesh for all clusters, and then tap into atlas texture, that stores positions of vertices and normals for each of mesh variation? Eight, you can reduce draw calls on grass ten times and increased vertex shader complexity. You should have an idea now. Same shit for small rocks and scatters alike.
GOD of creating empty projects — 05/08/2020 All you need to know about Textel Density by Leonardo Lezzi https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qbOqP in the description there is a gumroad link where he has a pdf to download, you can just write 0$ if you don't have money to spare.
GlassBeaver — 12/04/2018 @Mich https://www.tomlooman.com/outline-effect-in-unreal-engine-4/
jfaw — 06/19/2017 Hey guys I discovered a really good series of lectures about art and lighting in the context of Unreal. I made it all into a playlist becuase the guy didn't bother to do it on his own. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDGhmw7qiWG60w9HlBV2j5bmvYl_r-iyo
jfaw — 05/14/2017 Here's a really good Advanced Materials course on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuB7NQxkpPJF5ZfJKKNlGVzundVz2VF-_
level-design
Most people come here and ask environment art questions and leave without answers because they mostly confuse what level design is, because of the term ambiguity. This video might help to understand what level design really is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcCFto0u_g4
rezonant — 05/08/2022 PSA: is your huge landscape being weird? has it become entirely flat? are you suddenly getting VRAM exhausted on a 12GB card? getting crashes while editing your huge landscape? is the landscape flickering on component boundaries? all these problems and more might be solved by just moving it on any axis by 0.01 and then moving it back (not using undo).
CE — 03/17/2022 I also wanted to link this, which I think highlights some gotchas that are often associated with LD: https://www.henrytoftsld.co.uk/post/tips-for-level-design-applicants-from-a-hiring-manager
Conrad — 12/29/2021 http://www.philipk.net/tutorials.html < good to understand modular construction sets https://www.thiagoklafke.com/tutorials/modular-environments/ < thorough breakdown of texture-first design, use of grid and pivots http://blog.joelburgess.com/2013/04/skyrims-modular-level-design-gdc-2013.html < Talks about the Skyrim level design approach https://www.slideshare.net/JoelBurgess/gdc-2016-modular-level-design-of-fallout-4 < Covers the improvements from the Skyrim/Fallout 3 levels (it repeats the 2013 talk until around slide 90) which simplifies the kit uniqueness https://docs.unrealengine.com/udk/Three/rsrc/Three/ModularLevelDesign/ModularLevelDesign.pdf < modular design differences when using Unreal https://polycount.com/discussion/116526/hirstarts-and-what-he-can-teach-environment-artists-about-modularity < "double-sided" design concept for when walls exist on both sides (whether its to separate rooms or int/ext) http://www.kevinjohnstone.com/Help/Modular%20Environment%20Design.rar < (beware download link!) modular approach of gears of war for Unreal https://polycount.com/discussion/130848/udk-gears-of-war-inspired-environment-modular < "fan art" GoW style architecture - not sure, but i think there is some BSP for walls and floors to accomplish unique slants and spaces
Main take away is to design to a grid, concern over your pivot points, and blockout/grey box the kit before committing to details (maybe even texturing) as collision and flow are more important. To what Joel Burgess says, it can't be generic, or shouldn't be thought of as a "solve all" kit. It should solve the problems of that kind of architecture (cathedral, dungon, space station, etc.). I like the Fallout 4 method due to it's simple amount of assets for architecture (and the naming convention simplicity) but Unreal needs thickness, otherwise its been a pretty sound method for me. Its basic boxes anyways since the majority of the level then gets covered in detail meshes.
Dash — 11/17/2021 Incidentally, in the process of figuring out that my issue wasn't Landmass related, I ended up documenting most of the useful fields on the Landmass actor in my notes (much of which also applies to the water system). In case anyone is looking for such a thing in the future, thought I'd share since I didn't find any documentation to speak of when I searched for it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSudLgzRnW43Y33jFAnFH_-wiLzUfq1KAcPe2fmfaOmkiVPj6iuJ_ZBLMu3ihvO4HPPyd5_ExXZfDEQ/pub
Tzupi — 07/22/2021 File per actor is in 4.26 as well but it is amazingly undocumented. Right click on a sublevel and select “convert to external actors” or something like that. It will convert the sublevel to File per Actor version. It is quick and reversible at any point.
lighting
Let me start by posting the solution to probably 10% of the questions that will be posted here
lumen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e6oOiKh91U
https://i.gyazo.com/67a53e67cf55af657d310d949ecaa08a.jpg
materials
what values do materials have when nothing is plugged in? Well, now you know
Base-Values for material (when nothing is plugged in):
Learn the many ways to work with Materials in the engine, starting with an introduction to the general behind the scenes architecture, the concept of physically-based rendering (PBR), and how to work with textures.
metahumans
MetaHuman Resources MetaHuman Creator FAQ: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/faq?active=metahuman-creator Request early access to MetaHuman Creator: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/metahuman-creator-apply Launch the app (once you have access): https://metahuman.unrealengine.com/
Docs MetaHuman Creator User Guide: https://docs.metahuman.unrealengine.com/en-US/UserGuide/ MetaHuman Creator How-Tos: https://docs.metahuman.unrealengine.com/en-US/HowTos/ Using MetaHumans in Unreal Engine: https://docs.metahuman.unrealengine.com/en-US/MetahumansUnrealEngine/
Videos MetaHuman Performance and Scalability Settings: https://youtu.be/bPMEASc1rbo Using the MetaHuman Facial Rig in UE: https://youtu.be/GEpH3o44_58 Animating MetaHumans with Control Rig in UE: https://youtu.be/2k2gNc_7CT0
nanite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eviSykqSUUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-50MJf7hyOw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMorJX3Nj6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRnj_lnpORU
How do you enable Nanite in a project? https://forums.unrealengine.com/docs?topic=543824
People are getting confused by "shader model". Honestly, ignore that. Shader model != feature level (since DX12). Also what UE calls "shader model" is mostly unrelated to both.
How to troubleshoot Nanite not working:
- Nanite requires DX12 with an up-to-date version of Windows (revision 1350+ for Windows 10 1909, revision 789+ for 2004/20H2 : https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2021/04/Aboutmenu-768x571.png)
- Nanite requires the latest drivers available (GameReady drivers for Nvidia)
- Make sure your Default RHI in Project Settings / Rendering is set to DX12, not "Default" or "DX11" (enabling the experimental DX12 SM6 RHI is not required for now) and restart the editor
- In the engine log, make sure you can find something like this to confirm DX12 is running: "LogD3D12RHI: Found D3D12 adapter 0:
<your GPU model go here>(Max supported Feature Level 12_1, shader model 6.6 - In the engine log, make sure you can find "atomic64" as "supported" (this means Nanite is supported by your GPU+OS+driver)
- Try the Nanite Triangles view under the "Lit" button in viewport to confirm whether it works, check that it shows multicolored geometry, don't rely on visual appearance or wireframe as they can be very counter-intuitive!
Yes also this is very important for virtual shadow maps. Not only does Nanite stuff render far more efficiently into VSMs but Nanite objects can occlude non-nanite stuff from invalidating cached shadow pages, but not the other way around. So if for instance you have a big building and a person walking around entirely in its shadow, those shadow pages can stay cached if the building is Nanite, but if it is non-nanite the person's movement will cause them to be invalidated. Thus it's quite important for large light blockers to be Nanite for VSMs
https://www.g-truc.net/post-0662.html http://fragmentbuffer.com/gpu-performance-for-game-artists/ http://www.humus.name/index.php?page=News&ID=228
Niagara
if you really wanna learn more about materials (and vfx) http://www.tharlevfx.com/reading-list
Short and to the point Niagara videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuGJ2Hd3jyy3ds-0Q333oaHXvL7rL_T1K
Niagara 101: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHjQE2fLIZu97z7Iwf-PjV2e1Y4_k2GKL
Niagara Debugging and Optimization: https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/debugging-and-optimization-in-niagara-effects-for-unreal-engine/
Niagara should not be used to drive gameplay logic. Nobody will stop you, but you will run into problems when your simulation drops results because of visibility culling, scalability culling, readback delay, etc. Also, Niagara simulations are not replicated on the network and don't run on server instances, so multiplayer would be impossible that way.
Official Niagara Documentation: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Niagara/index.html
Getting started tutorial for Niagara: https://realtimevfx.com/t/niagara-unreal-gdc/4359/47
1MaFX showing a ground break spell with some base info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba-U3rSAM4Y
Niagara tutorials by Art Hiteca: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4LdwbifKVY&list=PLcnm14M-VSVyUBngJpQ9WTLVpc2mwevgz
Somewhat more abstract niagara vfx tutorials by Bleeck: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcDcPCfgLOnCzYTufd6DXOJ-6-oacih_D
Procedural vfx by Ash Oakenfold: (scroll down) https://www.patreon.com/cannabis_cod3r
https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Niagara/index.html
paper-2d
If you are working with a topdown project and are attempting to make your character look like they're behind things when you're above them, set the "Translucent Sort Policy" to "Sort along axis" under the rendering section of project settings:
