#currentdevelopments

Particles everywhere!

Along with all of the great tools already added with Unreal Engine 5's release, Niagara is a new visual effects solution for both UE4 and UE5.

A reprogrammable VFX tool that allows Realtime adjustments of its properties. I am not a technical artist, so much of the talk is lost on me, but I can start to see the sheer power and capabilities of these new tools. Paired with Lumen, and Emissive visual effects will also be able to produce amazing In-direct lighting.

The documentation for Niagara is very technical, and requires and understanding of VFX systems, that which I do not have...

I have attached a few resources that I found useful to gain an understanding of what these tools aim to achieve:

Resources.

References.

YouTube, 2021. Creating next-gen visual effects that think for themselves with Niagara | Unreal Engine 5. Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fnzUkPDrsI&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 28 April 2022].

YouTube, 2022. Advanced Niagara Effects | Inside Unreal. Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31GXFW-MgQk&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 28 April 2022].

A whole new (open) world.

Epic Games strike again! with another outstanding feature of their new engine. This system, according to the UE5 Documentation clams that:

"The Open World Tools can be used to procedurally fill large spaces with Static Mesh assets to create outdoor spaces that feel natural and alive."

Not only are we able to create large open spaces, but we can now use the tools to procedurally fill all of these large spaces as well. Pair that with the use of Quixel's Megascans library for foliage, trees, and other objects. Artists are quickly able to create extremely large open spaces, all filled incredibly well without any visible repetition.

This could allow an artist to quickly create a world for a scene or cinematic, or could even help start to generate the basic terrain for a fully-fledged game!

The tools also offer a very intuitive 'World Partition' Tool, which allows the user to only load particular chunks of their world, if they would like to focus on a smaller area, or are having performance issues.

Again, I am still very new to this feature but have attached some resources that helped me start to understand what is available.

Resources.

References.

YouTube, 2021. Large worlds in UE5: A whole new (open) world | Unreal Engin. Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJ5DG8Ytog&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 28 April 2022].

YouTube, 2021. Unreal Engine 5 - NEW FEATURES & OPEN WORLD TOOLS EXPLAINED. Smart Poly. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krQvEY82TdY&list=WL&index=1&ab_channel=SmartPoly [Accessed 28 April 2022].

From ants to outer space.

Unreal Engine had a new feature added back in May of 2020. The new Sky & Atmosphere system allows the quick integration of an entire atmospheric system, which scales from the size of an entire planet, all the way down to the tiniest insect.

Having realistic clouds and atmosphere in a scene can completely transform the look of it. Not to mention the ease of use for the artist, as once this new system is set-up correctly, by the touch of a button you can change the time of day and weather, all of which will update in real-time with no extra baking required now (thanks to Lumen)

This level of control over a scene allows an artist to fine-tune perfectly, as well as significantly reduce time spent on these features.

I will definitely be using this system in my project in the future, I have attached some resources I have found which helped me to understand the uses of this new system.

Resources.

References.

YouTube, 2020. Exploring the depths of the new Sky & Atmosphere system | Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeNM9zBPLCA&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 28 April 2022].

YouTube, 2021. Volumetric Cloud Secrets [Unreal Engine 4 & 5] Works in UE5!. William Faucher. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yolGEIrhu0s&ab_channel=WilliamFaucher [Accessed 28 April 2022].

Lights! Camera! Action!

Unreal Engine 5 comes with lots of tools and equipment for creating breathtaking cinematic cut-scenes, trailers, and even entire movies!

If I am to want to continue pursuing the use of UE5 I must gain a better understanding of how all of these tools work. Of course, there are several fundamental layers of knowledge I must have in order to achieve a cinematic feel to any video. A theoretical understanding of cinematography and photography can help get the correct camera angles, as well as utilizing features properly, such as:

Depth of Field

Focal Length

Exposure

Motion Blur

Post Processing effects (Bloom, Vignette, Sharpen, Glare, Tone-mapping, etc.)

I am still very new to creating cinematic videos/renders, up until this point all of my work has been used in static shots, animating and creating these cinematics for my future project is the next step toward improving my portfolio work.

I have attached some resources I have found useful to gain understanding thus far:

Resources.

References.

YouTube, 2021. Unreal Engine 5 - How To Create Cinematics in Sequencer Tutorial. BeardGames. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jHhIah8H7U&list=WL&index=3&ab_channel=Beardgames [Accessed 28 April 2022].

YouTube, 2021. How To Make Unreal Look More Cinematic. William Faucher. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doUDJFKLyZs&t=1s&ab_channel=WilliamFaucher [Accessed 28 April 2022].

YouTube, 2021. How to Add Camera Shake in Unreal Engine. William Faucher. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eIavj62Mu8&ab_channel=WilliamFaucher [Accessed 28 April 2022].

Meta-Human Creator.

Including characters in my work has long been an issue, I'm not a character artist so am unable to create these characters myself. Let alone learn rigging and animation as well...

Yet they would make such a difference to the realism of my scenes. Fortunately, Epic Games have struck again with another gold mine of a feature! Meta-Humans. The documentation describes it as:

"MetaHuman Creator is a free, cloud-streamed tool you can use to create your own digital humans in an intuitive, easy-to-learn environment. Using MetaHuman Creator, you can customize your digital avatar's hairstyle, facial features, height, body proportions, and more."

Think Skyrim character creator, but for photo-realistic humans, all at the touch of a few buttons, and directly importable into any unreal engine level. Pre-rigged and with animation easy to download this significantly speeds up this process, and allows me the opportunity of adding characters to my work!

I have attached some resources related to this subject:

Resources.

Learning how to import, animate, and add my own clothing to these characters will help add an extra touch of realism to my scenes that I would never have been able too before.

References.

Unreal Engine, 2021. MetaHuman Creator: High-Fidelity Digital Humans Made Easy | Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3F1vZYpH8c&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 27 April 2022].

Unreal Engine, 2021. Making Realistic Digital Humans with MetaHuman Creator | Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEYT1IPX0wg&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 27 April 2022].

Unreal Engine, 2021. Animating MetaHumans with Control Rig in UE | Unreal Engine. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k2gNc_7CT0&ab_channel=UnrealEngine [Accessed 27 April 2022].