Unreal Engine 4 for Design Visualization

Tom Shannon is a UE4 expert/addict and technical artist with more than a decade of professional experience developing video games and visualizations using Unreal Engine. He is passionate about gaming and game technology as well as visualization and its importance and impact on the real world. He spends his days balancing between building the world alongside architects, engineers, and designers, and then destroying it with giant robots alongside programmers, animators, and effects artists. Tom lives in Colorado with his beautiful and inspiring wife Serine and his amazing and humbling kids Emma and Dexter. You can find his website at www.TomShannon3D.com.

• Preface     xvi Acknowledgments     xxi About the Author     xxii PART I:  UNREAL ENGINE 4 OVERVIEW     1Chapter 1  Getting Started with Unreal Engine 4     3 What Is Unreal Engine 4?     4 A Brief History of Unreal Engine     5 Introducing Unreal Engine 4     5 UE4 Highlights for Visualization    7 Developing Interactive Visualizations with Unreal Engine 4     7 Unreal Engine 4 Development Requirements     14 Teamwork in Unreal Engine 4     15 Costs of Developing for UE4     16 Cost Savings of UE4     17 Resources and Training     18 Summary     20 Chapter 2  Working with UE4     21 Unreal Engine 4 Components     22 Project Folder Structure     27 Understanding .uasset Files     30 Unreal Engine 4 Content Pipeline     30 Summary     33 Chapter 3  Content Pipeline     35 Content Pipeline Overview     36 3D Scene Setup     38 Preparing Geometry for UE4     39 FBX Mesh Pipeline     48 Texture and Material Workflow     51 Importing to the Content Library     54 Camera Workflow     56 Summary     57 Chapter 4  Lighting and Rendering     59 Understanding Unreal Engine’s Physically Based Rendering (PBR)     60 Lights in UE4     63 Understanding Light Mobility     64 Real-Time Reflections     68 Post-Processing     69 Summary     77 Chapter 5  Materials     79 Materials Overview     80 UE4 Material Editor     81 How Unreal Materials Work     84 Surface Types     88 Material Instances     89 A Simple Material     92 Summary     100 Chapter 6  Blueprints     101 Introducing Blueprints     102 Objects, Classes, and Actors     102 The Player     104 The Player Controller     104 Pawns     106 The World     106 Levels     107 Components     107 Variables and their Types     107 The Tick     108 Class Inheritance     109 Spawning and Destroying     110 Blueprint Communication     111 Compiling the Script     112 Summary     112 PART II:  YOUR FIRST UE4 PROJECT     113Chapter 7  Setting Up the Project     115 Project Scope     116 Creating a New Project from the Launcher     116 Summary     119 Chapter 8  Populating the World     121 Making and Saving a New, Blank Level     122 Placing and Modifying Assets     123 Let there Be Light     125 Moving Around the Scene     128 Building the Architecture     129 Adding Details to Your Structure     130 Summary     134 Chapter 9  Making it Interactive with Blueprints     135 Setting Up the Project     136 Press Play     136 Creating the Pawn     138 Input Mapping     142 Creating the Player Controller Class     144 Adding Input with Blueprints     144 Rotating the View (Looking)     146 Player Movement     147 GameMode     152 Placing the Player Start Actor     155 Summary     156 Chapter 10  Packaging and Distribution     157 Packaged Versus Editor Builds     158 Project Packaging     158 Packaging Options     159 How to Package     160 Launching Your Application     161 Packaging Errors     161 Distributing the Project     162 Using Installers     163 Summary     163 PART III:  ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION PROJECT     165Chapter 11  Project Setup     167 Project Scope and Requirements     168 Setting Up the Project     169 Applying Project Settings     173 Summary     175 Chapter 12  Data Pipeline     177 Organizing the Scene     178 Materials     179 Architecture and Fixtures     179 Exporting the Scene     182 Importing the Scene     184 Prop Meshes     188 Summary     192 Chapter 13  Populating the Scene     193 Scene Building for Visualization     194 Setting Up the Level     194 Placing Architecture Static Meshes     196 Placing Prop Meshes     198 Scene Organization     199 Summary     203 Chapter 14  Architectural Lighting     205 Getting the Most from UE4’s Lighting     206 Static Lighting with Lightmass     207 Adjusting the Sun and Sky Lights     207 Building Lighting     212 Lightmass Settings for Architecture Visualizations     215 Lightmap UV Density Adjustments     218 Placing Interior Lighting     221 Placing Light Portals     222 Using Reflection Probes     223 Post-Process Volume     224 Summary     231 Chapter 15  Architectural Materials     233 What Is a Master Material?     234 Creating the Master Material     236 Creating Material Instances     244 Advanced Materials     249 Summary     256 Chapter 16  Creating Cinematics with Sequencer     257 Getting Started with Sequencer     258 Animating the Camera     261 Editing the Shots     263 Saving     264 Collaborating     264 Rendering to Video     264 Summary     267 Chapter 17  Preparing the Level for Interactivity     269 Setting Up Your Level     270 Adding the Player Start Actor     270 Adding Collision     271 Enabling the Mouse Cursor     277 Creating Post-Process Outlines     278 Summary     279 Chapter 18  Intermediate Blueprints: UMG Interaction     281 Toggling Datasets     282 Making the Variation Level     282 Level Streaming     286 Defining a Player Start Actor     290 Setting Up the Level Blueprint     290 Programming the Switching     294 Testing Time     297 Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG)     299 Back to the Level Blueprint     306 Summary     310 Chapter 19  Advanced Blueprints: Material Switcher     311 Setting the Goal     312 Building the Actor Blueprint     313 Creating Variables     314 Adding Components     319 Creating the Change Material Function     321 Understanding the Construction Script     322 Understanding the Event Graph     327 Populating the Level     331 Playing the Application     334 Summary     336 Chapter 20  Final Thoughts     337 UE4 Continually Changing     338 Future of Visualization     338 Next Steps     339 Virtual Reality     339 Film Making     340 Content Creation     340 Thank You     340 Glossary     341Index     347