Unreal Engine 4 for Design Visualization: Developing Stunning Interactive Visualizations, Animations, and Renderings

by Tom Shannon

Overview

The Official, Full-Color Guide to Developing Interactive Visualizations, Animations, and Renderings with Unreal Engine 4

Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) was created to develop video games, but it has gone viral among architecture, science, engineering, and medical visualization communities. UE4’s stunning visual quality, cutting-edge toolset, unbeatable price (free!), and unprecedented ease of use redefines the state of the art and has turned the gaming, film, and visualization industries on their heads.

Unreal Engine 4 for Design Visualization delivers the knowledge visualization professionals need to leverage UE4’s immense power. World-class UE4 expert Tom Shannon introduces Unreal Engine 4’s components and technical concepts, mentoring you through the entire process of building outstanding visualization content–all with realistic, carefully documented, step-by-step sample projects.

Shannon answers the questions most often asked about UE4 visualization, addressing issues ranging from data import and processing to lighting, advanced materials, and rendering. He reveals important ways in which UE4 works differently from traditional rendering systems, even when it uses similar terminology. Throughout, he writes from the perspective of visualization professionals in architecture, engineering, or science–not gaming.

• Understand UE4’s components and development environment
• Master UE4’s pipeline from source data to delivered application
• Recognize and adapt to the differences between UE4 and traditional visualization and rendering techniques
• Achieve staggering realism with UE4’s Physically Based Rendering (PBR) Materials, Lighting, and Post-Processing pipelines
• Create production-ready Materials with the interactive real-time Material Editor
• Quickly set up projects, import massive datasets, and populate worlds with accurate visualization data
• Develop bright, warm lighting for architectural visualizations
• Create pre-rendered animations with Sequencer
• Use Blueprints Visual Scripting to create complex interactions without writing a single line of code
• Work with (and around) UE4’s limitations and leveraging its advantages to achieve your vision

All UE4 project files and 3ds Max source files, plus additional resources and links, are available at the book's companion website.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780134680705
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	08/14/2017
Series:	Game Design
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Preface xvi
Acknowledgments xxi
About the Author xxii
PART I: UNREAL ENGINE 4 OVERVIEW 1
Chapter 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 113
Chapter 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 165
Chapter 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 341
Index 347