3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

by Justin Plowman
Released June 2016
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781785881466

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Book description

Combine the powerful UE4 with Blender to create visually appealing and comprehensive game environments

About This Book

  • The only resource that shows how you can incorporate Blender into your Unreal Engine 4 Game environment
  • Create amazing 3D game environments by leveraging the power of Blender and Unreal Engine 4
  • Practical step-by-step approach with plenty of illustrative examples to get you started immediately

Who This Book Is For

This book would be ideal for 3D artists and game designers who want to create amazing 3D game environments and leverage the power of Blender with Unreal Engine 4. 3D design basics would be necessary to get the most out of this book. Some previous experience with Blender would be helpful but not essential

What You Will Learn

  • Create a fully functioning game level of your own design using Blender and Unreal Engine 4
  • Customize your level with detailed 3D assets created with Blender
  • Import assets into Unreal Engine 4 to create an amazing finished product
  • Build a detailed dynamic environment with goals and an ending
  • Explore Blender's incredible animation tools to animate elements of your game
  • Create great environments using sound effects, particle effects, and class blueprints

In Detail

Unreal Engine 4 now has support for Blender, which was not available in earlier versions. This has opened up new possibilities and that is where this book comes in. This is the first book in the market combining these two powerful game and graphic engines. Readers will build an amazing high-level game environment with UE4 and will show them how to use the power of Blender 3D to create stunning animations and 3D effects for their game. This book will start with creating levels, 3D assets for the game, game progression, light and environment control, animation, and so on. Then it will teach readers to add amazing visual effects to their game by applying rendering, lighting, rigging, and compositing techniques in Blender. Finally, readers will learn how to smoothly transfer blender files to UE4 and animate the game assets. Each chapter will add complexities to the game environment.

Style and approach

This will have a clear, step-by-step approach to creating game assets in Blender and then importing them to UE4 to create stunning game environments. All asset creation techniques are explained in detail along with tips on how to use them to create your own game environments. The book offers end-to-end coverage of how to design a game level from scratch.

Table of contents

  1. 3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender
    1. Table of Contents
    2. 3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender
    3. Credits
    4. About the Author
    5. About the Reviewer
    6. www.PacktPub.com
      1. eBooks, discount offers, and more
        1. Why subscribe?
    7. Preface
      1. What this book covers
      2. What you need for this book
      3. Who this book is for
      4. Conventions
      5. Reader feedback
      6. Customer support
        1. Downloading the color images of this book
        2. Errata
        3. Piracy
        4. Questions
    8. 1. Unreal, My Friend, I'd Like You to Meet Blender
      1. Installing Blender
      2. Exploring the interface
      3. Customizing your settings
      4. Working with modes
      5. Jumping into our first project
      6. Getting things started in Unreal Engine 4
      7. Summary
    9. 2. Starting Our First Project
      1. Using the Content Browser to start building the level
      2. Using different types of light
      3. Adding interactive elements using Triggers and Blueprints
      4. Playtesting our level
      5. Summary
    10. 3. It's Time to Customize!
      1. Getting started making game assets
      2. Using the basic tools of polygon modeling
      3. How to use UV mapping and why it's important
      4. UV unwrapping our game asset
      5. Basic texturing techniques
      6. Summary
    11. 4. Getting the Assets to the Level
      1. Exporting our object from Blender
      2. What is FBX?
      3. Importing our object into Unreal
      4. Setting up and using our new 3D asset
      5. Summary
    12. 5. Taking This Level Up a Notch
      1. Planning a more complex level
      2. Whiteboxing a level for better asset creation
      3. Level design principles
      4. Advanced scripting techniques
      5. Win conditions
      6. Summary
    13. 6. Monster Assets – The Level Totally Needs One of These
      1. Designing our asset – inspiration and concept art
      2. Advanced tools: Subdivide, Knife, Bridge Edge Loops, and more
        1. Subdivide tool
        2. Knife tool
        3. Bridge Edge Loops tool
        4. Triangulate modifier tool
      3. Using multiple shapes within Blender
      4. Summary
    14. 7. Let's Dress to Impress!
      1. Unwrapping complex objects
        1. Marking seams
        2. Unwrap tool
        3. Stitch
        4. Average Island Scale
        5. Pack Islands
      2. Using Smart UV Project
      3. Custom Marking Seams
        1. Unwrapping Cubes
        2. Unwrapping Cylinders
      4. Using different maps to create a more realistic look
      5. Summary
    15. 8. Lights, Camera, Animation!
      1. How does Blender handle animation?
      2. Rigging and using keyframes
      3. Using Blender's suite of animation tools
      4. Summary
    16. 9. Bang Bang – Let's Make It Explode
      1. Creating a class blueprint to tie it all together
      2. Using sound effects
      3. Using particle effects
    17. Index

Product information

  • Title: 3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender
  • Author(s): Justin Plowman
  • Release date: June 2016
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781785881466