The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Learning Unreal Engine 4

The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Learning Unreal Engine 4

by Michael Ricks
Released May 2020
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781800566293

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Video description

Unreal Engine 4 is one of the leading resources employed in the creation of games, animations, television shows, and illustrations. This course will waste no time in getting you to grips with the knowledge and skills you need to get started with using Unreal Engine 4.

You’ll begin by learning how to download and install the program and start your first project. You’ll then discover how to add realistic lighting and import assets and characters into a scene. As you advance, you’ll get hands-on with applying atmospheric effects and create amazing cinematics. Finally, discover how to save a scene and export it as a video file to make it ready for further editing.

By the end of this course, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to perform useful operations and run Unreal Engine 4 efficiently.

What You Will Learn

  • Create a scene and lighting setup
  • Find out how to import assets and characters
  • Get to grips with basic material setup and application
  • Understand the workings of Sequencer - Unreal Engine s animation and editing timeline
  • Discover how to import audio into Sequencer
  • Render your animation to a movie file for further manipulation

Audience

This course is for anyone without prior knowledge looking to quickly try their hand at Unreal Engine 4. It is also ideal for anyone who is familiar with Unreal Engine 4 and wants to brush up on the basics.

About The Author

Michael Ricks: Michael Ricks is an animator, VFX artist, and an independent filmmaker. He has been making films and creating visual effects for Indie films for over 15 years. Upon discovering Unreal Engine 4, Michael was overwhelmed by its realistic real-time rendering engine. In the past, it would take hours, if not days, to render each frame of an animation and it was impossible for an independent artist to complete a full-length film, but Unreal Engine 4 has leveled the playing field. It has enabled the storyteller to create their vision with their animation skillset. No longer will you be held back due to the limitations of technology - join Michael on this fun and creatively satisfying journey to explore the interesting UE4 toolset now!

Publisher resources

Download Example Code

Table of contents

  1. Chapter 1 : Let's BEGIN! Off we go to a Quick Start!
    1. Where to get your free copy of Unreal Engine 4
    2. Let's Take A Tour Of The Epic Launcher!
    3. Create Your First Project and Import The Robot
  2. Chapter 2 : How To Organize Navigate Your Scene/Level/MAP
    1. How To Create Folders To Organize Your Scene
    2. How To Save Your Level (Scene)
    3. How To Hide Scene Icons
    4. How To Open Different Viewports Such As Top, Side, Etc
    5. How To Dock and Undock Windows
    6. REVIEW: Remember The F Key and ALT Key Are Your Friends!
  3. Chapter 3 : Let's Build Some Stuff!
    1. Let's Drag Drop Some Walls Into The Scene!
    2. Let's add materials to your walls!
    3. A quick look at materials in the Material Editor
  4. Chapter 4 : Unreal Engine's Realistic Lighting System: You're Gonna Love This!
    1. Let's Start By Deleting All Our Lights Then Adding Directional (Sun) Light
    2. Contact Shadows: One Of The Keys To Realism
    3. Set up your First Point Light
    4. That was easy! Now Let's Set Up A Spotlight!
    5. Onward to a Rectangle Light!
    6. Cool Lighting Setups!
    7. The Sphere Reflection Capture
    8. The Skylight: Lighting With HDRI Images (High Dynamic Range Images)
    9. Let's Create The Sky!
  5. Chapter 5 : Atmospheric Effects
    1. Atmospheric Fog
    2. Exponential Height Fog - You're going to LOVE this!
    3. God Rays! The Holy Grail of Lighting Effects!
    4. How About A Little Fire, Scarecrow? Unreal Engine's Amazing Particle System!
  6. Chapter 6 : How To Create Amazing Cinematics In Unreal Engine 4!
    1. First We'll Create A New Level Add A Character
    2. Here's The Scene We Are Going To Create!
    3. Next We'll Create An Awesome HDRI Environment!
    4. Add Your Cinematic Camera To The Level and Sequence
    5. Create a new Level Sequence
    6. Add Our Robot Mannequin Character Animation
    7. Let's make that camera bad ass and change some settings
    8. Now We Will Get Some Beautiful Depth Of Field!
    9. Let's Add Some Camera Movement!
    10. Now Let's Add A 2nd Camera!
    11. Preparing Our Project For Export: Production Quality Settings
    12. How To Export Your Video For Further Editing Manipulation
  7. Chapter 7 : Video Editing Color Grading
    1. FREE Video Editing Program: HitFilm3 Express
    2. Let's Edit and Color Grade Our Unreal Engine Clips!

Product information

  • Title: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Learning Unreal Engine 4
  • Author(s): Michael Ricks
  • Release date: May 2020
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781800566293