• Unreal Engine
Although Unreal engine was originally created top make games, (the first being first person shooters) it has more recently started to be used in more areas. Some other areas that Unreal engine is used for are "Film and television" and "architecture" these along with gaming will be explained in later sections. Some of the main reasons to use Unreal engine generically are as follows.
• A user friendly interface can allow for easier creation and implementation of assets then creating an engine from scratch.
• There is an extensive database of documentation, assets and other ready made material that can be used in your own projects.
• The engine has a realistic physics engine built in allowing for easier animation and interaction between assets without need for coding.
• It allows for Realtime results to be received and for alterations to be made and viewed almost instantly.
Unreal engine is used in multiple different areas including tv, games, virtualization of prototype objects. It can be used to make things like environments, animations, virtual reality objects. What it is used for can and often does change based on what it is being used for, following are a few examples for what unreal engine can be used for:
• Games
Game making is typically seen as primary reason for the use of unreal engine, there are several benefits to using unreal engine for gaming that include the following:
• "Blue print oriented" scripting, this allows for the creation of a game without using any lines of code, although it is possible to code in unreal as it is programmed entirely in c++.
• There is a huge community full of available resources and tutorials, there is also a marketplace of available assets that can be used in creating games without need of creating your own.
• Games made in this engine can be prototyped and tested at almost any stage during development, this allows for testing small tweaks and refinements without having to "finalise" the project every time.
• Cross platform games are easier to create on unreal as the engine, the program carries out most of the code required for the separate platforms. This allows you to focus on the programming for the actual game without worrying to much about how it will work on each console/platform.
My first example of a game made in Unreal engine is Borderlands 3, this game was made in Unreal engine 4. As such it has some limitations that aren't in more recent games made using the Unreal engine 5. The following is a tech demo for the game Borderlands 3:
• Unreal engine 4 vs Unreal engine 5
There is a newer version of unreal engine, "unreal engine 5" and the key difference's are:
• Realtime lighting, editing and rendering.
• Quicker results due to performance enchantments.
• Increased polygon capacity.
The following is a tech demo for Fortnite a game made in unreal engine 5, this is to show the differences between it Unreal engine 4:
• Film and television
Unreal engine has also been use in the creation of assets in multiple movies, films and tv shows. Some of the reasons it has been used for is to create CGI characters and expansive environments. Unreal engine "virtual sets" is being used in areas of film that would traditionally be created using green screens, there are several areas that "virtual sets" improve over green screen and following are some examples:
• Virtual sets allow for less stage space and fewer location based props and set pieces to be built while still getting the desired results.
• The actor can see the world of the movie they are in playing out on surrounding screens as apposed to having just a green background that they would have to just imagine what's there. This can improve the immersion of the movie as it reduces guesswork traditional with traditional green screens.
• Virtual sets allow for the background to be moved alongside the camera to provide more realistic outcome for the end result, this can make it look more like an actual set.
• More realistic lighting can be achieved with victual sets then can be with green screen, that and green screens can cause "spill" that can cause the colour of the green screen to bleed into the lighting of the film.
My example for this kind of development using unreal is Rouge One, the video can be seen below:
• Architecture
Unreal engine can be used in Architecture in multiple way including but not limited to mock-ups of building projects, virtual house tours and advertisement. This can be useful for multiple reason as follows:
• A virtual version of a potential building project can be developed to gather potential investors without having an actual premises or physical model that would traditionally be needed, this can reduce the costs involved in starting a project.
• The engine can also be used to make a recreation of an existing building, for example a house/home that is up for sale. This would allow for more potential customers to view the property, even if they cant view it in person.
• Historical building can be recreated without damaging the actual historic site, the benefit of this being that copies of these virtual building(s) and/or landmarks had be distributed to multiple museums around the world. The benefit of this being that people who cant make it to the actual historic site(s) can still be able to see them, it also allows for "recreations of ruins" allowing people to see them as if they where at the time of there creation. (as imagined by the artists)
The following example is a walkthrough of a house, created for potential buyers to view: