Let's Create an Unreal Engine 5 Environment in ONE SITTING | 3D Livestream

pwnisher・2 minutes read

The speaker demonstrates creating art in Unreal Engine 5 with detailed steps inspired by Signal Hill and Cape Spear in Newfoundland, focusing on lighting, water, atmosphere, and post-processing effects. They aim to teach viewers the process in-depth to create realistic scenes, ending with plans for future videos, community challenges, and a pizza celebration.

Insights

  • The stream focuses on creating art using Unreal Engine 5, inspired by Signal Hill and Cape Spear in Newfoundland, with detailed tutorials different from typical YouTube content.
  • Detailed steps involve using Quixel Bridge assets like the Tundra pack, adjusting lighting, creating water effects, and enhancing visuals through post-processing and ray tracing.
  • The speaker emphasizes the importance of personal photos as references for 3D creations, recommends traveling for inspiration, and discusses the significance of photography skills in directing 3D scenes.
  • Weekly challenge winners are announced, with a pro tier lounge access for the winner, and upcoming content includes a detailed environment creation tutorial in Unreal Engine.

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Recent questions

  • How is art created in Unreal Engine 5?

    The process of creating art in Unreal Engine 5 involves starting with a new level, setting up a cinematic camera actor, adding post-process volumes for effects, organizing folders for better management, and making lighting adjustments like using exponential height fog and softening shadows. Assets from Quixel Bridge are utilized, with the Tundra pack offering 3D assets for nature scenes. Nanite quality settings allow for high polygon counts with minimal performance impact. Placing assets in the scene, adjusting angles, and fine-tuning for the desired look are crucial steps. Water creation involves generating a landscape grid, painting the landscape for water placement, adding a lake body, and adjusting water settings for a realistic appearance. Lighting adjustments, atmospheric settings, and post-processing effects are refined to enhance the overall aesthetics of the scene.

  • How can water be created in landscapes?

    To create water in landscapes in Unreal Engine 5, one must go to plugins, type "water," and check two options, then restart the engine. Generating a landscape grid, adjusting its size, and painting it for water placement are essential steps. Adding a lake body to the landscape and adjusting water settings like wave source, wave settings, number of waves, wavelength, amplitude, angular spread, and reflection method contribute to achieving a realistic water appearance. Fine-tuning the reflection method in the post-process volume, adjusting settings for water material speed, scale, shading, and reflection, and experimenting with wind effects on plants further enhance the water creation process.

  • What are the key elements in enhancing scene aesthetics?

    Enhancing scene aesthetics in Unreal Engine 5 involves adjusting lighting settings like exponential height fog density, skylight intensity scale, and directional light temperature. Experimenting with atmospheric settings, adjusting atmospheric height, sky luminance factor, aerial perspective, and height fog contribution significantly impacts the scene's overall look. Utilizing vignetting in the post-process volume, adjusting brightness and contrast of assets, enhancing global saturation, and switching between ray tracing and lumen can alter the scene's appearance. Fine-tuning reflections, specular, roughness, and using the foliage painter tool to scatter plants strategically contribute to enhancing the scene's realism and aesthetics.

  • How can cinematic quality be achieved in Unreal Engine 5?

    Achieving cinematic quality in Unreal Engine 5 involves fine-tuning post-processing effects like grain, vignette, fog, and bloom, adjusting the sun's angle, sky atmosphere, water material, and color correction in the post-process volume. Rendering high-resolution screenshots, creating movies with level sequences, exporting movies through the movie render queue, and adjusting console variables for rendering quality are crucial steps. Optimizing anti-aliasing settings, visibility settings, global illumination, and adjusting lighting methods for advanced reflections contribute to achieving cinematic quality in Unreal Engine 5.

  • What are the recommended settings for rendering in Unreal Engine 5?

    Recommended settings for rendering in Unreal Engine 5 include adjusting console variables for anti-aliasing to 16 and screen percentage to 100. Utilizing lumen global illumination, advanced reflections, screen space ray tracing, ray traced ambient occlusion, and ray tracing translucency can enhance rendering quality. Path tracing can be attempted, but may not work with water or fog. Adjusting post-process volume settings for color correction, gamma, and visibility, along with manipulating shadows, gamma levels, and depth of field settings, contribute to optimizing rendering quality in Unreal Engine 5.

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Summary

00:00

Creating Newfoundland-inspired art in Unreal Engine

  • The stream is focused on creating a piece of art from scratch using Unreal Engine 5.
  • The creator aims to teach viewers how to create art in detail, unlike many tutorials on YouTube.
  • The art is inspired by a trip to Newfoundland, specifically Signal Hill and Cape Spear.
  • The reference for the art is a photograph taken at Signal Hill.
  • The creator uses PureRef for reference and provides links to Unreal Engine 5 and PureRef.
  • The process starts with creating a new level in Unreal Engine 5.
  • The camera setup involves using a cinematic camera actor and setting the focus on a monument.
  • A post-process volume is added for effects, and folders are organized for better management.
  • Lighting adjustments are made, including using exponential height fog and softening shadows.
  • Assets from Quixel Bridge are utilized to start placing elements in the scene based on the reference.

20:26

"Tundra Pack: 3D Assets for Nature"

  • Tundra pack offers 3D assets for nature scenes, matching desired vibes.
  • Assets can be opened in full screen for selection.
  • Tundra related pack contains matching assets for cohesive scenes.
  • Assets can be favorited for easy selection and download.
  • Nanite quality setting allows for high polygon counts with minimal performance impact.
  • Download and add selected assets to the scene for desired environment creation.
  • Specific assets used include tundra rocky ground, rock formations, and wild grass.
  • Custom totem created for scene, along with various tundra ground assets.
  • Assets organized in a Mega Scans folder for easy placement in the scene.
  • Detailed process of placing assets in the scene, adjusting angles, and fine-tuning for desired look.

38:06

Creating Realistic Water in Landscape Plugins

  • To create water in landscapes, go to plugins, type "water," and check two options, then restart the engine.
  • Generate a landscape grid, adjust its size, and create it to provide a base for water.
  • Paint the landscape for water placement, ensuring it fits the desired area.
  • Select water, type it in the actors window, and add a lake body to the landscape.
  • Adjust the water settings, focusing on wave source and wave settings for desired water appearance.
  • Modify wave settings like number of waves, wavelength, and direction to control water movement.
  • Refine water appearance by adjusting amplitude, angular spread, and other settings for a realistic look.
  • Adjust the reflection method in the post-process volume to enhance water realism, considering screen space or ray tracing.
  • Fine-tune lighting by adjusting exponential height fog density, skylight intensity scale, and directional light temperature.
  • Experiment with different atmospheric settings like scattering scale and absorption scale to achieve the desired lighting effect.

57:18

Enhancing Sky and Scene Appearance Techniques

  • Adjusting the atmospheric height from 60 to 5 enhances the sky's appearance.
  • Increasing the sky luminance factor and aerial perspective contributes to a better sky atmosphere.
  • Setting the height fog contribution to 5 significantly improves the scene's overall look.
  • Utilizing vignetting in the post-process volume enhances the photo's effect.
  • Adjusting the brightness and contrast of assets like rocky ground tundra to 0.5 improves their appearance.
  • Enhancing global saturation in the post-process volume can improve the water's color.
  • Switching between ray tracing and lumen can alter the scene's appearance significantly.
  • Adjusting the reflection, specular, and roughness of rocks can enhance their appearance.
  • Using the foliage painter tool to scatter wild grass and blue lupine plants adds realism to the scene.
  • Scaling and placing shrubs and plants strategically around the scene can enhance its overall look.

01:17:24

Enhancing Scene Aesthetics Through Detailed Adjustments

  • The speaker searches for a rusted metal surface in their scene, favoriting a selected one.
  • They adjust settings for rusty metal surfaces and focus on working on water and fog elements.
  • Detailed adjustments are made to the water material, including speed, scale, shading, and reflection settings.
  • The speaker experiments with wind effects on plants, adjusting wind height and intensity.
  • They discuss the impact of anti-aliasing on wind effects and the importance of rendering for clarity.
  • Lighting adjustments for water involve tweaking wave settings for amplitude, steepness, and wavelength.
  • Transitioning to ray tracing enhances water reflections and overall quality.
  • Specific settings for ray-traced reflections, like samples per pixel, are highlighted for improved visuals.
  • The speaker fine-tunes post-processing effects like grain, vignette, fog, and bloom for cinematic quality.
  • Adjustments to the sun's angle, sky atmosphere, and water material are made to enhance the overall scene aesthetics.

01:37:17

Enhancing Visuals and Rendering Quality in Unreal Engine

  • In Unreal Engine, adjustments can be made in the post-process volume, such as color correction by changing global gamma settings to enhance visuals.
  • Manipulating shadows and gamma levels can significantly impact the mood and atmosphere of the scene, with underexposed images often creating a moodier effect.
  • Depth of field settings can be adjusted in the camera settings, with the f-stop and aperture values influencing the depth of field quality.
  • The minimum f-stop in the lens settings restricts the depth of field adjustments, with a maximum value of 1.12 for optimal results.
  • Rendering high-resolution screenshots can be achieved by setting the multiplier to two for improved image quality.
  • To create a movie, a level sequence with a timeline is necessary, allowing for the selection of frames and camera angles for rendering.
  • Exporting the movie through the movie render queue in EXR format with DWA compression ensures high-quality output.
  • Console variables can be adjusted to enhance rendering quality, including screen percentage, denoiser settings, motion blur, depth of field, and ray tracing settings.
  • Anti-aliasing settings, particularly temporal sample count, can be optimized for crisp and clear visuals in the final render.
  • Checking and adjusting visibility settings in the outliner can prevent unwanted elements from appearing in the render, ensuring a clean and polished output.

01:55:31

Enhancing Global Illumination with Ray Tracing

  • Global illumination can be achieved by using lumen or ray tracing.
  • Changing the lighting method to lumen global illumination is recommended.
  • Adjustments can be made for advanced reflections, screen space ray tracing, ray traced ambient occlusion, and ray tracing translucency.
  • Path tracing can be attempted, but may not work with water or fog.
  • Post-process volume settings can be adjusted for color correction and gamma.
  • Console variable settings for anti-aliasing can be set to 16 and screen percentage to 100.
  • To convert all models in a level to nanite, select all meshes, right-click, and enable nanite.
  • Color correction in After Effects can be done using adjustment layers and Lumetri Color.
  • Vignettes, bloom effects, and grain overlays can enhance the visual quality.
  • Adding camera shake effects can be achieved by pre-composing layers and using the wiggle expression in After Effects.

02:15:08

Unreal Engine 5 Q&A and Artistic Growth

  • Unreal Engine 5 is simplifying processes, making it an opportune time to engage with it.
  • The speaker is open to answering questions about Unreal Engine and life.
  • Weekly challenge winners will be announced soon.
  • The speaker plans to enjoy pizza after the session.
  • The speaker feels accomplished after revisiting St. John's, Newfoundland, known for fog and stormy weather.
  • Ideas for renders can be challenging to generate; taking photos can inspire creativity.
  • Using personal photos as references for 3D creations is encouraged.
  • Recreating and adding to personal photos can maintain originality in art.
  • Learning photography can enhance skills in directing 3D scenes.
  • The speaker recommends traveling, taking photos, and recreating scenes for artistic growth.

02:31:59

"Unreal Engine 5 C++ Importance and Winners"

  • The text discusses the importance of C++ in Unreal Engine 5 development, although the speaker lacks knowledge in this area.
  • Ronin is acknowledged for sharing Will's channel, with a mention of pinning it.
  • The weekly challenge winners are announced, focusing on creating a monument render within a week.
  • Winners receive points and can level up on the Discord server, with a pro tier lounge access for the challenge winner.
  • Elliott wins the challenge with a classic render from "2001: A Space Odyssey," praised for lighting, composition, and render quality.
  • Oren Cloud's work is commended for its style, lighting, composition, and color, with a streak system mentioned for consistent posting.
  • Ronin, a moderator, wins with a well-lit scene featuring a monolith and buildings, with a discussion on depth of field.
  • Skye's classic monument render is praised for its composition, framing, and vignetting with trees.
  • Zeus Creates' colorful render is lauded for lighting, color, and unique angle, with a suggestion for more detail in shrubs and plants.
  • Honorable mentions are given to various participants for their impressive renders, with detailed feedback on each entry provided.

02:48:14

"Creating Environments in Unreal Engine: Updates"

  • The streamer posts and streams once a month, with two videos per month, and encourages viewers to subscribe for upcoming content on creating detailed environments in Unreal Engine.
  • The next video on creating environments in Unreal Engine will be released on Saturday, July 25th, promising a step-by-step guide with all fine-tuning already completed.
  • The streamer expresses excitement about reaching almost a million subscribers and hints at an upcoming community challenge with prizes and a one-month duration.
  • Favorite pizza toppings are discussed, with pepperoni, pineapple, jalapeno, and basil being preferred, while ham is disliked.
  • The streamer mentions ongoing research for the next tutorial video, aiming to include tips on adding contrast, saturation, and brightness parameters to material instances.
  • The streamer concludes the stream by thanking viewers, promoting the upcoming video release on July 25th, and encouraging participation in the weekly challenge on Discord.
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