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.
Author(s): Justin Plowman
Edition: 1
Publisher: Packt Publishing
Year: 2016
Language: English
Commentary: True PDF
Pages: 252
City: Birmingham
Tags: Programming; Game Development; Unreal Engine; Unreal Engine 4; Blender; Game Design
1: Unreal, My Friend, I'd Like You to Meet Blender
Installing Blender
Exploring the interface
Customizing your settings
Working with modes
Jumping into our first project
Getting things started in Unreal Engine 4
Summary
2: Starting Our First Project
Using the Content Browser to start building the level
Using different types of light
Adding interactive elements using Triggers and Blueprints
Playtesting our level
Summary
3: It's Time to Customize!
Getting started making game assets
Using the basic tools of polygon modeling
How to use UV mapping and why it's important
UV unwrapping our game asset
Basic texturing techniques
Summary
4: Getting the Assets to the Level
Exporting our object from Blender
What is FBX?
Importing our object into Unreal
Setting up and using our new 3D asset
Summary
5: Taking This Level Up a Notch
Planning a more complex level
Whiteboxing a level for better asset creation
Level design principles
Advanced scripting techniques
Win conditions
Summary
6: Monster Assets – The Level Totally Needs One of These
Designing our asset – inspiration and concept art
Advanced tools: Subdivide, Knife, Bridge Edge Loops, and more
Using multiple shapes within Blender
Summary
7: Let's Dress to Impress!
Unwrapping complex objects
Using Smart UV Project
Custom Marking Seams
Using different maps to create a more realistic look
Summary
8: Lights, Camera, Animation!
How does Blender handle animation?
Rigging and using keyframes
Using Blender's suite of animation tools
Summary
9: Bang Bang – Let's Make It Explode
Creating a class blueprint to tie it all together
Using sound effects
Using particle effects
