Posts

UE4 CSM for stationary light not working on mobile

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In a recent project, we had some issues with CSM lighting. The directional light is set to stationary but not performing as expected on Android ES3.  Tim Hobson nailed it on the unreal engine forums with a complete run-through. Following these steps for success: In the Project Settings enable Static and CSM Shadowing. Select the meshes that should receive shadows and in the details panel enable Receive Combined Static and CSM Shadows from Stationary Lights. Select the Light source and set a value for Dynamic Shadow Distance StationaryLight. In the Light Source disable Inset Shadow for Movable Objects. Build Lighting Mobile Preview/Launch on Device/Package for your device At this point you should see dynamic shadows for movable objects that have the value set to receive them. For instance, you don’t necessarily need to set the value for the actual movable object, but the floor is receiving the dynamic shadow so it needs to make sure it has been enabled to receive the shadow via the flag
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Advanced Channel Packing

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An advanced technique for packing data into texture channels that allows you to represent all of the texture data needed for a material in just two texture samples. Using this method saves both texture memory and performance, but since you're packing non-normal data in with the normal map, you do lose a little bit of quality in the normal. It also requires doing some extra steps in the shader to unpack the normal data Traditional 5-Map set-up: 1. Albedo / Diffuse 2. Metalic 3. Roughness 4. Normal 5. Ambient Occlusion ORMS 3-Map set-up: Does exactly the same as the 5-Map material but in 3. 1. Albedo / Diffuse  2. Metal, Roughness and AO  3. Normal Advanced Channel Packing 2-Map set-up: Does almost exactly the same as the 3-Map material but in 2. 1. Albedo / Diffuse + Roughness in the Alpha Channel 2. Red and Green Channel for Normal, Blue for AO *Make sure SRGB is set to off and to use BC7 in the compression settings for the textures. Watch the tutorial here:
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Quick start guide to using Gaea

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If you are completely new to Gaea terrain software, start with watching the 6-minute video to create your first landscape terrain and to familiarize yourself with the Gaea Interface in the Getting around documentation. 3D Viewport, 2D viewport, the graph and properties panel: The Using Gaea section explains various concepts in detail, such as using Create with Primitives to build scenes, harnessing the power of Eroding Terrains to make realistic terrains, creating Procedural Textures , and outputting using the Build Manager . https://docs.quadspinner.com/Reference/ The Node Reference gives you access to details about every node and sculpting tool in Gaea. Use the top menu to navigate the different node type groups. In individual node pages, you will find detailed descriptions, usage advice, parameter reference, and usage examples. The Tutorials section contains complete tutorials that show you how to accomplish a complete project. The QuickStarts section has over 50 scenarios of di
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How to use Unreal Insights with Oculus Quest (A work in progress)

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How to use Unreal Insights with Oculus Quest Unreal Insights is a great new profiling and analysis tool that allows you to quickly find bottlenecks, performance spikes, threading patterns and much more. Any Unreal Engine developer building a game or app for Oculus Quest should have Unreal Insights in their toolbelt. The set-up process takes a short amount of time and after you do it once, it's set up forever and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Let’s get started.   Requirements: Unreal Engine version 4.24+  Tracing enabled in built development app (on by default) Unreal Insights Executable built or downloaded (<CloneDir>\UnrealEngine\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealInsights.exe and Solution ‘UE4’ > Programs > UnrealInsights in solution explorer) 1. Setup your UE4 project for Oculus as described here: https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/quest/latest/concepts/unreal-quick-start-guide-quest/ Then run Unreal Insights tool which is located in C:\\Program File
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UE4 360 Stereo Image and Movie Capture

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Back in 2016 I did some research into this topic, coming from a motion picture background this stuff really interests me, especially as real-time rendering and visualization effects are becoming more practical and widely used. The need to capture 360 video and images is still a thing. Surprisingly not much has changed over the last four years. The two strongest and most easily available are the 'Panoramic Capture' plugin by Kite and Lightning devs, and Nvidia's 'Ansel' plugin. The Panoramic Capture plugin for UE4 allows you to capture still images or movies that can then be viewed or played back in stereo, giving the illusion that the world is being rendered in real time. In the following sections, we will take a look at how to set up and use the Panoramic Capture plugin and also take a look at how you can view the stereo images you create. https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Platforms/VR/DevelopVR/StereoPanoramicCapture/index.html https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-U
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Ten Principles for Good Level Design

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Dan Taylor provides a Ramsian-style breakdown of how to create world-class levels, which distills the art and science of level design down to a concentrated set of fundamental principles for innovation, engagement, and immersion. Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNEe3KhMvXM Quick guide breakdown: Good level design is fun to navigate but throw in some chaos. Does not reply on words to tell a story. Tells the player what to do, but not how to do it by giving clear objectives. Good level design constantly teachers the player something new with new mechanics Surprise players by taking risks and changing aesthetics or pacing. Embrace the escapism and empower the player. Use risk reward so players can choose there own difficulty dynamically. Design of non linearity, bidirectionalarity, modularity and efficiency. Work backwards to create an emotion response using level mechanics Level design is driven by mechanics. These are not weighted in priority,
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Level Design Philosophy and Tips For Designing a Level

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Building a great level is hard, seriously, it's tough to create a map that people will love and want to reply.  It's important to avoid making generic maps, this is more simple than one would imagine. Give it a name simple name. Yes, this seems to go against all previous ideas of being agile, flexible and having the ability, but it's that non-commitment which is  limiting yourself to a theme might inhibit your design process. A simple and unique name will open the door to imagination. A good way to find a suitable name is working around the underlying feeling and emotion of the level. Make sure it's simple and easily describable. The level name will help to 'theme' the map, and providing it works within your overall game design, then you're good to start  Build your level around the name will help to inspire creativity and make a memorable experience for players. As a designer it will give it purpose and meaning. Personality and theme are the dr
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