Andrew Dowell

Ok, this is a short post just about materials in the Unreal Engine. Materials are fantastic and one of my favorite things about the engine. Sometimes when working on a project and I want to use a previously created material it can be annoying to find the right one. There are some fantastic free material packs online and in the marketplace, I have made a point of copying them into my materials project so that I can quickly find and organize them. This is something that will be ongoing as long as I'm using Unreal. I can't take credit for most of these materials as they come from a wide range of sources (Starter content, Automotive material pack, Stylized Rendering, Content examples and more) but a few of them are mine too. Feel free to download and give them a try. The project is built in 4.15. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8pWtb1JXjrYdGdUcUFWYW8zcGc?usp=sharing

One of my favorite classic movies is the original 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. I love the design, the poster art, the story and the music. Man, that music is still as haunting and eerie as the first time I heard it. Since I as a kid I've always wanted a Theremin but couldn't justify it. This is what it sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_3yDl1G3Vk The theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the thereminist (performer). It is named after the Westernized name of its Russian inventor, Léon Theremin (Термéн), The instrument's controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas that sense the relative position of the thereminist's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand and amplitude (volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. The theremin was used in movie soundtracks such as Miklós Rózsa's Spellbo...

I'm back with lots to talk about. John Lennon once said that "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans" and I completely agree. Watch them now, and then read the rest of this blog. https://www.youtube.com/user/51Daedalus/videos No seriously, do it now. Just start watching one and you'll be hooked. I'm very keen to market our VR experiences not just with 2D posters and Facebook photos, but to capture the quintessential elements of what makes VR so exciting. Anyone who has seen a 360 video in VR, knows that it feels completely different to just watching one on a computer. Using Daedalus's tutorials I'm hoping to stage a 360 environmental shot using the Nvidia Plugin Ansel. Creating the perfect image and scene arrangement is fundamentally crucial. Ok, so I've been watching a lot of 51Daedalus' tutorials and rather than rewrite everything I'm just gonna put down some bullet points and my own thoughts. I would totally recommen...