Cinematic Photoreal Environments in Unreal Engine 5

Book excerpt: Achieve stunning photorealistic environments and create cinematic masterpieces by combining environment art, animation, VFX and cinematography with Unreal Engine Specialist, Giovanni Visai Key Features Implement advanced shaders, effects, and post-processing to make your environment look cinematic Explore techniques for achieving realistic graphic complexity with incredible performance Create your own materials and enhance the visuals of your gaming environment Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionAs Unreal Engine 5 continues to conquer all industries thanks to its real-time technology, UE skills are becoming more sought after than ever. This three-part book covers all the processes behind the creation of a stunning environment in UE 5. Starting with the steps for installing the game engine and learning about its potential, you’ll quickly progress toward generating a variety of different upwards scaling outputs, each bigger than the previous one. After completing the first part and getting realistic shots of a single object, you’ll delve into the world of landscapes, procedural material and foliage, the Landmass plugin, and water tools by creating an environment using Megascan assets. At this point, you’ll know everything you need to create a fascinating and realistic environment. The final part of this book will teach you how to craft cinematic shots by working with cinematic tools, post processing, and framing tools, and by rendering a photorealistic shot in the last chapter. By the end of this Unreal Engine book, you'll be able to create outstanding and realistic environments using the powerful tools provided by UE as well as have an understanding of the importance of filming and composition in world building.What you will learn Generate a Master Material to create hundreds of different material instances Explore lighting principles and apply them to UE lighting systems Evaluate the pros and cons of real-time rendering in the world-building process Build massive landscapes with procedural materials, heightmap, landmass, and water Populate an environment with realistic assets using Foliage and Megascan Master the art of crafting stunning shots with Sequencer Enhance visual quality with Post Process Volume and Niagara Produce a photorealistic shot using the Movie Render Queue Who this book is for If you are a creative director, designer, or creator with a passion for technology and CGI, this UE 5 book is for you. Game developers and tech artists will also benefit from this book as it can help them understand an environment artist’s workflow and how to optimize performance.