Recently I decided to start work on a personal tool that would help me achieve high quality renders from UE4 like I would typically get from Marmoset. I first ran across the “Showcase” blueprint by Osman. After seeing this in action, I wanted to see if I could create a fully featured version with an interface included. This would allow me to setup pre-calibrate environments and create master materials for different asset types (skin, prop, cloth, etc) and allow other artists to simply use the tool to achieve the best iteration. I thought this could be useful for 2 things primarily:
Create beautiful renders for portfolios/forums in an actual game engine with little effort and little required setup.
Create pre-calibrate conditions for outsourcing and art direction.
I have worked up a very quick prototype and thought I would share it here to see what people think. Nothing is set in stone and I look forward to community feedback to help me create a tool that UE4 users would enjoy using. (Its worth noting that Epic apparently has plans to upgrade view-port rendering options for at least the static mesh editor as soon as 4.13)
Here is a list of current features:
Load any actor for rendering
Switch between hdr environments (similar to Osman’s version)
Add lights and adjust settings
Select from multiple view modes. (Lit, Wireframe, Base Color, Ruoghness, Specular, Metallic, Normal, Material AO, Subsurface)
Adjust env brightness
Rotate env
Setup turn table for lighting, env, and assets
Set sky to color
Fully usable ui. Hide-able panes, drop down menus, revert icons, etc.
I have a Trello board with a TON of features I plan to add. But before I get too far I wanted to share this and see if the community has any interest in helping me mold this for the market place. Here are a few screens. I will upload some vids soon so you can see turntables in action. (UI is probably a temp look. I may make it a bit more typical eventually.) Here are some of the big ones:
Post processing pane with sliders for most all pp options
Dynamic sliders from dynamically created material instances based of master material selection (skin, glass, cloth, etc)
Glad to hear it! Several people have contacted me already with requests and great ideas. I have redesigned the UI and will likely post some more progress tomorrow.
New updates. All ui you see in the pics is fully functional. I plan to add quite a bit more before release. Here are a couple of new screens. I will capture a video soon.
There are a few technical details I am trying to figure out at the moment. There are 2 primary uses for this tool.
Renders: I should be done adding functionality for this by next weekend. So roughly 2 weeks.
Game asset previs: There are some issues with this pipeline at the moment I am trying to sort out. I don’t know how long it will to sort.
I would LIKE to be finished within a couple of weeks. Just depends on how much support I can get form Epic and how soon I can get some questions answered in the forums. You can see the main issue I am referencing here. I would say no longer than a month in any case.
When do you need the render by? I need to set up master materials for characters this week (skin, eyes, hair, etc.) I also want to set up a special lighting environment for characters with a subsurface viewmode. If you would like me to use your content as a test bed I could get you some early renders prior to release.
You know what would be the greatest idea ever…having it mobile ready. There really needs to be some sort of app that people can carry around on their phones and tablets that allows them to have a portfolio to show off their models in real time lighting like this. Clearly, most features won’t work and you’ll need FeatureSwitches in all your materials and stuff, but it’s something to think about. When I was looking into it a while back, you can’t distribute the FBX importer that Epic made, so it would have to be deployed like normal by every user that wants it. But a mobile game mode with limited features would be sick.
Hopefully it will be as awesome as I intend for it to be.
