Need learning tips, tutorials, help!

anonymous_user_ceea95b1 · May 14, 2014, 11:53am

Are they working on more tutorials? The ones they have on are very good. I am new, and I want to build a big Island and I figured it would be good for a first project, and I could learn by doing, but I tried it a few times and I realized I dont know enough for this yet. I have watched the level building tutorials, and as I have a minimal UDK experience too, that part of the engine is clear.
What do you suggest in which order/what tutorials should I watch? I dont know too much about setting up proper lighting, especially for huge maps, but they dont have this tutorial sadly…

Dune · May 14, 2014, 2:34pm

I’d recommend starting right down at the basics. Rather then attempting to create a huge island, create a tree, create a basic land mass (I’m sure there’s plenty of tutorials for this), get some basic player controls and then build up from there. All the tutorials on and such are built to show you specific parts of the games development and not the larger picture (such as a tutorial on creating a huge island). I’ve seen plenty of videos from UE4’s that show basic lighting implementation and some basic player controls with blueprints.

Overall, start small and dream big.

anonymous_user_923c79df · May 14, 2014, 3:02pm

Yep, they are working on more tutorials

start with the 3d model creating process (because without models, you can’t create a map)
then start looking into level design (so try to create a small scene at the beginning and when everything is clear for you, you can jump over to a big map) -> here is a pretty good site: ://worldofleveldesign/

For big maps you will have to use:

-LODs
-culling
-culling in the foliage tool
-a good planned map (so that meshes also block the players view over the map)
-level streaming

By the way, I read somewhere that they planned to record a light tutorial.

MrMaster · May 14, 2014, 4:43pm

You may also want to look for other forums specifically dedicated to content-creation like
polycount or gameArtisan or gameArtist

crumbaker · May 14, 2014, 6:16pm

I’m new to all this too (well been 3d modeling for awhile, but not making maps). I found with lighting you really just have to get in there and see what works for you. Add a light then change the values on the right hand side of you editor(like brightness and all that), you will have to build your lighting to see how it really looks in game. Also not sure if this is a common thing but at least for building levels I’ll add more than one sky light as a quick way to see everything but still give you somewhat of an in game look.

anonymous_user_b9532c9a · May 14, 2014, 9:43pm

Hi

I do a lot of level design in my free time (and know very little about 3D modelling), so I know it can be frustrating to start. However we offer a ton of documentation atdocs.unrealengine/latest/INT/. We also have the wiki page here: https://wiki.unrealengine/Main_Page that has quite a bit of information as well. On top of this, users release new tutorials on the forums quite often! One website that has helped me out a ton outside of this is ://worldofleveldesign/. They have a ton of information about general ideas and how to get started. I hope this helps!

anonymous_user_ceea95b1 · May 14, 2014, 9:43pm

Thanks for the suggestions! I will concentrate 70% on my 3dsmax skills, and the rest for UE4 learning for now then. One more question, which is more simple on your oppinion: setting up the materials in UE4 or setting up materials in 3dsmax, converting it to right format, then importing?

anonymous_user_923c79df · May 14, 2014, 9:44pm

You have to setup the materials in the UE4. Just export your textures from 3ds - import it into the UE4 - create the material - assign it to the mesh

anonymous_user_ceea95b1 · May 14, 2014, 9:45pm

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Hi

I do a lot of level design in my free time (and know very little about 3D modelling), so I know it can be frustrating to start. However we offer a ton of documentation atdocs.unrealengine/latest/INT/. We also have the wiki page here: https://wiki.unrealengine/Main_Page that has quite a bit of information as well. On top of this, users release new tutorials on the forums quite often! One website that has helped me out a ton outside of this is ://worldofleveldesign/. They have a ton of information about general ideas and how to get started. I hope this helps!
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Thank you. I am aware of the documentation, it’s just there are so many information, I didn’t know where to start! Useful websites thank you everybody.