As a first-time user, it might be important to note some quirks of the launcher - thankfully I only had to spend a few minutes finding the right place. Since I have a second storage drive I wasn’t sure initially where I wanted to install, and quit the launcher and needed to re-open it. Once I found the launcher applications, I wasn’t sure which one to use (either the EG launcher or the UE launcher). I tried the Unreal Engine launcher first and got the persistent “Please Wait…” message in the version installer widget that I’m sure has baffled others - from what I can tell, the UE can only be downloaded through the Epic Games launcher, since as soon as I brought up the Library tab, the “Install” button was usable.
The installation path can also be a little tricky to blindly stumble through - default path (for Windows 8 64-bit, anyway) is – *C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\Win64* – There are only the two launcher applications in this folder, and a couple of other applications that I have no idea as to the use of, but that last bit doesn’t surprise me as I have zero clue what I’m doing with this engine. I barely have a handle on Maya, given my mid-completed 3D Animation education, but I’m excited to see what I can make happen with Unreal.