Hey everyone, my name is and I just got started using Unreal Engine 4. I’m fairly new to level design, but I watched a few tutorials and I can build a simple house using the starter content. I know how to make basic geometry and landscape, but other than that I don’t know my way around the program. I can also barely navigate my way around the material creation thing. Oh and some very basic lighting.
I’ve been lurking the for a while, mostly in the WIP and Released Projects sections. I’ve also looked extensively at the Tutorials section. I see all of this impressive as awe inspiring work, but I just don’t know where to start!
What tools or programs do I use? How do they do that? Where do they get all this content? What are the steps they take to make this level? I’m pretty much lost on this aha.
Also I am by no means an artistically talented person, can I just get by using references?
Start a project and take each problem one at a time, it’s difficult to learn if you don’t have something you’re trying to accomplish.
A basic workflow requires that you use some type of 3D software like 3ds Max, Maya, or Blender to be able to make your meshes and characters. You then export from there to UE4.
The way I do it is i think about what I want to do or have, then load up a youtube tutorial and follow along.
If you want a basic landscape, load up a tutorial, copy it, and you’ll learn while you progress. Then maybe you want some procedural stuff to fill the terrain? load up a procedural tutorial. Want to edit the materials? Good time to do that and see your work in action.
I like to follow tutorials and keep everything i do (and preferably modular) to save time for later so you learn and build assets.
After that, I’d scroll through the videos as they are divided into various sections and find an area of expertise that interests you most. ie, content creation, animation, etc.
Finally, in the Development Discussion section of the , there is a Getting Started “sticky” that contains pertinent links to help get you started for each particular topic (ie. Content Creation, Blueprints, Animation etc.)
Hey , I know exactly what you mean, the tutorials here are invaluable, but I found that they weren’t comprehensive, like a course that was organized to start from the beginning and slowly progress to more advanced things. I found DigitalTutors.com and it’s very helpful for starting and working your way up slowly for UE4 and other game design software (Maya, Mudbox, Zbrush, etc.). I would say start there (though it does cost between $30-$50) and use the tutorials here on unrealengine.com for specific situations once you get some more solid foundations.
here’s a link if your interested:
You can start with the intros which are really good, but pretty soon they will be adding what’s called a “Learning Path” for UE4 where they actually combine many of those tutorials together and add tests so its essentially like going to school without having to go to school! lol
