Republic RT - Real Time Lookdev Tool for UE5

El-Grajo · May 21, 2022, 8:15am

Hi,
“Republic RT” is the UE5 LookDev tool I am working on. Here, showing my first public video with some of the current features of the tool. It is intended to cohabitate with any UE5 standard workflow and to help any artist to; visualize models while shading changes, create some ambience, compare between variants, lighting, getting quick renders, client presentation and… all that jazz :]. Focuses in “ease of use” and fast feedback, just import any model and attach it to the turntables, go in runtime and have some fun.

ArtStation Blog Post (Just Updates):

*Thank you so much EPIC Games for featuring “Republic-RT” in “News and Community Spotlight - May 26, 2022”. What a surprise! A huge motivation boost to continue with the development of the tool.

Here the link to my first public demo video:

Credits:

“Ashinna” by Ernest Nemirovskiy - https://www.artstation.com/nerikson

“Cat Chubby” by Jose Díaz - https://sketchfab.com/JoseDiaz

Music: “Withstand” by Kevin Graham - Artlist

I hope you like it!

Best

El-Grajo · May 22, 2022, 5:57am

Video reuploaded to fix a problem in the Credits.

El-Grajo · May 26, 2022, 10:42am

A quick update to show how you could render a turntable of any of your models in one click.

Still working on customization settings for launching renders and taking “Snapshots” single frame renders. High Resolution Screenshot has probed to be terribly unstable. Is not gonna be easy, at least for me. But, time will tell .

Credits:

Paladins of Dawn “Itrek” by Ernest Nemirovskiy

Music: Brightness by Lane King - Artlist

mistercardenas · May 27, 2022, 3:39am

oh wow!! this looks amazing and very promising!
do you have a release date?

El-Grajo · May 27, 2022, 5:08am

My goal is to finish before the end of 2022. It very much depends on how much time I can put into it and how much it will cost me to figure out how to achieve the remaining target features for the first release. Thanks for your kind words @mistercardenas

Thiago.Unreal · May 27, 2022, 5:08pm

Love the minimalistic approach to the ui! I have a version of a similar tool I created but it doesn’t come close to the amount of customization you have on yours. Really cool stuff!

El-Grajo · May 27, 2022, 7:14pm

Hey @Thiago.Unreal, Thank you for your feedback!

Indeed, seems really challenging at this point to plan how the UI layout could be, where and how to add new features without overloading it, trying to keep it very simple to use and at the same time have as much as possible “on screen” so users do not have to go nuts opening and closing plenty of taps, having most key features in a handy place all time. Complicated, but I have to try to keep that “minimalism” you speak about, some how.

I am curious about that similar tool of yours .

“My idea” if I could call it mine… Is to attract artists, that are not familiar with real time technologies, to UE5. Create something really easy to use, so any body can just jump into some of the most fun things to do IMO; visualize models, placing a camera, adding some mood, getting some quick renders, prototyping, and overall, why not, have an enjoyable experience without struggling with the pretty steep learning curve of UE. This can create some interest in the technology, and individuals could potentially start diving into the “massiveness” of Unreal, after getting a little idea of what they can do with it. I would also like that most experienced users could profit from some of the tool features, but won’t sacrifice the simplicity of use.

If you allow me, I would encourage you to continue your development, sure that we are not the first, nor the last, to prototype a similar tool, but probably, most of us do not share the same goals/ideas and we won’t be doing it the same way. At the end, there is more to choose from, which is usually a good thing.

Thiago.Unreal · May 27, 2022, 7:27pm

haha mine is just a blueprint with some hdrs and light positions and light scenarios, not even close to what you have. Just enough to run a turntable of it.
I LOVE your tool, cant wait to use.

AntonioJR · June 2, 2022, 1:08am

I love this tool. Can you add the possibility to load a HDRI scene for background and add a way to render only the character or whatever with alpha channel for compositing in another software? It will be a perfect tool adding these two features to work with internet avatars. Good work.

El-Grajo · June 2, 2022, 9:26am

Hello @AntonioJR,

The feature of getting separated layers from Model and Set/Background it was already on my list, but as you requested it, I thought it could be a good idea to start putting it into practice and see if it would work as desired. Here is a little video about it:

Credits:

“Wooden Chair” by Megascans

Music: It All Begins Here by Borrtex - Artlist

About the HDRI Scene/Bg, not so sure about this yet, indeed the management of HDRI seems still quite complicated, and even if I gave this as done, when updating the project from UE5 Preview 2 to UE5 release, I got some unexpected results that I am still trying to work around.

In any case, it is not a target feature to have a HDRI background (visible to camera) as it is in, for example, automotive tools. I might get the “total” solution for HDRI management but this is for sure a long term goal that probably won’t happen in the first release of Republic-RT. My goal for HDRI implementation, by now, it is to emit light and render reflections, as anybody could expect, and be able to rotate and switch between them in real time, which is actually working already but still not in a very efficient way.

I do prefer to explore the chance of implementing a sub-level (any user created level or from Marketplace) so characters or props can be viewed and light/rendered inside a context, using for the set the Directional light, HDRI and fog, and beauty light the model with the 3 Rect lights.

Thank you for your interest in the tool .

*Big thanks also to William Faucher, for his excellent tutorials, specially, in this case, the one that has teach me how to setup these Stencil/Render Layers :

AntonioJR · June 2, 2022, 12:46pm

Wow. Very nice to see the alpha and layers implementation. Good job. Anxious to see this in marketplace.

S-ed · June 5, 2022, 2:20am

Is that a standalone tool or an Editor one?
Cause EULA makes life harder if Editor Code is involved.

El-Grajo · June 5, 2022, 6:33am

Hi @S-ed,

I think, from the description in the first post, you could guess that it is a “Project based” Tool.
Republic-RT is nothing more than a UE project with some functionalities created using Blueprints (“Editor Tool” then? ). I have bought some VR locomotion systems, (for example) in the Marketplace, that are distributed in the exact same way I would like to do with the tool in the future. UE5 project files that are downloaded from Marketplace.

*Here is a little update that shows how a user could “Transfer” values of the light rig from Runtime to Editor using Sequencer. I hope this shows the nature of the tool in a clear way:

Credits:

“Sia” - The Elf Barbarian by Ernest Nemirovskiy

Music: Heimweh by Fjodor - Artlist

Sure, I have to do a lot of digging before putting the tool in the Marketplace, but I understand, this should not be such a big problem right???

You mean that if the project is not stand alone, I could not Register the name of “Republic RT” and things like that?

Could you please be a bit more precise with those legal “difficulties” I could face? Even if it is in a very brief way, I would really appreciate if you could share a bit more of your experience/knowledge in this matter

Thank you for your interest!

El-Grajo · June 7, 2022, 9:53pm

Hi again!

I am quite excited exploring these new features; “Context”, “Basic Sequencer Control” and “Seq.Cam”

Credits:

Set assets: “Medieval Dungeon” by Infuse Studio

Music: Boreís by Antionetta

“Context”

This is what I was speaking about before; to have the chance to load a migrated sublevel to add some “Context” to the models.

I wonder if you find this feature useful, would love to have some feedback about it .

Possible evolution paths are:

Ability to switch on the fly between set lighting scenarios
Switch between different scenarios/sets
Rotate set around Models ???

Indeed it came out to be a lot easier than I expected, thanks again to other two kind youtubers that shared their knowledge with us.

“Basic Sequencer Control”

The sequencer basic control was a much tougher nut to crack dou… But still, very happy that I did achieve this, as it is gonna help me to evolve to some other target features having this foundation.

“Seq.Cam”

Which is nothing more than the camera inside the active sequencer, with a couple of manual focus keyframes, set up in editor.

Republic was born as an UE4.26 project with a single button that was turning on and off a light over a plane, using my beloved, but outdated, ASUS ROG laptop NVIDIA GTX 960M. Mixed with the very basic “UE4 - Real Time Turntable” project I did around a year ago. At that point I got the “unreachable dream” of doing my own lighting tool, which I could use as a very modest “Pipeline Solution” to help me light and render a short film or at least some shots in a way I could have some fun making character lighting. Now even if this is still light years away from happening… I can see it, somehow, becoming a reality in a distant future, very very far away, but… it may even be possible!

Please, do not judge me too hard about the set lighting and design in the video, it is a pretty old project I used for a VR demo I was doing for the Oculus Quest 2, and my very first attempt to create a level using modular assets. Adapted it as quickly as I could to UE5 Lumen. Torches and the fireplace do not have any color or intensity variations, and overall, it is really “monochromatic”, still, serving my purpose for the demo by now.

It is really nuts how well characters are integrated by lumen´s GI, to the point that it will probably become a problem for a quite picky lighter like me. I wonder if EPIC is gonna surprise us again with some “GI blocking” solution, so we can fine tune it over characters or in the set, through shaders or with gizmos similar to the “ColorCorrectRegion”.

Here are the youtubers from I have learned to implement the “Context” feature. Thank you guys!!!

3D Education with JC

Dan ■■■

SomeNiceDeath · November 6, 2022, 2:37pm

Hey,

The tool already looks amazing and not to pressure you or anything but the last Update was a bit ago, is your ETA still up to date?

Cheers!

El-Grajo · December 30, 2022, 11:20am

Hello @SomeNiceDeath ,

Sorry about my late response and thanks for your kind words.

As you might guess by now, the ETA HAS BEEN DELAYED (Q3 2023).

Life happened; after I started a new job position some months ago, I do not have as much time as before for development, and many other things…

Here are some updates about “Republic RT” progress.

First, I would like to apologise to any of you that are waiting for the release. For several reasons, as stated above, I won’t make it for my initial estimation release date “before the end of 2022”.

I am working on a new Pawn, to be able to control the camera in a better way (among other core features) along with a camera settings/location/rotation save system. I think this is essential for the tool to be useful. Also I encountered some new bugs, to be worked around, after the latest test in UE5.1, mainly, related to the rendering features.

With not much else to say, I continue the development, slow but steady. I will publish new feature update videos, whenever I have new stuff to show. (So far, I have prototype different camera behaviors in separate projects but not integrated them yet until I find the one that pleases me.)

“Republic RT” first public release will be for free :]. I think that I won’t have much time to give support to people after the release, so I feel that it won’t be fair to ask for money if I can not give proper support.

Wishing you all a great start for the incoming new year!
Thank you so much for your interest and your patience!

El-Grajo · May 11, 2023, 7:15pm

Hi!

The new “Republic RT Pawn” is not ready yet, for me to do a little demo update video but…

What the hell !!! Runtime Path Tracing is here! This has to be celebrated, some how…

What a crazy implementation !!! I could not be more happy about it

You guys just put the cherry on top of the cake. Thank you so much!

Model: “Ashinna” by Ernest Nemirovskiy - https://www.artstation.com/nerikson

El-Grajo · April 23, 2024, 8:04pm

Again, to celebrate the incredible quality and performance boost of this UE5.4 release, a couple of screens of my work in progress on Republic RT; Real Time and Path Tracing :].

Real Time

Path Tracing

*Check out the new layout, and the planned core functionalities for a potential beta, at some point… Any feedback would be appreciated.

El-Grajo · April 25, 2024, 4:11pm

Hi again!

I understand that a couple of screenshots might not be enough to “explain” what Republic can do right now.

Such a long time with unachieved deadlines… and no more news. Still, I am aiming for a release, I wont say when, as seems that I am not very successful with my predictions so far .

Here a 50 minutes video featuring the current state of Republic RT Beta.

Basically, me, enjoying some Epic Games MarketPlace amazing assets, while listening to some motivational themes on Spotify. All running under the superb performance of UE 5.4.

I hope you like it :].

*Demo recorded at 2560x1440 with an RTX 3080 with 10 Gb of ram.