Some help with definitions

Hi :slight_smile:

I’m doing a kind of a research project for the highschool and I decided to speak about UE although my teachers know nothing about computers and less programming so I thought it would be a good idea to define some of the basic concepts of the engine such as “Pawn”, “Actor”, “Asset”, “Blueprint” etc. The problem comes to me when I realize that I don’t know how to exactly define that concepts with few words and that it’s very likely that I leave some behind. Could someone help me with this task?

P.D: Forgive my (probable) bad english, it’s not my native language ^^’

I can give you a few, but not all :smiley:

Class (Programming): A class can describe the ‘template’ to create something. For example a Human. It has variables like ‘Age’, ‘Height’, ‘EyeColor’, etc. and functions that represent stuff that the “Human” can do, for example Walk, Run, Jump etc.
Parent and Child: For example having the Parent Class “Animal” that only defines stuff that all animals have in common (height, how many legs etc).
A child then could be “FlyingAnimal”. It has all the stuff from the “Animals” class, but can also contain new stuff like “WingSize” etc.
Object (Programming): An object is a created class with filled in values. Like “Name: Steve, Age: 23, EyeColor: Green”. There can be an endless amount of Objects of the class “Human”.

Blueprint: Visual version of written code. Represents a class that you normally define in code.

Object (UE4): Most basic(?) class in UE4. Can be created but not actually spawned in 3D. May be used for manager and other data managing things.
Actor: Child of the Object Class. First 3D spawnable class. Represents something that you can really spawn in the world, like a character, a block, a door, etc.

Controller: Base Class for all Controllers. They are meant to “control” things, like the name already says.
AIController: A ChildClass of the Controller. Is used to control an AI, like the strings of a puppet.
(AI: The term for a computer controlled unit. Can be an enemy, a friend or a neutral unit. Depends on how you code them.)
PlayerController: A ChildClass of the Controller. Makes up the connection between the Player in the real world and the PlayerCharacter. Can be seen as the strings of a puppet that the player moves with mouse, keyboard, controller, etc.

Pawn: A child of the Actor Class. Represents a controllable unit that is not necessarily a human moving unit. Could by a flying unit or a car or something (Although there are extra Child Classes for that).
Character: A child of the Pawn Class. A more defined version of the pawn which is normally something like a human or at least already designed to be a moving pawn.

Asset: Everything you create for the game. A 3D model, a 2D Texture, a Sound, Music, even a Blueprint itself.

And i guess there is much more, but that should give you an idea.

Wow, I didn’t expected such reply, I really appreciate that. Thank you :slight_smile: