What are the "Limits" of UE4?

anonymous_user_b0cf5855 · April 15, 2016, 3:53am

;513069:

A city is much more manageable

1–UE4 focuses support on the FBX file format, which should be the standard for quite some time, it can both import and export FBX files. Normally you export each object to UE4 and then place them in the level, but I believe that they added a scene export function so you could realistically set up the city in your 3D program (ideally 3ds Max or Maya) and then export the whole thing to UE4 and it should be able to place things properly for you, then you would have the same thing in both your 3D program and in UE4. There’s more to it, since you’d want to set up LOD’s (level of detail) and stuff like that, but that’s something that makes things much easier.

2–Yes, you’d be able to export it out, but you would likely already have the 3D assets in your 3D program already

3–For those programs really the only limitation is the amount of RAM, which can handle quite a bit–there was the recent movie Might No. 9 which had a full city model that they developed a system to be able to manage all of the assets and be able to render what they wanted and that was done with Maya.

4–For projects in UE4 your project is saved to its own folder, you can simply copy the folder to a new location to move it around–the source files for your assets would need to be managed separately in whatever way you want

5–What would be really good for gaming development, one of the Socket 2011-V3 processors, like the i7 5960x, plus something like the Nvidia Titan X would be a great combination. But–Intel is coming out with a new generation of processors and Nvidia is also coming out with a new generation of graphics cards.

If you’re interested in 3D rendering for animation, then you might consider building a render farm, there are options like GPU rendering where you can render with something like RedShift or iRay which uses as many graphics cards as your computer supports and it works pretty well, that would be if you were rendering stuff in your 3D program (Maya/3ds Max/etc.)

Thanks for the amazing information!

“1–UE4 focuses support on the FBX file format, which should be the standard for quite some time, it can both import and export FBX files.”

**1)**With this, essentially, the format of UE4’s levels, is like a USB right?

The FBX is so universally standard that the chances of wasted work is quite low
similar to the chances of a new universal plug shape that would replace the USB worldwide.

If so, this answers the question of whether or not UE4 is flexible.
There really shouldnt be any reason to worry even if UE4 no longer can compare to another engine
because universally that engine should support FBX and be able to convert(if FBX is no longer the universal) to whatever future format the world heads towards right?

“Normally you export each object to UE4 and then place them in the level, but I believe that they added a scene export function so you could realistically set up the city in your 3D program (ideally 3ds Max or Maya) and then export the whole thing to UE4 and it should be able to place things properly for you, then you would have the same thing in both your 3D program and in UE4.”

**2)**Regarding this, do you mean that it would be easier to build the city first in the 3D programs (ideally 3ds Max or Maya)
then bring it into UE4?

Because from the videos I’ve seen of UE4, it seems that seeing your city in realtime being built as you place assets in it seems to have so much more “life” don’t you think?

Otherwise, in Maya or 3DS you always have to press the “Render” button to see what your city really looks like right?

“5–What would be really good for gaming development, one of the Socket 2011-V3 processors, like the i7 5960x, plus something like the Nvidia Titan X would be a great combination. But–Intel is coming out with a new generation of processors and Nvidia is also coming out with a new generation of graphics cards.”

**3)**Yeah, I was looking into a similar combination of these two such as the
-DUAL Intel XEON E5-2650v4 2.2GHz, 30MB cache, 9.60 QPI (Twelve-Core)
-NVIDIA Quadro M5000 8GB

What exactly is the difference between the Quadro’s and the GeForces?
It seems many developers recommend the Quadro but all UE4 test runs on YouTube are done with GeForces…

“If you’re interested in 3D rendering for animation, then you might consider building a render farm, there are options like GPU rendering where you can render with something like RedShift or iRay which uses as many graphics cards as your computer supports and it works pretty well, that would be if you were rendering stuff in your 3D program (Maya/3ds Max/etc.)”

**4)**You’re right, I will most likely end up using a render farm in the future for the photo real 3D animations.

As I understand, 3D rendering to the level of DIGIC or Blur, as of now, can’t be done on UE4…

Which is why I would still be making animated 3d cinematics on 3DS or Maya right?

**5a)**With that said, does 3D rendering for animation in 3DS and Maya work the same way as it does for UE4?

**5b)**Because if UE4 becomes realistic enough by the time I build a city, then wouldn’t it be unnecessary for a render farm?

**5c)**Instead, UE4 would have the photo real city rendered real time and with matinee record and create cinematics that way right?