What can and can't be done in Unreal Engine 4?

So recently I’ve decided that I want to give 3D art and game design a try, it’s a medium I’ve wanted to explore the possibilities of for a long time and with high end engines such as UE4 now having such wide scale availability, the time seems right to give it a go. The problem is I’m an absolute beginner at both and I’m a little unsure what I need to be doing in each area of design. For the moment I’m just experimenting in Blender and trying to get to grips with 3D modelling, it seemed the most sensible approach to learn there first and once I’m more confident making and texturing objects to move on to an actual game engine. But what I’m wanting to know is the following:

What can and can’t be done in UE4?

What should and shouldn’t be done in UE4?

What absolutely must be done in UE4?

There seem to be a lot of similarities between the UE4 and 3D modelling software, most notably where adding materials and lighting to meshes is concerned. This of course can also be done in 3D modelling software such as Blender, you can create very detailed scenes with materials and lighting, even so much to the point of animating a scene giving you a view of the environment. But what if you wanted to make the scene you created in Blender and translate it over to UE4 so you can move around and view it in real time, what are the core elements you must achieve in the 3D modelling software and what do you continue in UE4? I’m a bit lost as to what the actual functions are of UE4 and where 3D modelling software comes into it. I can see that UE4 has basic functions such as creating walls, ledges, ceilings and so forth, so I assume that work is done there, I can also see that adding fixtures such as chairs, tables among other unique objects has to be done in 3D modelling software. If someone can break it down for me a little it would be much appreciated.

3D modelling software is used to your create assets, static meshes (chairs/tables/doors…) and skeletal meshes (people/guns/cars).

UE4 is used to create the actual game, so you import the assets created in blender and setup you scene/levels in UE4 and then do things like add controls/gameplay and menus.

while you can use UE4’s tools to create walls/ledges… most people just use those to to block out there scene/level and the replace the walls/ledges with static meshes made in modelling software.

hope that helps:)

I’m going to try not to step on 's toes here and provide a little more information in some places along with some documentation and sites I feel can help as well.

As said, UE4 is primarily a game engine used to create games. It’s not meant to be a modeling software for creating assets. I’ll discuss BSP/Geometry brushes a little more below. UE4 is where you want to design your game from the levels, gameplay, and typically anything that is not related to creating 3d models, Clothing simulations, animations/morph targets, textures, and some other things. Typically most things that are content creating will be done outside of the engine with other software. UE4 is meant as the software where you assemble these assets to create a completed object.

Here I want to touch on the difference between models and BSP/Geometry. A good example to take a look at is in the Content Examples > Open Map > LevelDesign_Workflow.umap. You can watch the video here.](?v=XDsJOFyxMnw) This is a good idea of how BSP/Geometry should be used. It’s primary focus is to create a blocked out version of your level to test playability. This can help you decide with your levels what’s important, what works, and where you should focus your efforts when you start creating your assets. One great way to use BSP and this is how I’ve used it in the past and currently for some side projects is to block out, turn that BSP into a static mesh that I then export to my my modeling software to use for scale and build my model from that. This way I know that what I’m working on will be within the same scale easily.

Our YouTube channel is a great place to start with community tutorials and our official getting started series that covers the basics of level creation, materials, blueprints and more.

There are also some great sites out there for new users getting started with modeling that may help. Here are a few that have some good tutorials. Granted they are not all specific to Blender but the concepts should be similar enough that you will be able to get a similar result.

://www.free3dtutorials/modeling
://www.3dtotal/index_tutorial.php
://www.blender.org/support/tutorials/

With creating your assets the best workflow here is to make sure that you’re not exporting your entire level from Blender or whatever modeling software to UE4 as a single asset. The reason being is that since it will be a single asset it will not cull anything in the distance which can lead to performance issues. Thinking modularly is the best way to go here.

://www.thiagoklafke/modularenvironments.html
?v=gnHEKf2K5nU

I hope this helps and if you have any questions about modeling or anything in general feel free to ask! :slight_smile: Make sure to post any questions like this in the Rendering or the Content Creation section depending on the question.

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You cant directly cook with the engine but you can controle a cooking roboter :stuck_out_tongue:

Ok, now to be serious ^^

must: gameplay, materials, lightning,
should: level (but you can also create one in 3ds - export it - import it)
shouldn’t:
meshes (you are just abel to create basic ones -> but as already mentioned they are mainly for blocking out some stuff), textures (cant be done in the UE4), animations (you can only create movement stuff -> matinee), sounds (in the ue4 you just mix, place, edit some small things -> so recording should be done outside of the ue4)

It could be that I forgot something, but I will add more in some minutes :wink: