Where to start with GPU programming for UE5 optimization?

Hello!
I recently jumped into GPU programming and come up with simple idea to use it with the engine. I know the topic goes very deep and requires complexity yet I would like to start studying it in the engine.

I suggest you familiarize yourself with the material editor tool as well as the debug tools for graphics. There are some debug tools which can be used outside of Unreal Engine such as NVIDIA Nsight Graphics.

Once you have a grasp of the basics and understand the shader system, you should be able to start tackling the Custom node for HLSL code. This will somewhat teach you about the .tps, .usf and .ush files usually found in: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.0\Engine\Shaders.

Now you are ready to dive into the process of learning and playing around with the integrated C++ graphics and all its systems. You need to grab the Unreal Engine source build from GitHub.

My experience is very limited within this field and I am just starting to learn about all of this. I am not familiar with your background, but if you don’t know C++ or have any experience with HLSL shaders or Unreal Engine in general, I suggest you follow my little guide. I have spent about 2 years full on learning about shaders, about 15+ hours a week for two years. This stuff is not easy, and the engine graphics code is not something you will understand without a good base understanding of the rest. Here is a bit of my work during these two years, if you are interested in seeing what you can do without the need of touching the C++ code.

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