Where to start ?

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Hi there,

I would love to get started with the unreal engine.

What I want to do ?

  1. I want to import environments I created from 3dsmax

What do I need to have to get started with the unreal engine ?
I do have 3dsmax, but don’t know how to bring it into unreal.

I also would like to know how you render with GI ?

Any starter video tutorials would be amazing !

thx for any little starter help,
appreciate it !

ps: was searching for a starter kit, information was overwhelming and was not able to find what I was looking for. again, thank you so much for any little help !!!

2

Here’s a couple to look at:

3

Loucsam’s links are definitely ones you should check out. Also, the official Epic video tutorial are actually quite excellent and there’s many of them on many topics.

But yes, there’s a lot to UE4 and it can be daunting at times. Focus on small pieces at a time. Do a tutorial - don’t just watch it, follow along, and then try making small changes and seeing how they affect things. Honestly, the best way to learn is to play. And it’s fun. :slight_smile: Just don’t worry yet about the big picture. The pieces will eventually fall into place as you use it more, but just focus on one thing at a time.

4

aweseome

Awesome… thank you so much for your help, appreciate it !

I would like to know much more about lighting.
Are there any special video tutorials focusing more on that specific topic ?

Would love to know more about lighting, shading like seen in the video below:

I was able to find more about materials videos … but would be great to see more about lighting and rendering.

ohhh and one more thing.

I would like to use the latest and greatest Unreal 4 kit… but was not able to find it for download…
isn’t it out yet ?

5

I’m in the same boat as the OP.

Willing to delve into UE4 and become familiar with it but there’s an overflow of information and I don’t know where to start first. I definitely will check out the link provided in the second post here, thanks!

6

Guys, go to Youtube UE4 tutorials, select the playlist of your preference, spend some time learning that.

Once you get a grasp of whats going on, continue for more advanced stuff or just play a bit with what you just learned.

7

I’m only into about 3 months of UE4, and still feel like a noob, so don’t expect it to all just gel in the first couple of weeks.

There are still some basic things I haven’t worked out, like blueprint communications. Still things I see people talking about and I have absolutely no idea what it is. There is just such a vast amount to learn that you can’t do it any time soon. So, my advice would be to do something like this:

Watch as many videos as you can, just to get a feel for what can be done, and all the different elements that make up UE4.

Try to follow along with at least some of them. You WILL have trouble with some, especially those that assume some prior knowledge, that’s when you pose those ‘dumb’ questions, but people are very helpful in the forums. Don’t be afraid to ask more specific questions.

Make something small. Plan a small game or build a scene or play with the terrain editor, but with some purpose. Plan out what you want to achieve, break it down into small tasks, then set about learning each of those small components, much less daunting when you do it this way.

Get something like a trello account and put all your tasks there, or even just a list of things to learn and you will be much better organised.

That is how I am approaching UE4 which seemed quite overwhelming at first, and still is, and you just want to know everything right away to get that game going, but yeah, unless you are very experienced in gaming engines and game programming in general then it is both a hard slow slog as well as fun. Enjoy the journey as much as the finished project.

Another thing you can do is watch the trailers of people’s projects in the forums and read or ask questions about how certain things were done.

8

I don’t expect to learn everything from the get-go and I do realize it won’t be a walk in the park either. I just have ‘the dream’ (like so many others) to create games for a living at one point in my life, which will take years of practice become I become even competent :slight_smile:

I will start of with something small, just one tiny level from scratch. No assets in there, no pre-made blueprints or anything of the sort. I just want to create a small level with an FPS character that responds to my controller inputs and maybe even interact with something, a light switch for example. From there I will move on to other areas.

9

Then do not go to & read Bio-Harzard thread…LOL.

I have been almost one month in, & I find more ways that do not work, then ways that work. But once I find somehthing work, I make sure I note it down. I have an excel file making screen shots & note down how to do some tricky stuff, like using event dispatcher.

The document I find is a mix bag, its pretty good in some area, some areas not so. So do not feel bad if you read some documentation & feel still lost.

Some issues I have with documentation. It tells you A, then B, but you have to make missing link between A & B.
Or they let you know how to change a setting, without tell you how to access these settings.

I balance learning & trying out stuff, & update a bit of my game. Also, its important not just to see, but also to follow through the tutorials (when possible).