Book Image

Unreal Development Kit Beginner's Guide

By : Richard Moore
Book Image

Unreal Development Kit Beginner's Guide

By: Richard Moore

Overview of this book

Unreal Development Kit (UDK) is the free version of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3. It is used to create a wide variety of games ranging from amateur to professional standard next generation AAA titles. This book will show you exactly how to create an enjoyable and immersive game environment using the UDK. You will learn how to implement, level design, lighting, environmental effects, movement, terrain, map creation, item placement, kismet, materials and complex event sequences. You will work through the level design process from navigating round the editor to learning how to develop a fully playable environment. You will quickly master all of the engine’s key tools that are accessible through Unreal Engine 3. You will then start putting together your first level using step-by-step instructions. Next we will implement real world features such as dynamic lighting and shadows, particle effects, physics, terrain, item placement and advanced AI/bot pathing. Finally you will learn how to use UDK’s cutting edge high level scripting. By the end of this book you will be equipped with the skills to create an entertaining and imaginative game world.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Unreal Development Kit 3
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Pop Quiz Answers
Index

Viewport options


The most commonly used viewport is perspective. You will spend most of your time in the perspective viewport. This includes moving, placing, duplicating, and transformation of static meshes and most of your environment creation.

If you go up to View | Viewport Configuration, you have options of how you want to set up your views, which is shown in the following screenshot:

In the drop-down menu for the viewport, there are options of what you want to display. It allows you to hide/unhide specific elements in your perspective viewport, which is very useful when you are working on a specific element during your level creation:

Real Time Preview (RTP) shows the environment as it would look like in the game, complete with sound and particle effects. RTP works best when you have the Game Mode (G) enabled, which turns off the wireframe brush view. This offers the best and most accurate view of what your level will look like in the game.

Here is a list of the different viewport options you will be using when designing in UDK. Some of you will use one more than the others:

  • Brush wireframe (Alt+1): Shows wireframe brushes that will allow brush selection

  • Wireframe (Alt+2): Shows wireframe brushes that will not allow brush selection

  • Unlit (Alt+3): No lights; makes navigation inside your perspective viewport a bit faster

  • Lit (Alt+4): Full-lights preview

  • Lighting only (Alt+5): Lighting only

  • Lighting complexity (Alt+6): Your lighting complexity

  • Texture density (Alt+7): How complex are your textures

  • Shader complexity (Alt+8): Shader complexity only

  • Lightmap density (Alt+9): Lightmap density only

  • Lighting only with texel density (Alt+0): Lighting only with texel density

What just happened?

So we know about using the BSP brushes and static meshes, the additive and subtractive tools, the unreal scale and proportions, the grid snapping, and the different types of viewport options that we will be using when designing in UDK.

Have a go hero – wireframe brush

So we have light in our small room, what's next? Let's see if you can move the wireframe brush and create another surface. It is important that you understand the different uses of the translation and scaling mode options available in this editor.

Pop quiz

What do the following buttons function as?

  • Left Mouse Button (LMB)

  • Right Mouse Button (RMB)

  • LMB+RMB

  • WASD