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

Spotlights


Placing a spotlight is a little harder than placing a point light—they can be found under the Actor Classes browser.

  1. So open your generic browser and go to the Actor Classes tab. Open up the Light category and select Spot Light. You'll notice two subcategories, SpotLightMovable and SpotLightToggleable. These are mainly used in animation sequences or hooked up to gameplay, so ignore them for now.

  2. Right-click in your scene and select Add SpotLightHere. A white spotlight appears, pointing down. Move it so that it's casting a circle of light on the ground.

  3. Spotlights have all of the same important properties as point lights (color, brightness, radius, and falloff), but they have a few additional properties as well. Make sure your spotlight is selected and opens up its properties. Look for two new properties.

    • OuterConeAngle: How wide of an angle the cone covers.

    • InnerConeAngle: Controls the hotspot in the middle of the cone. If it's 0, it'll cast a very soft circle of light. If this is...