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

Time for action – adding a normal map


Right now, lighting affects the surface as if it were completely flat. We can add a normal map to make the material appear to have depth. You've probably noticed that for almost every diffuse texture, there's a pale blue texture with similar sorts of details. Those are normal maps.

  1. Go back to the generic browser and search for T_HU_Deco_SM_Vent_N.

  2. Select it, go back to your Material Editor, and drag another Texture Sample node into the editor. Hook it up to the Normal input of the box on the left.

  3. Now there's a lot more depth to the lighting and reflections.

  4. Your node network should now look as shown in the following screenshot:

What just happened?

So, we have now added a normal map to our material, and as you can see from the images, it stands out a lot more than without the normal map. So what does it look like when we import it into our world; why not have a look. Let's now go ahead and apply the material to our map, and see what the results are.