Setting Up the Project

Hey there – I’m Ludovico, and I’m going to be your sherpa through this book… except I haven’t written it as a book, but more like a manual, meaning that it has a very practical approach and a concrete goal. So, think of it as a guide where you must follow its instructions to assemble your product. I’ll be developing a project during these pages, and I advise you do the same with a project of your choice; there’s no better teacher than experience in this case. Unreal Engine is a very vast piece of software and may seem intimidating at first, but it’s quite user-friendly to use once you start, so don’t wait until the end of this book to start playing with it. The best thing to do is to proceed step by step alongside me.

So, let’s get started!

The first step is to create a project, and this chapter will teach you how. You’ll learn about defining the project’s scope, activating the necessary options and plugins, and organizing a clean file structure that adheres to community standards and is ready for client iterations.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following main topics:

• Installing Unreal Engine and any necessary plugins
• Creating a new project in Unreal Engine, naming the project, selecting the project’s location, and configuring any desired project settings
• Defining the scope of the project (animation, stills, virtual reality (VR), and interactive) and activating plugins and features accordingly, besides picking the proper template
• Personal project

Our goal for this chapter is to lay the foundations of our scene in Unreal Engine 5 (often abbreviated as UE5), making all the right moves before diving deep into the magic of Unreal. Starting with the right foot forward, or in this case with the right template, is essential to save time and be efficient.