What this book covers
Chapter 1, Setting Up the Project, guides users through the process of installing Unreal Engine, creating a new project with proper settings, defining the project scope, and organizing a clean file structure aligned with the community.
Chapter 2, Preparing the Scene, explores optimal practices for achieving accurate Archviz models in UE5, tailored to the project scope outlined in the previous chapter. It offers guidance on modeling, unwrapping, and organizing complex models, and preparing them for materials.
Chapter 3, Importing the Scene, explores diverse scene assembly methods and workflows, learning model export techniques based on your chosen approach, and discovering how to efficiently update and edit your models within the editor.
Chapter 4, Managing Your Assets, covers organizing your assets effectively by structuring files (layers, levels, and groups) and importing external resources (Quixel Bridge, marketplace items, and personal content) with a focus on efficient organization.
Chapter 5, Lighting in Unreal - the Essentials, explains the various light types in Unreal Engine, covering their basic properties. It explores distinctions between baked and real-time lighting, emphasizing essential considerations for effectively illuminating your project.
Chapter 6, Lighting the Scene, explores diverse methods of illuminating a scene, beginning with natural light and progressing through hybrid techniques to complete artificial lighting setups.
Chapter 7, Exploring Materials, explores the unique approach to shaders in Unreal Engine, delving into fundamental concepts such as master materials, material instances, material functions, material parameters, and shading models.
Chapter 8, Creating Architectural Materials, looks into managing key architectural materials: dielectric, metals, refractive, fabrics, and masked materials. The chapter includes practical examples.
Chapter 9, Detailing the Scene with Decals, introduces decals: their purpose, creation, and editing techniques.
Chapter 10, Making Interactive Elements Using Blueprints, offers a thorough introduction to the Blueprint system, guiding you in utilizing blueprints to craft interactive elements in a 3D environment. Emphasizing application in architectural visualization projects, it covers fundamental blueprint usage and includes diverse case studies.
Chapter 11, Communicating between Blueprints, delves into the advanced application of blueprints in architectural visualization, offering examples and optimal techniques for incorporating blueprints to develop interactive features in a project. Topics include creating dynamic elements such as light switches using level and UI blueprints, as well as establishing effective communication between blueprints and other actors.
Chapter 12, Optimizing the Scene, offers a comprehensive guide to optimizing the performance of 3D projects, specifically tailored for architectural visualization in Unreal Engine. It covers the significance of resource optimization, outlines the benefits, and provides practical tips and examples for maximizing efficiency.
Chapter 13, Setting Up Cameras, explains how to create and customize cinematic cameras, explore key features and options, animate them for cinematic actors, and discover tips, tricks, and recommended add-ons for achieving compelling shots in architectural visualization.
Chapter 14, Post-Processing Images, delves into Unreal Engine’s post-processing, a crucial step executed on every frame. It explores techniques and tools to elevate the visual appeal of your scenes, encompassing topics such as color grading, bloom, depth of field, and various other effects.
Chapter 15, Discovering the Sequencer, introduces Sequencer in Unreal Engine, explaining its role in cinematic content creation and still image rendering. It guides you through creating a new Sequencer asset, importing media, and setting up initial shots.
Chapter 16, Rendering the Scene, explores exporting and rendering Sequencer content. Topics include exporting to different formats, utilizing Render Queue for task management, optimal settings for high-quality rendering, and available options to generate your own top-notch still images.
Appendix, Substrate Materials, introduces Unreal Engine 5.2’s experimental Substrate Materials, slated to replace the current system in future versions. While not recommended for production in the current version (5.3), it offers an overview and basic usage instructions.