3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

Justin Plowman

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785881466
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Programming Games
• Index: Computer Science

Combine the powerful UE4 with Blender to create visually appealing and comprehensive game environments

About This Book

• The only resource that shows how you can incorporate Blender into your Unreal Engine 4 Game environment
• Create amazing 3D game environments by leveraging the power of Blender and Unreal Engine 4
• Practical step-by-step approach with plenty of illustrative examples to get you started immediately

Who This Book Is For

This book would be ideal for 3D artists and game designers who want to create amazing 3D game environments and leverage the power of Blender with Unreal Engine 4. 3D design basics would be necessary to get the most out of this book. Some previous experience with Blender would be helpful but not essential

What You Will Learn

• Create a fully functioning game level of your own design using Blender and Unreal Engine 4
• Customize your level with detailed 3D assets created with Blender
• Import assets into Unreal Engine 4 to create an amazing finished product
• Build a detailed dynamic environment with goals and an ending
• Explore Blender's incredible animation tools to animate elements of your game
• Create great environments using sound effects, particle effects, and class blueprints

In Detail

Unreal Engine 4 now has support for Blender, which was not available in earlier versions. This has opened up new possibilities and that is where this book comes in. This is the first book in the market combining these two powerful game and graphic engines. Readers will build an amazing high-level game environment with UE4 and will show them how to use the power of Blender 3D to create stunning animations and 3D effects for their game. This book will start with creating levels, 3D assets for the game, game progression, light and environment control, animation, and so on. Then it will teach readers to add amazing visual effects to their game by applying rendering, lighting, rigging, and compositing techniques in Blender. Finally, readers will learn how to smoothly transfer blender files to UE4 and animate the game assets. Each chapter will add complexities to the game environment.

Style and approach

This will have a clear, step-by-step approach to creating game assets in Blender and then importing them to UE4 to create stunning game environments. All asset creation techniques are explained in detail along with tips on how to use them to create your own game environments. The book offers end-to-end coverage of how to design a game level from scratch.

3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

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Table of Contents

3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Unreal, My Friend, I'd Like You to Meet Blender

Installing Blender

Exploring the interface

Customizing your settings

Working with modes

Jumping into our first project

Getting things started in Unreal Engine 4

Summary

2. Starting Our First Project

Using the Content Browser to start building the level

Using different types of light

Adding interactive elements using Triggers and Blueprints

Playtesting our level

Summary

3. It's Time to Customize!

Getting started making game assets

Using the basic tools of polygon modeling

How to use UV mapping and why it's important

UV unwrapping our game asset

Basic texturing techniques

Summary

4. Getting the Assets to the Level

Exporting our object from Blender

What is FBX?

Importing our object into Unreal

Setting up and using our new 3D asset

Summary

5. Taking This Level Up a Notch

Planning a more complex level

Whiteboxing a level for better asset creation

Level design principles

Advanced scripting techniques

Win conditions

Summary

6. Monster Assets – The Level Totally Needs One of These

Designing our asset – inspiration and concept art

Advanced tools: Subdivide, Knife, Bridge Edge Loops, and more

Subdivide tool

Knife tool

Bridge Edge Loops tool

Triangulate modifier tool

Using multiple shapes within Blender

Summary

7. Let's Dress to Impress!

Unwrapping complex objects

Marking seams

Unwrap tool

Stitch

Average Island Scale

Pack Islands

Using Smart UV Project

Custom Marking Seams

Unwrapping Cubes

Unwrapping Cylinders

Using different maps to create a more realistic look

Summary

8. Lights, Camera, Animation!

How does Blender handle animation?

Rigging and using keyframes

Using Blender's suite of animation tools

Summary

9. Bang Bang – Let's Make It Explode

Creating a class blueprint to tie it all together

Using sound effects

Using particle effects

Index

3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: June 2016

Production reference: 1240616

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78588-146-6

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Justin Plowman

Reviewer

Scott Hafner

Commissioning Editor

Amarabha Banerjee

Acquisition Editor

Rahul Nair

Content Development Editor

Parshva Sheth

Technical Editor

Gebin George

Copy Editor

Safis Editing

Project Coordinator

Ritika Manoj

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Graphics

Disha Haria

Production Coordinator

Arvindkumar Gupta

Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

About the Author

Justin Plowman is a game designer and educator, who resides in the United States. At a young age, he discovered his love for video games and the joy they bring to others. He began teaching high school students about game development in 2005 and enjoys supporting the dreams of the next generation developers. He currently teaches at risk youth about game design and development through the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology (www.wmcat.org); and also teaches Unreal Engine development as part of the Digital Animation and Game Design program at Ferris State University (www.ferris.edu). Justin has worked with Unreal Technology in the education arena for more than 10 years. When not teaching, he writes learning tutorials on different topics related to Unreal Technology, and continues to further his education by keeping up on recent industry news and learning about best practices related to both teaching and game development. He can be found on the Web at https://gamingbootcamp.wordpress.com/.

Writing this book has been quite a journey for me, as it firmly falls in the realm of the things that I never expected to do. However, it has truly been a rewarding experience, and I can't thank the folks at Packt Publishing enough for this opportunity. I want to thank...

Table of contents

• 3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender