Unreal Basics
CIS 488/588
Bruce R. Maxim
UM-Dearborn
7/13/2017
1
Resources
• Unreal Development Kit
• The Buzz3D website
http://www.3dbuzz.com
• UDK Game Development
http://www.delmarlearning.com/compani
ons/index.asp?isbn=1435460189
• Unreal Developer Network website
http://www.unrealengine.com/en/udk/
7/13/2017
2
UDK Engine
• UDK is an open source version of the
open-ended Unreal3 system that can be
used for many real-time projects
• Unreal is good for games, but has also
been used for industrial visualization
(e.g. interactive architectural flythrough)
7/13/2017
3
Unreal Components
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Graphics Engine
Sound Engine
Physics Engine (Karma)
Input Manager
Network Infrastructure (client/server)
Kismet Visual Programing
UnrealScript Inteprerter
– UnrealScript is object oriented with a
syntax similar to C++
7/13/2017
4
Unreal Component Interaction
Graphics Engine
Sound Engine
Engine Core
Physics Engine
UnrealScript
Interpreter
7/13/2017
5
Unreal Game Loop
Initialization
Events
Game Loop Start
Check for Input
Fire Gun
Play Sound
Move Player
…
Event Control
Update
7/13/2017
6
Unreal Process - 1
• Game Initialization (starting UDK)
– Core engine initializes all system components
– Components begin to send info back to core for
synchronization
– Game ready for user input
• Game Launch (starting a level)
– Map is loaded with all its game assets and
properties
– Each asset’s info sent to Unreal component
7/13/2017
7
Unreal Process - 2
• Gameplay (artistic use of items)
– Each component sends events and tasks to the
message queue
– Unreal game loop runs with highest priority
message tasks performed first
7/13/2017
8
Game Assets - 1
Stored in packages (libraries). Each
package type is stored in its own folder.
• Textures packages (.utx)
– Textures used to color object surfaces
come from tools like Photoshop or Upaint,
could come from digital photographs or
scanner
7/13/2017
9
Game Assets - 2
• Sound packages
– Unreal supports .wav files often created
using programs like SoundForge, used for
sound effects
• Music Packages
– Unreal supports .ogg files create by
programs like Cakewalk
7/13/2017
10
Game Assets - 3
• Static mesh (.upk)
– Highly optimized polygonal models from an
external 3D package like Maya or 3ds max
(you need the right plug-in to import them
into Unreal), used for physical details, best
to use multiple copies rather than different
meshes (for performance)
7/13/2017
11
Game Assets - 4
• Animation package (.upk)
– Store all animated assets (i.e. characters,
vehicles, weapons), each elements has
two component (texture model and
animations) to allow mixing and reuse,
created using Maya
7/13/2017
12
Game Assets - 5
• Map (.upk)
– Not a package, a map is a collection of
assets used to define a complete game
level, created using UnrealEd
• UCC
– Unreal execution environment is a
command-line program that allows lowlevel package editing and compilation of
Unreal Script programs (.u)
7/13/2017
13