- Mobile Game Development
Unreal Engine, in most people’s estimations, has always played second fiddle to Unity in the realm of mobile game development. Epic Games is determined to address this in their latest version 5.5 of Unreal Engine.
Much of the new additions centre around the Mobile Forward Renderer that boasts greater visual fidelity on the platform. New features include D-buffer decals, rectangular area lights, capsule shadows, moveable IES textures for points and spotlights, volumetric fog, and Niagara particle lights. These broad improvements help strengthen Unreal Engine’s offering.
Improvements have also been made to the Mobile Previewer, which is ideal for mobile games content development. Practically speaking, this means users can both capture and preview specific Android device profiles.
- Rendering Improvements
No Unreal Engine update would be complete without a slew of rendering engine improvements. Lumen continues to go from strength to strength with the new ability to run at 60Hz on platforms for which there is hardware support. All of this is made possible thanks to improved hardware ray tracing (HWRT).
Additionally, Unreal Engine 5.5 has a better-than-ever path tracer, which is finally production-ready. That means we’ve got a wider range of support features, including new additions like sky atmosphere and volumetric clouds. It’s also now got Linux support.
Alongside rendering but always related are changes to Substrate, Unreal Engine’s material authoring framework. What began experimentally in version 5.2 is now in beta. Artists will need to continue caution when using it in a production context but it’s not far off being ready, especially when working on nonlinear material production.
- Animation Sequencer
Sequencer, Unreal Engine’s nonlinear animation editor, receives some much-needed attention. Alongside better filtering, the interface is more intuitive with settings that are far easier to control.
Animation layers have been made non-destructive which is a significant step forward in content management that so many animators demand. Layers can be set to additive or override as well as weighted against each other. This makes it much easier to fine-tune animations without having to start all over.
And finally, we love the new ability to trigger cinematic scenarios based on player choices during gameplay. This level of control has never been seen before and helps to strengthen Unreal Engine’s animation support.
- Animation Control Rig
Very much related to Sequencer, animation improvements continue with the animation control rig. In main, that means animators can now apply contact deformation and better cartoon-style squash-and-stretch for more realistic animation effects. Animation deformers can now easily be applied to characters in Sequencer with no trouble at all.
For animators who love an easy life, Unreal Engine now ships with an Animator Kit plugin which contains a set of ready-made Control Rigs with built-in deformers. Alongside this, the Modular Control Rig moves to Beta with a number of UI and UX improvements.
- VR Scouting
Virtual Scouting was introduced in the previous release, Unreal Engine 5.4, so it hasn’t been around for long. It’s still very much a work in progress but it’s showing a lot of promise. This time around, we have new opportunities for customisation via an extensive API, a new VR Content Browser, and a Transform Gizmo that is customisable via Blueprint. All of this strengthens the virtual Scouting toolset as a ready-to-go out-of-the-box experience.
For more information head over to the Unreal Engine 5 blog, where Epic details every new feature.
Conclusion
Unreal Engine 5.5 is a significant update that brings numerous improvements to the table. With its focus on mobile game development, rendering, animation, and VR scouting, it’s clear that Epic Games is committed to making Unreal Engine the go-to engine for game developers.
FAQs
Q: What are the new features in Unreal Engine 5.5?
A: The new features include improvements to mobile game development, rendering, animation, and VR scouting.
Q: What are the improvements to mobile game development?
A: The improvements include a new Mobile Forward Renderer, D-buffer decals, rectangular area lights, capsule shadows, moveable IES textures for points and spotlights, volumetric fog, and Niagara particle lights.
Q: What are the improvements to rendering?
A: The improvements include a better-than-ever path tracer, Lumen running at 60Hz on platforms with hardware support, and Linux support.
Q: What are the improvements to animation?
A: The improvements include a more intuitive interface for Sequencer, non-destructive animation layers, and the ability to trigger cinematic scenarios based on player choices during gameplay.
Q: What are the improvements to VR scouting?
A: The improvements include new opportunities for customisation via an extensive API, a new VR Content Browser, and a Transform Gizmo that is customisable via Blueprint.
