What is Unreal Engine used for?

If you are interested in game development and creating video games, you probably heard about the Unreal engine and how it is taking everything related to game development to the next level with its new technology.

In this video, we are going to talk about What is Unreal Engine used for, and what it is capable of when used in the video game industry and other industries as well.

What is the Unreal engine?

Before talking about What is Unreal Engine used for, we will talk about what is Unreal Engine. It is a game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game Unreal. Although initially developed for first-person shooters, it has been successfully used in a variety of other genres, including platformers, fighting games, MMORPGs, and other RPGs as well. Written in C++, the Unreal Engine features a high degree of portability, supporting a wide range of platforms.

Unreal Engine is a complete suite of creation tools for developing everything from independent hits to blockbuster franchises. As an established, industry-leading solution, Unreal Engine delivers high quality and proven performance that a lot of people are using to deliver fantastic game projects.

The Unreal engine did not only shift from first-person shooter games to other genres of games because now Epic is trying to expand its user base to many other industries that have nothing to do with video games.

Unreal Engine in Video games

Unreal Engine comes complete with everything you need to build and ship successful multi-platform games and location-based entertainment for any genre, with all tools and features included out of the box. With free access to source code, a robust C++ API, and Blueprint visual scripting game developers got the power to whatever kind of video game they want whether it be a small game or a high-quality AAA video game.

Unreal engine is a constantly developing and growing set of tools because the developers at Epic use it themselves to craft award-winning, content—and what they learn they pass on to developers for free, in the form of powerful tools and optimizations. Over the course of two decades, Unreal Engine has become one of the most trusted, reliable engines in the world.

With Unreal, you can break free from barriers that a lot of developers face with tools and workflows that put the developers in control. Whether they work in a team that is made up of 5 or 500 developers, Unreal Engine’s pre-built, modular systems, customizable plugins, and source control integration empower you to meet each project’s unique needs.

Unreal Engine in FILM & TELEVISION

Unreal engine is becoming a tool for filming making and TV series production as well because From high-quality previs to virtual production, and in-camera visual effects that take the post out of production unreal engine is helping create better moving images for film and television. This can be the case when working on episodic animation, live-action blockbusters, or short-form content, real-time workflows are radically transforming established pipelines and delivering renewed creative control.

Unreal Engine offers high-quality 4K+ photorealistic experiences, and seamlessly blending live-action with CG elements in real-time. With real-time compositing, green-screen keying, camera tracking, lens deformation, advanced particles, and effects built right in, Unreal Engine can offer a strong helping hand to filmmakers who can take advantage of all these tools.

Unreal engine team is drawing on decades of experience working with top filmmakers and studios, and they are dedicated to developing better features and test them with their own internal virtual production projects, as well as deploying them to commercial productions. Then, they give that innovation back to creators as built-in tools—including source code—for free.

With real-time rendering that enables creatives to receive immediate feedback on their work and make changes on the fly, shot production is no longer a waiting game. In Unreal Engine’s collaborative creative environment, the entire crew can share ideas visually, iterate quickly, and make decisions with confidence.

From the earliest concept to finished frames, Unreal Engine workflows provide the flexibility to reuse the same set of optimized assets through every phase of production, eliminating time-consuming and costly rework. You can even use the same assets for interactive and location-based entertainment, marketing materials, and more. 

Unreal Engine in Architecture

Unreal Engine is now a complete suite of creation tools for photoreal visuals and real-time immersive experiences. With high quality, powerful performance, and a lot of flexibility, and it is an open platform you can rely on.

In recent years, the Unreal Engine has embraced the field of architecture and design by providing some interesting tools that can help Architects, designers, and 3D artists to do their work utilizing the capabilities of the Unreal Engine when it comes to architectural visualizations. Unreal offers one of the most immersive interactive experiences available to users in the industry right now.

The reason why unreal has become important in the field of architectural visualization is the ability to showcase architectural designs in real-time, which is a game-changer – and a very effective method that a lot of designers, architects, and 3D artists are beginning to embrace since it is much faster and more efficient.

Using the Unreal engine you can import files from different 3D software like Blender, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Maya, and so on. You can easily repurpose data from a lot of DCC, CAD, and BIM formats. This is possible because, with Unreal Engine, there is Datasmith, a collection of tools and plugins that bring entire pre-constructed scenes and complex assets created in a variety of industry-standard design applications into Unreal Engine. 

It supports high-fidelity conversion of entire scenes, automates optimization processes, and lets you iterate as you would. You can save hours, days, or even weeks.

Unreal Engine in BROADCAST & LIVE EVENTS

When broadcasting live to air or tape, or putting on a live event, Unreal Engine offers a creative environment that’s opening up new potential in entertainment, media, and live events. With the high-quality real-time rendering and the freedom to make changes on the fly, the Unreal engine can deliver stunning mixed-reality experiences that uniquely engage viewers and audiences.

It can also play an important role when you’re delivering content live because there’s no room for errors; and “fix it in the post” doesn’t apply in this kind of situation. That’s why you must work with a robust, predictable platform that won’t break down in critical moments. Even though this was not intended when Epic games started the Unreal engine, they are trying to take their share of live production space, by trying to make the Unreal engine geared toward this type of work as well.

Unreal Engine in TRAINING & SIMULATION

Unreal engine technology can also be very useful! When it’s too dangerous or expensive to train in the real world, or when you need a platform for experimentation, analysis, prototyping, or machine learning, designers and engineers can rely on Unreal Engine to make these things with high-quality real-time rendering and free access to all source code. They can recreate reality as immersive experiences that are as effective as being in a real situation.

When the realism of training experience or simulation is critical for its success, it’s good to know that software such as Unreal Engine offers high-quality real-time rendering out of the box. And now with real-time ray tracing, it’s easier than ever to get convincing effects like true reflections, dynamic soft shadows, and ambient occlusion.

Unreal engine Offers free source code access, a robust C++ API, and Python and Blueprint scripting, it is fully customizable and extensible—ready to evolve in step with the needs of future projects.

Unreal Engine in Automotive & Transportation

Unreal Engine offers high-quality photorealistic visuals and experiences, giving designers the freedom to iterate on their designs without waiting for physical models, which is what used to be the case before. Using Unreal Engine, automotive designers can offer their customers a lot of options in the catalog, or take them for a VR test drive without leaving the showroom which is a fantastic thing because this can save time, money, and resources that can be allocated elsewhere.

Also With Unreal Engine, designers and engineers can store their assets as digital reference models in a centralized repository and access them according to their needs. For example, rapid virtual prototyping, collaborative design reviews, HMI testing, and sales and marketing tools as well.

Why people are choosing Unreal Engine?

The latest release is Unreal Engine 4, which launched in 2014 under a subscription model. Since 2015, it can be downloaded for free, with its source code available on GitHub. Epic allows for its use in commercial products based on a royalty model, typically asking developers for 5% of revenues from sales, though with the success of Fortnite, which has become a testbed for Unreal Engine for Epic, Epic waives this fee for developers that publish their games through the Epic Games Store, and more recently for revenues up through the first US$1 million. Epic has also announced Unreal Engine 5 to be released by late-2021.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/a-first-look-at-unreal-engine-5

According to what Epic showed us in the demos in recent months, the Unreal Engine 5 is going to be a game-changer because it promises to deliver unheard-of levels of detail, visual quality, and freedom for developers.

As you have probably seen in the demo, Unreal engine 5 will bring unbelievably accurate rendering in real-time and high-resolution environments and 3D models with millions of polygons, which can not be believed until we can put our hands on it.