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Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3

Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3


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Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to modding and level design with the world’s hottest new gaming engine: Unreal Engine 3. Here’s everything you need to know to jumpstart your skills and create stunning new content and games for consoles and PCs alike! Your authors aren’t just the world’s #1 Unreal game development trainers: They’ve even built the training modules that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3: Limited Collector’s Edition. Now, working with the full cooperation of Unreal Engine 3’s creators, Epic Games, they introduce every facet of game development—from simple level creation to materials, lighting, and terrain...even advanced level optimization and streaming!   Packed with tips, hands-on tutorials, and expert techniques, Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I is all you need to create levels that look spectacular and work brilliantly...levels that gamers just can’t stop playing!   You’ll find expert tips on Understanding the game development process from start to finish Planning projects for greater efficiency, faster delivery, and better quality Crafting worlds with stunning beauty and clarity Bringing amazing realism to characters, objects, and props Making the most of Unreal Engine 3’s massively upgraded lighting system Scripting complex gameplay quickly and easily with Unreal Kismet Building animated game assets with Unreal Matinee  Testing game performance during live gameplay Optimizing levels by improving the interaction between lights and surfaces Using advanced level streaming to create vast, rich, highly playable levels Winner of the Front Line Award for best game development book of 2009!

Table of Contents:
CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Unreal Technology . . .  1 History of Unreal . . .  2                 June 1998: Unreal . . .  2                 November 1999: Unreal Tournament . . . 3                 March—July 2001: The Unreal Developer Network . . .  5                 September 2002: Unreal Championship and Unreal Tournament 2003. . . 5                 February 2003: Unreal II . . . 7                 March 2004: Unreal Tournament 2004 . . . 9                 April 2005: Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict . . .  10                 November 2006: Gears of War. . . 11                 November 2007: Unreal Tournament 3 . . . 12 Overview of the Unreal Engine. . . 14 Unreal Engine Components . . . 14                 The Graphics Engine. . . 14                 The Sound Engine. . . 15                 The Physics Engine . . . 16                 The Input Manager . . . 16                 Network Infrastructure . . . 17                 The UnrealScript Interpreter. . . 18 Overview of Component Interaction . . . 18 Engine Components at Work . . . 20 Creating Your Own Worlds with the Unreal Engine . . . 21                 Game Assets . . . 21                 Animations and Skeletal Meshes . . . 25                 The Tools of the Trade . . . 26 CHAPTER 2: Overview of Game Development. . . 31 The Importance of Iteration . . . 32 Start with the Idea . . . 32 Story Treatment . . . 34 Considerations for Production Scheduling . . . 39 Communication . . . 41                 Have Regular Meetings . . . 41                 Make Yourself Heard. . . .  41                 Respect Your Teammates . . . 41                 Artists Versus Programmers: Round One, Fight! . . . 42                 Pick Your Battles . . . 42                 Stay Creative . . . 42 Testing and Feedback . . . 43 Ending Production . . . 44 CHAPTER 3: Up and Running: A Hands-On Level Creation Primer. . . 45 Starting Your First Level . . . 46 CHAPTER 4: A Universe of Brushes: World Geometry In-Depth . . . 117 Key Terms and Concepts: BSP and CSG . . . 117 Brush Types . . . 118                 The Red Builder Brush. . . 118                 Additive Brushes . . . 118                 Subtractive Brushes . . . 120 A Quick Word on Building. . . 120 Cleaning BSP Materials . . . 21 Working with Brushes . . . 124                 Additive and Subtractive Levels. . . 124                 The Almighty Drag Grid . . . 124                 Moving with Pivots . . . 125                 Brush Order . . . 125                 Building to the Proper Scale . . . 126 Primitives . . . 127                 Cube . . . 127                 Cone . . . 128                 Cylinder . . . 128                 Sheet . . . 130                 Tetrahedron (Sphere) . . . 130                 Curved Staircase . . . 130                 Linear Staircase . . . 132                 Spiral Staircase . . . 132                 Volumetric . . . 133 Boolean Operations . . . 134                 Intersect Tool. . . 134                 De-Intersect Tool . . . 135 Brush Solidity. . . 135                 Solid . . . 136                 Semi-Solid. . . 136                 Non-Solid . . . 136 Brush Manipulation . . . 137 Geometry Mode . . . 137                 Selection Modes . . . 138                 Toggle Modifier Window . . . 141 Working with Shadows. . . 164 CHAPTER 5: Static Meshes. . . 169 The Importance of Static Meshes. . . 169 Static Mesh Workflow Overview . . . 170 UV Texture Coordinates . . . 185 Considerations When Creating UV Layouts . . . 193 Creating Textures . . . 195 Importing Static Meshes. . . 197 Using the Static Mesh Editor . . . 200 Collisions . . . 202                 Creating Custom Collisions. . . 205 Placing Static Meshes. . . 213 Static Meshes and Shadows. . . 216 CHAPTER 6: Introduction to Materials. . . 221 What Is a Material? . . . 222 Materials vs. Textures. . . . . 223 Texture Coordinates (UVs). . . . 223 Material Instructions. . . 224 Thinking About Color in Unreal. . . 225 A Quick Word on Lighting. . . 226 Anatomy of a Material . . . 226                 Material Nodes . . . 227                 Material Channels . . . 232                 Material Expressions. . . 239 The Available Material Expressions. . . 244                 Material Expressions List. . . 244                 Parameter Expressions. . . 262 Material Creation. . . 264 Surface Properties . . . 274                 The Surface Properties Dialog. . . 275 CHAPTER 7: Introduction to Lighting . . . 357 Light Placement. . . . 358 A Word on Building Lights. . . 358 Lighting Concepts . . . 375                 Light Maps and Shadow Maps. . . 375                 Static and Dynamic Lighting . . . 376                 Per-Vertex Lighting and Lighting Subdivisions. . . 377 Types of Lights. . . 378                 Toggleable Lights. . . 378                 Moveable Lights . . . 378                 Point Lights. . . 379                 Spotlights . . . 380                 Directional Lights. . . . 382                 SkyLights. . . 382                 Pickup Lights. . . 384 Light Properties . . . 387                 General Properties. . . 387                 Exclusive SpotLight Properties. . . 389                 Exclusive DirectionalLight Properties. . . 389                 Exclusive SkyLight Properties . . . 389 Lighting Channels . . . 390 Lighting Volumes . . . 394 Shadows . . . . . 394                 Precomputed Shadows (Shadow Maps). . . . 395                 Shadow Buffer Shadows . . . 396                 Shadow Volume Shadows . . . 396                 Shadow Modulation . . . 398 Light Environments . . . 405 Light Functions . . . 410 Workflow Tips . . . 415 CHAPTER 8: Terrain. . . 417 What Is Terrain? . . . 417 Accessing Terrain . . . 419 Terrain Anatomy and Properties . . . 427                 Terrain Anatomy (Terminology) . . . 427                 Terrain Properties . . . 428 TerrainMaterials and Layers . . . 433                 TerrainMaterial Properties. . . 433                 Terrain Layers . . . 434 Terrain Editor Dialog. . . 449                 The Terrain Editing Dialog Interface Overview. . . 449                 Terrain Editing Tools. . . 459 Decorating Your Terrain: Foliage and DecoLayers. . . 483                 Foliage. . . 484                 DecoLayers. . . 488 Terrain Workflow Considerations . . . 494 CHAPTER 9: Introduction to Unreal Kismet . . . 497 Kismet: The Big Picture. . . 497 Accessing Kismet . . . 498 Anatomy of a Sequence Object . . . 506 Types of Sequence Objects . . . 508                 Events . . . 508                 Actions . . . 509                 Variables . . . 509                 Conditions . . . 510                 Matinee . . . 512 Kismet Sequence Flow . . . 512 Simple Kismet Sequences . . . 526 Commenting Kismet Sequences . . . 535 Intermediate Kismet Sequences . . . 536 CHAPTER 10: Unreal Matinee. . . 615 What Is Matinee? . . . 615 Matinee Terminology . . . 616 Accessing Matinee . . . 636 The Matinee Sequence Object . . . 636                 Inputs . . . 637                 Outputs. . . . 638                 Variable Links . . . 638                 Properties . . . 638                 Matinee Data Object. . . 640 InterpActors . . . 641 Mover Kismet Event . . . 641 The Matinee Editor . . . 643                 Toolbar . . . 644                 Curve Editor . . . 644                 Group/Track List . . . 644                 Timeline . . . 645                 Properties . . . 646 Types of Tracks. . . 647                 Anim Control . . . 647                 Color Property . . . 648                 Event . . . 648                 FaceFX . . . 648                 Float Material Param. . . 648                 Float Particle Param. . . 649                 Float Property . . . 649                 Morph Weight. . . 649                 Movement. . . 649                 SkelControl Scale . . . 650                 Sound . . . 650                 Effects Toggle . . . 651                 Vector Material Param. . . . 651                 Vector Property . . . 651                 Director Group-Specific Tracks . . . 651 Matinee Considerations . . . 652 CHAPTER 11: Level Optimization . . . 705 General Optimization. . . 705 Understanding Overhead . . . 706 In-Game Performance Diagnostics . . . 706 Occlusion . . . 717 CullDistance and CullDistanceVolumes . . . 718 Levels of Detail . . . 719 Optimizing Lights and Shadows . . . 719                 Light Maps . . . 719                 Light Environments. . . 720                 Light Functions . . . 720                 Casting Light onto Unlit Materials . . . 720 The Primitive Stats Browser. . . 721 Dynamic Shadows and the Dynamic Shadow Stats Browser . . . 722 Material Optimization . . . 725                 Multiple Materials per Object . . . 726                 Material Instructions. . . 726                 Unlit Translucency . . . 727 CHAPTER 12: Level Streaming. . . 731 Level Streaming Benefits. . . 732 Testing Level Streaming . . . 733 Streaming Methods . . . 733 Persistent Levels Versus Streaming Levels . . . 733 The Level Browser and Scene Manager . . . 734 Map Changing . . . 736 Level Streaming via Kismet. . . 757 Level Streaming via LevelStreamingVolumes. . . 758 Level Streaming via Distance. . . 767 Troubleshooting . . . 777 Level Streaming Considerations . . . 777 APPENDIX A: The Unreal Editor User’s Guide. . . 779 The Main Menubar . . . 779 The Toolbar . . .  781                 File Options . . . 781                 Undo and Redo . . . 782                 Far Clipping Plane Distance . . . 782                 Transform Tools . . . 782                 Search for Actor . . . 783                 Toggle Fullscreen . . . 783                 Cut, Copy, and Paste . . . 783                 Generic Browser . . . 783                 Kismet . . . 783                 Toggle Brush Polys . . . 783                 Toggle Prefab Lock . . . 783                 Use Curves Button . . . 783                 Enable/Disable Socket Snapping. . . 783                 Building . . . 784                 Play Level Area . . . 784 The Toolbox . . . 785                 Camera and Utilities Area . . . 785                 Brush Primitives Area . . . 786                 CSG Operations Area . . . 792                 Additional Brushes Area . . . 793                 Selections Area . . . 794 The Viewports . . . 795                 Navigation . . . 796                 Viewport Controls. . . 797                 Viewport Toolbar . . . 798                 Viewport Context Menu. . . 802 The Console Bar . . . 804                 Command Line . . . 805                 Selection Status . . . 805                 Transform Status . . . 805                 DrawScale Numeric Fields . . . 805                 Drag Grid . . . 805                 Rotation Grid . . . 805                 Scale Grid . . . 806                 AutoSave . . . 806 Browsers . . . 806                 Generic Browser. . . 806                 Actor Classes Browser. . . 811                 Groups Browser . . . 813                 Level Browser . . . 815                 Referenced Assets Browser . . . 816                 Primitive Stats Browser . . . 818                 Dynamic Shadow Stats Browser. . . 819                 Scene Manager . . . 820                 Log . . . 822 Editors . . . 823                 Static Mesh Editor. . . 823                 Material Editor. . . 824                 Kismet Visual Scripting Editor. . . 824                 Matinee Editor . . . 826                 PhAT (Physics Asset Tool) Physics Editor. . . 826                 Cascade Particle System Editor . . . 826                 User Interface Scene Editor . . . 828                 SoundCue Editor . . . 828                 Post Process Manager . . . 828                 AnimSet Editor . . . 830                 AnimTree Editor. . . 830 Search for Actors . . . 831 Property Windows . . . 832                 Actor Properties . . . 832                 Surface Properties . . . 833 APPENDIX B: The Curve Editor. . . 835 Animation Curves . . . 836 Controlling Interpolation Curves . . . 838 Auto . . . 839 User . . . 840 Break. . . . 840 Linear. . . 840 Constant . . . 842 Curve Editor Interface. . . 842 Curve Editor Toolbar. . . 842 Curve Editor Curve Key List. . . 844 Curve Editor Graph View . . . 846 Preset Curves . . . 847 Available Preset Curve Settings. . . 848 Index. . . 851

About the Author :
Jason “Buzz” Busby is president and chief executive officer of 3D Buzz, Inc. For more than five years, he has taught 3D animation, programming, and game design through his website 3dbuzz.com, which has over 275,000 members. He coauthored Mastering Unreal: The Art of Level Design and Mastering the Art of Production with 3ds Max 4 and has created and overseen the production of more than 1,000 hours of video training.   Zak Parrish, chief of operations at 3D Buzz, Inc., has developed hundreds of video tutorials over 3D animation and game design. He helped produce training videos that shipped with Unreal Tournament 2004: Special Edition as well as those that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3: Limited Collector’s Edition. Zak also coauthored Mastering Unreal.   Jeff Wilson, 3D Buzz’s technical consultant for the Unreal Engine, helps develop the company’s Unreal Technology training videos. He has been studying the Unreal Engine for five years while creating modifications for Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004. Wilson moderates the 3D Buzz forums.


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780768688979
  • Publisher: Pearson Education (US)
  • Publisher Imprint: Pearson
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0768688973
  • Publisher Date: 21 Jul 2009
  • Binding: Digital download
  • Sub Title: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3


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