Category: Epic Games

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Unreal Engine Gets Early Access MacOS High Sierra Support

Epic Games have announced the release of Early Access support for the upcoming version of the MacOS, High Sierra, to allow developers to develop for virtual reality (VR) using the Mac platform.

Mac OS 10.13, code-named High Sierra, was announced as being capable of supporting VR at this year’s WWDC, the Apple Development Conference in California. After the announcement, Epic Games took to the stage alongside renowned special effects experts Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) to demonstrate the new functionality, displaying how Unreal Engine in VR mode worked on the new version of the OS on a brand new iMac Pro.

Unreal Engine_macOS_support

Epic Games subsequently released the Early Access support for Unreal Engine for development of VR on Mac platforms via the Unreal Engine GitHub repository. The version available on GitHub is a early access release, so full functionality may not yet have been made available. Epic Games have confirmed that full support for VR development on Mac platforms is part of upcoming releases of Unreal Engine, alongside general Metal 2 support and various general Mac optimisation tweaks.

 

The updated version of Unreal Engine, version 4.18 binary tools, will feature the updated functionality and is expected to be released for developer previews in September 2017, with a full release in early October 2017.

Apple have been embracing VR and augmented reality (AR) much more of late. With Apple’s general habit of thoroughly testing the waters when it comes to new technology, Apple were somewhat behind with regards to AR and VR technology. It was recently announced that Steam VR would soon get Mac support and along with the upcoming new iPhone’s updated AR support, it seems that Apple are trying to catch up.

VRFocus will continue to bring you news on Apple’s new AR and VR technology.

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Tim Sweeney On Apple AR: ‘There is Going to be an Incredible Rush of Developers’

Tim Sweeney On Apple AR: ‘There is Going to be an Incredible Rush of Developers’

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney thinks Apple’s upcoming iOS 11 update, arriving this fall, will be a huge boost to the emerging AR industry.

Sweeney, whose company makes the Unreal Engine toolset used in creating some of the biggest budget 3D projects, outlined in a blog post this week why he saw this as a huge moment for immersive computing:

Apple’s debut of VR support for Mac and AR support for iOS are true game-changers. Whereas there are a couple million VR enthusiasts today, and early AR hardware from other companies has reached several thousand developers, Apple is bringing this high-powered technology to hundreds of millions of consumers right now.

I believe this is truly the start of the mainstream VR and AR revolution that we at Epic have been striving for, and building for, over the course of many years.  It’s the most definitive event marking the move to high-end technology that will power a new generation of world-class experiences transcending games and storytelling.

With both Unity and Unreal integrating with ARKit for iOS, the two major tools for creating virtual worlds are now available to developers for building apps on hundreds of millions of Apple handhelds. There have been tools developers could use before, but Sweeney thinks Apple’s support for AR could accelerate adoption.

“Apple has an extraordinary history of adopting trends at just the right time that they’re ready for mainstream pickup,” Sweeney said in an interview with UploadVR. “From the buzz among developers we know and we work with there is going to be an incredible rush of developers working to support this…you’re going to see an immense amount of investment very quickly.”

Sweeney suggests the VR market is so small right now it is difficult for teams to justify large investments in content, but with AR suddenly more accessible on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads it is a potential gold rush for teams investing in the right idea. Of course, there are still major technical challenges to overcome. What does a multiplayer AR game look like, for example? According to Sweeney, a lot of technology still needs to be built to make compelling AR experiences.

“It is an entirely new kind of entertainment experience,” Sweeney said. “We’re going to see a flurry of experiments and successes and failures that all build on top of each other.”

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ILM, HTC Vive, Epic Games Showcase VR on Apple iMac with Star Wars

Well the Apple conference is now over and while it didn’t quite have the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) announcements of rivals Google and Microsoft, it certainly wasn’t absent. The majority of the conference focused on new OS High Sierra for the Mac’s and iOS 11 for mobile devices, with VR and AR both appearing, with a surprise collaboration alongside HTC Vive. To high the power of the new top-of-the-range iMac’s Apple enlisted the help of Epic Games, its Unreal Engine and ILM with a VR Star Wars experience.

Plugging into the new iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, Epic ran the HTC Vive on its Unreal Engine using content provided by ILM, with Epic Games’ Lauren Ridge demonstrating real-time placement of an Imperial Shuttle and even making Darth Vader appear.

This showcase followed announcements for Metal, Apple’s API for high performance graphics, and the biggest reveal that made it all possible, support for Steam VR. On the AR side there was also ARKit for iOS 11, for developers to create AR applications.

Checkout the demonstration below, and for any further Apple updates keep reading VRFocus.

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Steam VR Will Soon Support Mac

Apple’s holding its annual WWDC 2017 conference today and most of it has been geared around devices like the Apple Watch and Mac. The company has been fairly tight lipped about any virtual reality (VR) plans, but today has revealed some insight by announcing its teamed up with Valve to bring Steam VR to Mac.

Making the announcement was Apple’s Craig Federighi who revealed very few details about what to expect of when to expect it. What he did say though was that Unity and Unreal Engine two of the biggest middleware applications used for VR would be bringing the VR editors to Mac.

Apple - iMac HTC Vive

So this will mean headsets like the HTC Vive will soon support Apple’s latest Mac’s – depending on spec – opening up the technology to even more users, making mainstream adoption that little bit easier.

There’s still been no news on whether Apple is developing its own, merely patent details, so that possibility is even greater now for this years conference.

For any further updates on Apples VR plans, keep reading VRFocus.

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Epic Games Distributes Grants To VR Devs Including Robo Recall Mod Team

Epic Games Distributes Grants To VR Devs Including Robo Recall Mod Team

During a week where Unity gained a $400 million influx of investment capital, it’s chief rival Epic Games is working to spend $5 million of its own money to facilitate game development for the Unreal Engine.

Like Unity, Unreal is a game creation platform that provides both aspiring creators and large, established teams with the tools they need to make digital films, games, assets etc. without having to build everything from the ground up.

Earlier this year, Epic announced that it would be dolling out $5 million total in grants to up and coming Unreal devs. This week, the company is revealing its latest round of recipients which features six VR teams. In total 16 grants are being awarded this time around for a total of $275,000 in payouts.

The VR teams being awarded are:

Albino Lullaby from Ape Law – A horror adventure game that doesn’t rely on jump scares or gore, Albino Lullaby Episode 1 saw the launch of the series, and Episode 2 is coming this year from developer Ape Law. The interactive environment twists and contorts around in real time as players navigate the game’s twisted narrative.

Raiders of Erda from Cooperative Innovations – Raiders of Erda provides players with an intense VR RPG experience. Announced  earlier this year, the game features a complex combat system and an alpha is expected in 2017.

The Soulkeeper VR by Helm Systems – The Soulkeeper VR is an episodic dark fantasy role-playing game coming soon to Steam Early Access. As one of the only graphically powerful RPGs for VR players, it’s packed with adventure and utilizes the full play space through both free roaming and teleportation.

Tree by New Reality Co – From New Reality Co, the creators of the social awareness VR experience Giant, comes Tree, an emotionally touching VR experience that uses sight, sound, touch and even smell to explore the lifecycle of a rainforest tree from a seedling to full-grown state to unfortunate human consumption. Premiering at Sundance and showing at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival, the experience has earned critical acclaim for its impactful push for environmental change.

realityvirtual.co – Based in New Zealand, realityvirtual.co are R&D pioneers in new media, including drone UAV cinematography and virtual reality. They have been pushing the bleeding edge of photogrammetry and volumetric capture for VR in UE4. Their MANA VR project is currently touring the world. Check out the realityvirtual.co website and Facebook for more.

MGSStudios – MGSStudios has been leading the charge in the creation of Robo Recall mods. Their contributions have led to several of the most actively used mods, such as the popular locomotion modthat changes how the game is played and other popular community mods.

Epic describes the Unreal Dev Grants as a “$5 million initiative that awards developers with no-strings-attached funding for their valuable contributions to the Unreal Engine community.”

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Epic Games’ Latest Unreal Dev Grants Include 7 VR Studios

Epic Games’ Unreal Dev Grants began back in 2016 as a $5 million USD initiative awarding developers with funding for contributions to the Unreal Engine community. In this latest round, 17 projects have received a total of $275,000, seven of which are virtual reality (VR) related.

The projects cover a range of genres – mostly videogames – with film and community support also included. Ape Law’s psychological horror title Albino Lullaby is the first on the list. The first episode arrived for HTC Vive last year, with Oculus Rift support added afterwards. Episode two is scheduled to release later this year.

The Soulkeeper VR

 

Cooperative Innovations’ Raiders of Erda is a VR role-playing game (RPG) experience that was announced earlier this year. The videogame features a complex combat system and an alpha is expected in 2017.

The Soulkeeper VR by Helm Systems is an episodic dark fantasy RPG that’s due to arrive on Steam Early Access. It will offer a variety of combat styles and mechanics, including melee, spell casting, combat with staff and ranged.

From New Reality Co comes Tree, a VR experience shown at VRLA, the Tribeca Film Festival, and Cannes that uses sight, sound, touch and smell to explore the lifecycle of a rainforest tree from a seedling to full-grown state to unfortunate human consumption.

A studio to be directly award is New Zealand-based realityvirtual.co. The company specialises in new media, including drone UAV cinematography and VR, with its most recent project MANA VR currently touring several events.

Lastly there’s MGS Studios, a developer behind the creation of several Robo Recall mods, such as a locomotion mod that changes how the game is played and a Star Wars mod.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of the Unreal Dev Grants, reporting back with the latest VR recipients.

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Epic Games Advances VR Integration for Unreal Engine Releasing v4.16

Last month Epic Games rolled out the first preview for the next iteration of its Unreal Engine software, version 4.16. Since then smaller previews have been released, giving developers a chance to experiment with some of the new features. Today, those new additions are fully implemented with Unreal Engine 4.16 now available.

As VRFocus has previously reported, virtual reality (VR) has played a big part in the latest version’s development, with the VR Mode seeing several extensive additions to make creating a VR videogame in VR even easier. It’s been overhauled to provide a more intuitive workflow and editing experience with a new asymmetrical controller setup putting an improved Radial Menu on one hand and an interaction laser with improved precision on the other. The controllers are now Asynchronous on both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Unreal Engine RadialMenu_002

Then there’s the Sequencer cinematics editor which now supports VR. This will allow developers to create a new sequence, move objects around, which automatically creates sequence keys for the transformations. Thus users will be able to  make sequences and play them back, whilst never leaving VR. Additionally, existing Level Sequences can be opened and played from the Sequencer UI or the Radial Menu.

VR developers will now have smart snapping available, which uses the bounds of an object to align to other actors in the scene for easy placement. Physics Actors in VR Mode can now be simulated. Users run a physical simulation to get a realistic scattering or simply knock Actors around with the motion controllers.

There are several early access additions to Unreal Engine 4.16 as well. The new Unreal Audio Engine and Steam Audio SDK will be available, with the former introducing new features such as a submix graph, submix effects, source effects, real-time synthesis, and better audio plugin support. While the latter will bring next-gen physics-based audio experiences to compliment Unreal Audio Engine.

On top of all that, an early access preview of social screens for PlayStation VR, provides support for Social Screen separate mode, where the the Monitor and HMD display different things at 30fps output.

There’s a massive amount of info to go through for Unreal Engine 4.16, so head to the forums for an in depth look. As always VRFocus will bring you the latest Unreal Engine announcements as they happen.