Unreal Engine 5 enters early access, gets new tech demo
Epic Games announced an Early Access version of Unreal Engine 5 alongside a new Tech Demo that highlights new features.
Epic Games exec says PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X games will look like movies
Unreal Engine 5's Nanite technology will scale cinema-level assets in real time
Oculus is (still) Covering Unreal Engine Royalties for $5M in Revenue Per-game Through 2025
With the recent news that Unreal Engine was permanently waiving engine royalties for the first $1 million in app revenue, we were reminded of a similar program for VR apps based on Unreal Engine 4 that Oculus established back in 2016. We reached out to Oculus which confirmed that the program, which covers UE4 royalties for the first $5 million in revenue, is still in place and will continue through 2025.
Back in 2016, just a few months after Oculus launched its first Rift headset, the company announced a UE4 Royalty Payment program.
Although Epic Games announced last week that it will permanently waive Unreal Engine royalties for the first $1 million in app revenue, Oculus confirmed that its own program remains in place to cover Unreal Engine 4 royalties for the first $5 million in revenue from the Oculus store, per-app, through 2025.
While the change to Epic’s own royalty structure makes the Oculus program just a little less sweet, it’s still effectively free money back into the pockets of developers building VR apps with UE4.
Previously the program would have saved developers up to $250,000 per application; with the core changes to Unreal Engine’s royalty structure, the Oculus program will now save developers up to $200,000 (assuming all revenue from the Oculus store), though that first $50,000 will still get waived anyway given Epic’s new policy.
An Oculus spokesperson told Road to VR that the royalty waiver program only applies to Unreal Engine 4, but the company will consider extending it Unreal Engine 5 as well, which is due out in 2021. The company also clarified that the calculation for covering royalties on the first $5 million in revenue is based on gross revenue (which means before the 30% Oculus store cut).
While the Oculus royalty waiver program is applicable for apps on Quest, Rift, and Go, we aren’t clear on whether or not the same app launched on two or more headsets would be counted as a single app or separate apps in the eyes of the program. We’ve reached out to Oculus for clarity.
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Unreal Engine 5 CEO: ‘All’ The Demo Tech Can Work On High End PC VR
“All” of the Unreal Engine 5 technology demonstrated in this week’s stunning reveal will be able to work with high end PC VR, according to Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.
The statement was made in an interview with tech outlet CNET:
“Certainly, all the technology we’re demonstrating will be able to run on the high end PC-based VR systems, which means a new generation of graphical fidelity, particularly in geometry. I don’t have anything specific to announce for VR here, but I think it’s going to create a really interesting march towards photorealism … and as you see devices improve their resolution and other system parameters it’s going to be very interesting.”
Unreal Engine 5 is a radical new approach to how games are made and rendered. It was revealed on Wednesday in a stunning showcase.
In current game engines, artists import reduced detail versions of the original assets they create. When you move far enough away from those assets, an even lower detail version is used instead. This is called LODs (Level of Details).
UE5’s new ‘Nanite’ geometry system upends this approach. Artists import the full movie-quality assets. The geometric detail is scaled in real time. This means virtual objects will look incredibly detailed up close, and won’t “pop in” or “pop out” as you move away from them.
The new ‘Lumen’ lighting engine provides full real time global illumination. This means the lighting is no longer “baked”, and light sources can move around the virtual world in real time, with the same level of impact to the environment as pre-baked static lights.
Oculus Quest?
But what about mobile-powered VR headsets like Oculus Quest?
According to Epic CTO Kim Libreri, UE5 supports lower powered platforms like Android and iOS through “scalability paths to down-resolution your content to run on everything”. That sounds like the engine will reduce the quality of the assets before compiling.
“What it means for mobile VR running on a mobile chipset, that’s going to be the same sort of answer … as getting Nanite content to work on a phone” – Epic’s CTO
Given that the Quest has just 64GB or 128GB (there are two storage models) available, asset reduction seems like it would be required alway.
So while high end PC VR experiences may leverage the huge advancements in Unreal Engine 5, don’t expect it to have much impact on Quest.
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Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo on PS5 Shows Where Next-gen Graphics are Headed
Epic Games today revealed a PS5 tech demo built with Unreal Engine 5, the next-gen version of the company’s game engine. With new features for advanced lighting and unprecedented geometric detail, Unreal Engine 5 hopes to enable a generational leap in real-time graphics.
Unreal Engine is one of the two most popular game engines for creating VR content. While UE 4.25 just launched last week with improvements to its AR and VR support, Epic Games today showed off a tech demo built with new foundational capabilities of Unreal Engine 5 which the company plans to launch in 2021.
“One of our goals in this next generation is to achieve photorealism on par with movie CG and real life, and put it within practical reach of development teams of all sizes through highly productive tools and content libraries,” Epic says.
Running on PS5 developer hardware, the aptly-named tech demo ‘Lumen in the Land of Nanite’ shows off UE5’s Lumen global illumination system and Nanite micro-geometry system. Here’s how Epic describes the features:
Lumen is a fully dynamic global illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes. The system renders diffuse interreflection with infinite bounces and indirect specular reflections in huge, detailed environments, at scales ranging from kilometers to millimeters. Artists and designers can create more dynamic scenes using Lumen, for example, changing the sun angle for time of day, turning on a flashlight, or blowing a hole in the ceiling, and indirect lighting will adapt accordingly. Lumen erases the need to wait for lightmap bakes to finish and to author light map UVs—a huge time savings when an artist can move a light inside the Unreal Editor and lighting looks the same as when the game is run on console.
Nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry frees artists to create as much geometric detail as the eye can see. Nanite virtualized geometry means that film-quality source art comprising hundreds of millions or billions of polygons can be imported directly into Unreal Engine—anything from ZBrush sculpts to photogrammetry scans to CAD data—and it just works. Nanite geometry is streamed and scaled in real time so there are no more polygon count budgets, polygon memory budgets, or draw count budgets; there is no need to bake details to normal maps or manually author LODs; and there is no loss in quality.
In its UE5 tech demo reveal today, Epic didn’t mention PSVR 2 (which is expected to be announced after the launch of PS5), but the company did confirm that VR and AR content creation for console, PC, and standalone will continue to be supported in UE5.
While this demo is extremely impressive and significant for the future of real-time graphics, it will likely be a while yet before we see this level of graphical fidelity in VR games and content.
While Unreal Engine 5 will continue to support VR development, the demo shown today was running at 2560×1440 at 30 FPS, which is far too slow for high-end VR headsets, most of which require a minimum of 80 or 90 FPS, with some demanding even higher resolutions.
VR developers will likely be able to make use of Lumen, Nanite, and other advanced UE5 features, but perhaps not at the same scale seen in the ‘Lumen in the Land of Nanite’ tech demo—at least not until next-gen graphics hardware is much more prolific.
Outside of VR games, UE5 is likely to be especially useful for enterprise VR and AR use-cases involving visualization, which typically require that detailed computer models be reduced in complexity in order to run in real-time. With Nanite, Epic is promising that UE5 will be able to ingest huge models like photogrammetry scans and CAD data, then display them natively without needing to create decimated versions with reduced geometric accuracy.
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Epic says that Unreal Engine 5 will be available in a preview version in early 2021 and launch in full later that year. The engine will support next-gen consoles and all existing platforms including tethered and standalone AR and VR headsets.
The company also says that UE5 is being designed with forward-compatibility in mind, so developers working with UE4 now can expect to migrate their projects to UE5 when the time comes. To lead by example (and sort out the kinks along the way), Epic plans to launch its battle royale hit Fortnite on next-gen consoles in its current UE4 version, and then move the game over to UE5 in mid-2021.
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Epic Games Unveils First Unreal Engine 5 Details, Showcases Gorgeous Visuals and VR Will be Supported
After last weeks announcement that Unreal Engine 4.25 would support the next generation consoles coming at the end of 2020, Epic Games has followed that up by revealing the first details for Unreal Engine 5. Not only has that included footage running on PlayStation 5 but also confirmation that virtual reality (VR) will continue to be supported.
Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is still a fair way off with developers able to access a preview in early 2021 followed by the full release late in 2021, but what’s been shown so far is already tantalising.
Epic Games wants to achieve photorealism on par with movie CG and real-life using UE5 and next-gen tech, using two new core technologies; Nanite and Lumen.
Nanite allows for film-quality source art comprising hundreds of millions or billions of polygons to be imported directly into Unreal Engine for stunning quality. While Lumen offers a fully dynamic global Illumination solution which can react to scene and light changes. Take a look at the video below to see these in action in a demo running on PlayStation 5 called Lumen in the Land of Nanite.
This all means lots of gorgeous lookings videogames across all supported formats, from next- and current-generation consoles to PC, Mac, iOS, Android and of course VR. It’ll likely be at least 2022 before title start filtering through, by then there may even be a new PlayStation VR?
“Certainly, all the technology we’re demonstrating will be able to run on the high end PC-based VR systems, which means a new generation of graphical fidelity, particularly in geometry,” Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney told CNET. “I don’t have anything specific to announce for VR here, but I think it’s going to create a really interesting march towards photorealism … and as you see devices improve their resolution and other system parameters it’s going to be very interesting.”
The company has also unveiled a new royalties solution for developers where royalties are waived on the first $1 million USD in gross revenue per title. Unreal Engine will still be free to download and start using as always.
As Epic Games continues to improve Unreal Engine VRFocus will keep you updated.
Tim Sweeney: PS5’s Storage System ‘Absolutely World-Class’, ‘Better Than High-End PC’
Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney has high praise for PS5’s storage system following today’s reveal of a stunning Unreal Engine 5 demo.
According to Epic the demo, designed to highlight new features made possible by next-gen consoles, was captured in real-time on a PS5. Following its reveal, Sweeney appeared on Geoff Keighley’s Summer of Gaming stream to discuss what we’d just seen.
“Sony’s storage system is absolutely world-class,” Sweeney said. “Not only the best-in-class on console but also the best on any platform. Better than a high-end PC. This is going to enable the types of immersion that we’ve only dreamed of in the past.
“The world of loading screens is over and the days of pop-in and geometry popping up as you’re going through these game environments are ending,” he continued. “And the resulting effect is the ability to build games that are fully immersive from start to finish over hundreds of hours of gameplay if that’s your game.”
PS5 features a solid-state drive (SSD) that Sony itself says will dramatically reduce loading times and rendering environments on its new console. In the Unreal Engine 5 demo we saw the lead character glide across miles of geometry over the course of a few seconds with the environment remaining consistently detailed throughout. Sure, this is a highly-polished technical demonstration, but that could offer an insight into what Sweeney is talking about.
And, obviously, this could have huge benefits for Sony’s VR plans on PS5. We know the current PSVR supports the new console and that Sony is prototyping a new headset. With the technology powering PS5, we might see richer VR environments that don’t pop-in when quickly turning your head or leaning in for closer inspect. Anyone that’s been playing the PSVR version of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners in the past two weeks will know how big of a deal this could be.
PS5 is arriving this holiday season and Unreal Engine 5 launches next year. As for a possible PSVR 2? We’re still awaiting official details but you can find out everything we currently know right here.
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Unreal Engine 5 Supports VR, Promises Generational Leap For Graphics
Epic Games just showcased its vision of next-generation console gameplay with the reveal of Unreal Engine 5. Not only that, but the new engine supports VR headsets.
Below you can see a stunning new technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5 called Lumen in the Land of Nanite. It features the kinds of graphical and technical leaps Epic expects to see made on next-generation consoles. Textures are incredibly sharp, 3D models sport a new level of detail and, for the most part, massive environments appear to load seamlessly. To top it all off, Epic says this is running in real-time on a PlayStation 5 development kit.
Speaking to Upload, an Epic spokeswoman confirmed that Unreal Engine 5 would continue to support all current VR headsets including PSVR, Oculus Quest and PC VR devices. We don’t have any other details right now, though we’ll be keen to see if these kinds of advances are still possible on new hardware when adding on the demands of a VR headset.
For now, this demo is designed to highlight two core technologies in Unreal Engine 5: nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry and Lumen. The former is designed to let artists focus on creating highly intricate details on objects and surfaces, while the latter is a dynamic global illumination system for instant, realistic lighting in a virtual scene.
Unreal Engine 5 will be arriving in early 2021 as a preview, with full release planned for later that year. PS5 and the Xbox One Series X are expected to launch this holiday season.
Excited for Unreal Engine 5 VR support? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Unreal Engine 5 Supports VR, Promises Generational Leap For Graphics appeared first on UploadVR.
Unreal Engine 5 Supports VR, Promises Generational Leap For Graphics
Epic Games just showcased its vision of next-generation console gameplay with the reveal of Unreal Engine 5. Not only that, but the new engine supports VR headsets.
Below you can see a stunning new technical showcase for Unreal Engine 5 called Lumen in the Land of Nanite. It features the kinds of graphical and technical leaps Epic expects to see made on next-generation consoles. Textures are incredibly sharp, 3D models sport a new level of detail and, for the most part, massive environments appear to load seamlessly. To top it all off, Epic says this is running in real-time on a PlayStation 5 development kit.
Speaking to Upload, an Epic spokeswoman confirmed that Unreal Engine 5 would continue to support all current VR headsets including PSVR, Oculus Quest and PC VR devices. We don’t have any other details right now, though we’ll be keen to see if these kinds of advances are still possible on new hardware when adding on the demands of a VR headset.
For now, this demo is designed to highlight two core technologies in Unreal Engine 5: nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry and Lumen. The former is designed to let artists focus on creating highly intricate details on objects and surfaces, while the latter is a dynamic global illumination system for instant, realistic lighting in a virtual scene.
Unreal Engine 5 will be arriving in early 2021 as a preview, with full release planned for later that year. PS5 and the Xbox One Series X are expected to launch this holiday season.
Excited for Unreal Engine 5 VR support? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Unreal Engine 5 Supports VR, Promises Generational Leap For Graphics appeared first on UploadVR.