Underestimating / Understanding the Process

The Unreal Engine is vast in possibilities regarding how I could approach a real-time simulation. This became apparent after just a few hours spent with the program. While each step of composing real-time, screen-based works are interdependent, there are very distinct stages and categories that have to be addressed. Modelling an interior is separate from correctly UV mapping the geometry, which is different from creating shaders and materials, distinct from composing Blueprint graphs. Each of these steps impacts how the simulation will display or simply function. All this to say, I was at a complete loss. Everything else I had understood from years of 3D modelling and animation (I first opened 3DS Max around 1997/8) appeared insufficient or partial.

Using the course materials provided by Epic for the Unreal Engine, I spent five days (and a few nights) acclimatising. I selected the “Becoming an Architectural Visualiser” course which contained detail on each part of the software I wanted to understand. Not only is the software free, but the learning material necessary to fully understand it – beyond the rudimentary documentation – is also freely available. Each module of the course is divided into around 15 - 20 thirty-minute videos, guided by experienced instructors detailing the practical methods and how these relate to and affect the work I want to make.