Awesome Unreal

The first game to use Unreal Engine was… Unreal. Since it appeared on the scene in 1996, computer graphics technology has evolved in leaps and bounds. GameSpot looks back at the history of Epic’s 3D game engine, and just how far it’s come over the years, even powering the environments in The Mandalorian.

Epic Games is showing off an amazing computer graphics tool that connects to the cloud to create synthetic humans in minutes, rather than days or weeks. The models it creates are incredibly detailed and realistic and can be immediately exported for use in Unreal Engine. Check out two sample MetaHumans here.

Epic Games and Unreal Engine helped to develop the amazing virtual environments used to bring The Mandalorian to life. As this highlight reel shows, theirt technique of combining projected, camera-tracked CG environments with live actors and props has far-reaching potential for all kinds of video production.

Epic Games’ Unreal Engine is arguably the best video game development engine out there, enabling amazing graphics, physics, and gameplay. Now learn how to make your own games with with this bundle of eight online courses that can even get beginners up and running with Unreal Engine 4.

Epic Games shows off a bit of what Unreal Engine 5 can do running on PlayStation 5 hardware in real time. The footage demonstrates incredible detail, freeing designers to pump out as many polygons as they can imagine, and simulating complex particle interactions. We can’t wait to see these effects used in games.

Animator Han Yang’s Unreal Engine CG short film feels more like a video game cutscene than a full-fledge work of science fiction, but it features a thrilling fight sequence, and some truly awesome character design by Ben Erdt, Perry Leijten, and Vick Gaza.

While it may be a while before we have video games with truly photorealistic graphics, Quixel’s eyepopping real-time cinematic that shows off the power of Unreal Engine 4 using real-world scans of Iceland, combined with CG models. Watch in 4K if you can.

A brief look at some of the fantastic, vibrant, otherworldly, and whimsical environments created by CGI and game development students using the Unreal graphics and gaming engine. Lord of Horticulture is particularly wonderful and charming.

A look at some of the natural landscapes made by YouTuber koooolalala using Unreal Engine 4. At this point Memorex should just let Epic Games use their slogan. Check out kooolalala’s YouTube and Flickr pages for more.

An amazingly gorgeous scene rendered using the same engine used in many of today’s video games. The scene was generated entirely in real time, proving that with enough hardware – and 3D artistry – movie quality animations are possible.

While this static scene of a Paris apartment isn’t exactly the most dynamic of settings, it serves as an impressive demonstration of the detail and photorealism that can be achieved with an off-the-shelf graphics engine.

While the video is a little technical, it’s still worth watching this series to check out the incredible VFX that Unreal Engine 4 is capable of, along with an appreciation for the effort that goes into creating game details we take for granted.

An eye-popping tech demo using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 that was shown off at the 2013 GDC. If next-gen games look this good, we’re definitely upgrading. Be sure to watch it in full screen 1080p if you can.

3D artist Tor Frick managed to create this detailed environment using the Unreal Engine and just a single 256×512 texture to save on memory. Amazing stuff. UDK geeks can grab the files here.

Modder Cr4zyb4st4rd has made a mutator for Unreal Tournament 3 that turns the Redeemer – the most powerful weapon in the series – into a meme launcher. Might as well call it the Humiliator.

Epic shows off more of what UDK can do with DirectX11 – incredible human skin, lighting and reflections, and stunning physics at every turn. We want games to look this good. Now. Watch in HD.