Unity and UDK

Today we had a quick tutorial on the program called Unity. Unity can be used to make intractable 3D landscapes for games and such and is a very popular program.

First we made a new project and we imported the Character Controller, Skyboxes, Terrain Assets, Water (Basic) and Water (Pro Only) unity packages. Doing this is like selecting a range of tools before setting out on a project, you can always go into Assets > Import Package to import a new package further into the project if you realise you need it.

Next we made a new terrain as a starting point to build from.

We then went into Edit > Render Settings to make a sky. 

And in the selection box we selected a simple sunny sky.

Using the packages we selected earlier we dragged and dropped a 3^rd person controller onto the terrain. 

We then went into assets and added a point light.

Selecting the terrain again we started using the brushes to make mountains ect. The first brush will pull the terrain up, while the second will pull it up to a certain height, also holding shift will erase. There a various brushes to give a more natural feel to the land as well.

We then added water so our raised ground became an island.

Then using the variety of foliage brushes we were able to add grass, and add trees.

Finally we added a texture to the ground.

This program was fun to work in and is great for making outside levels, it feels really organic with the brushes as well, as if you are moulding clay, instead of how precise and complicated programs like 3DS max.

Next we had a tutorial for the program Unreal Development Kit. Unreal is a game engine developed by Epic games and is very popular as it is extremely easy to use. For our experimentation we used the first two tutorials in this youtube playlist http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA2DE3D64B848BC63&feature=plcp

When you first open it up you have the choice to pick a time of day for the sky or a blank sky, and when chosen you are given a flat plane to start with. You move the camera with the wasd keys, and you can use the scroll to zoom in and out. There is also the framework of a box on the plane in red, which is your building frame, this can be resized and such until you are happy with it, and then by clicking the CSC add button the frame is filled in. After that you can move the frame away from what you just created and start the process again. The shape of the frame can be changed by selecting a different brush, for example the cone or stairs. When you do select a new brush a box will come up where you can manually input dimensions and such if fiddling around in the veiwports with the red framework isn't your thing (you can also make a box hollow for making a room), you can then close this box, (the setting will be remembered) and carry on like before or click build. Holding down L while clicking anywhere in the veiwport makes a simple light, which can be moved about just like the red framework, with the X, Y and Z arrows. To play in the level you just right click in the veiwport and select 'play from here' and you will be dropped in where you clicked. You can also copy things by holding alt and dragging, much like 3DS max.

You can add things like static meshes (pre-built things) and textures using the content browser, you can simply drag and drop them into the veiwport, be it a texture or a static mesh.

Finally by going into World Properties you can give your character a gun.