Using the Unreal Editor Virtual Campus

Agenda 1. Learning the Editor 2. Skyboxes and Terrain 3. Building CAP 4. Where We Go From Here

What is Unreal? Powerful Engine Released Free To Public Includes: Editor Game Cooking Own Customized Programming Language

Unreal Editor Stocked with Meshes, Textures, Materials, etc. Like a 3D Modeling Tool

Learning To Use It Trial and Error No Each Other Tutorials Found Documentation Each Other Tutorials Found Tutorial Videos Experiment, Break, And Try To Fix It Little to No Support for Unreal Out There Yet You Found Out Something? Tell Us!

Tutorials Taught Us The Most Video Guide Through Basic Level Learned: Adding/Subtracting CSG Adding Lighting Adding Meshes Beveling Materials Basic Movement Around Editor

The Rest Trial And Error Taught Us What Not To Do Subversion Learned How To Add Our Own Materials Joey Figured Out Skyboxes and Terrain

Skybox Typically, a skybox is a giant sphere or half-sphere that is covered in a texture. By placing a skybox high enough and far enough away from the player, it gives the illusion of a “sky”.

Skybox A 3D backdrop for a level would require a great deal of real-time computation to render. Skyboxes alleviate this problem by giving the illusion of a sky through the use of a 2D texture suspended above the player.

Skybox Example

Skybox Example

Terrain We have to transform a height map to give the effect of mountains, hills, valleys, etc. Basically, we are just stretching and pulling thousands of tiny triangles.

Terrain Example

Terrain Example

Building Campus For this project, we decided to begin with the CAP building and hopefully move on to virtualizing the rest of campus. This task has proven to be extremely difficult! We had hoped to have CAP completely finished by now. Here's why...

What We've Built So Far We only acquired that floor plan just before Thanksgiving break, so all we have so far is a bit of a rough draft. The CAP building we built is disproportionate and very minimalistic. Mainly we have used this first semester to familiarize ourselves with UDK. Which means we have to scrap our work so far and start over.

Placeholder for Picture of Project

What's Left In essence, we must learn how to interpret the floor plan so we can build it in-game. We must attempt to be as true-to-life as possible We must find a way to get appropriate textures And we must inevitably find certain things to cut from the finished project that won't affect the overall effect.

Where Do We Go From Here? Scaling the project to fit the new floor plan Adding semi-realistic textures and surroundings to the CAP building model Adding NPCs Refining the model for detail and realism Incorporating possible future buildings Honing our skills in the UDK

Where Do We Go From Here? Laying a development time frame and drawing up a schedule Delegating development duties for modeling certain areas Considering limitations and constraints Displaying how this is a useful tool for campus exploration and orientation