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Month: October 2023

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Week 4 – Instance material and Basic tools for creating Landscape

Mipmap

Texture Pyramids or Mipmaps are copies of the original texture that are saved at lower resolutions(Level0 is the highest). Mipmapping improves both performance and quality because the GPU does not need to render the full resolution texture on an object that is far away from the camera.

You can check the Number of Mips on the Details panel.

  • LOD Bias: change the displayed size of the map.
  • Maximum texture size: can adjust the maximum size of the texture.

Additionally, it’s important to use compressed formats like PNG, as they are lighter and more efficient.

Instanced materials
  • Altering material’s properties in real-time without compiling them
  • Possibility to alter master – parent – materials that will reflect to
    their instanced – children – materials

How to create? select material – Create material instance
Select node – Convert to parameter: make that option capable to edit in material instance option

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Sample material nodes

In this sample material, I used a mask map composed of R (roughness) and G (metallic mask). I mixed two textures using Linear Interpolate (Lerp) and Multiply nodes, and then connected metallic, roughness, and normal maps. I used the ‘OneMinus(1-x)’ expression to invert the G channel. Finally, I converted some nodes into parameters.

Base material and Material instance

After setting up your material, right-click on it and choose ‘Create Material Instance.’ This will generate a new material instance.

Material instance editor

When you open the material instance, you’ll find the parameters that were converted from the parent material. These parameters won’t affect the parent material. This workflow allows you to create a base (parent) material and then create material instances to meet your specific needs.

Landscape

You can create landscape in UE5 using Landscape Mode.

You can use Static meshes when your work is small scale from a person view. Landscape can be used when your work is medium scale from a building view. If it is much higher scale than those, you can use another automated package using a more efficient and complex algorithm like Houdini, Mudbox, etc.

A height map

Height maps are utilized to interpret different altitudes like a displacement map. It is a grayscale texture that stores landscape height information.

  • Black: low elevations or valleys
  • White: high elevations or peaks.
Creating the landscape

Recommended Landscape Sizes (Landscape Technical Guide in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation)

When it comes to creating landscapes, there are three different methods to consider. The first step is to create a landscape component, and you may find it helpful to reference the figures provided above.

Load your height map and click ‘Import’ to generate a mesh.
  • Importing height map: One approach is to import a height map. Many map images are available on the internet for this purpose. Ensure that the image is saved as a 16-bit file.

You can sculpt on the component.
  • Sculpting: Alternatively, you can sculpt your landscape. To facilitate easier management, you can add layers to divide different sections.

You can create a path using the Blueprint Brush, specifically the ‘CustomBrush_Landmass.'”
  • Blueprint landmass: For this option, make sure to enable the ‘Landmass’ plugin.