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Build Stunning Real-time VFX with Unreal Engine 5
Build Stunning Real-time VFX with Unreal Engine 5

Build Stunning Real-time VFX with Unreal Engine 5: Start your journey into Unreal particle systems to create realistic visual effects using Niagara

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Profile Icon Hrishikesh Andurlekar
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Mex$737.99 Mex$820.99
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.8 (19 Ratings)
eBook May 2023 312 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Mex$737.99 Mex$820.99
Paperback
Mex$1025.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Hrishikesh Andurlekar
Arrow right icon
Mex$737.99 Mex$820.99
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.8 (19 Ratings)
eBook May 2023 312 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Mex$737.99 Mex$820.99
Paperback
Mex$1025.99
Subscription
Free Trial
eBook
Mex$737.99 Mex$820.99
Paperback
Mex$1025.99
Subscription
Free Trial

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Build Stunning Real-time VFX with Unreal Engine 5

Getting Started with Unreal Engine Particle System Frameworks

Unreal Engine’s particle system, called Niagara, is a powerful tool for creating stunning, realistic special effects in games and other interactive applications. It allows developers to create and manipulate a wide range of particle effects, such as fire, smoke, rain, snow, and more. The particle system is highly customizable, with a wide range of settings that can be adjusted to create unique effects. It is optimized for real-time performance, making it a popular choice for game developers who want to add eye-catching visual effects to their games.

Niagara replaced Cascade as Unreal Engine’s particle system because it offered several significant improvements over its predecessor. Niagara was designed to be more flexible, scalable, and performance-friendly, making it a better fit for the demands of modern game development.

Some of the key features that set Niagara apart from Cascade include a more modern and user-friendly interface, improved particle simulation capabilities, and better performance and scalability. Niagara also allows developers to create and manage particle effects using either a visual interface or code, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of use cases.

In addition, Niagara was designed to be more flexible and extensible, making it easier for developers to create custom particle effects and incorporate them into their projects. This has helped make Niagara one of the most popular and widely used particle systems in the game development industry today.

We will begin our journey into Unreal particle systems with an overview of the particle system modules in Unreal Engine. There have been major changes in the particle system workflow in Unreal as we’ve moved from the older Cascade particle system to the Niagara particle system over the last few versions. Unreal Engine 5 continues to support the Cascade particle system, and though we do not expect to create new assets in Cascade, we will familiarize ourselves with Cascade in this chapter in case we need to support older projects made with Cascade.

We will discuss the changes Niagara brings and learn about the features expected in the future. We will also dive into the reasons behind Niagara’s development and end the chapter with some interesting use cases for Niagara.

This chapter will cover the following topics:

  • Particle systems in Unreal
  • The Cascade particle system
  • The reasons behind Niagara’s development
  • Use cases for Niagara
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Key benefits

  • Explore how Niagara can make your games pop by creating stunning particle systems in Unreal Engine 5
  • Level up your VFX skills and enhance your employability in a competitive market
  • Build various particle system projects to reinforce your learning and put your new knowledge into practice

Description

While no game would be complete without visual effects, the ever-evolving VFX industry churns out stellar digital environments that can make your games stand out from the crowd. Build Stunning Real-time VFX with Unreal Engine 5 is here to help you boost your creativity using Niagara to make jaw-dropping particle systems backed by the power of Unreal Engine 5—without a line of code. This handy guide for VFX artists takes you through the principles and concepts of designing particle systems and design workflows, along with the architecture of Niagara, Unreal Engine 5’s VFX system. Throughout the book, you’ll build a series of mini projects that will put your particle system knowledge to the test. As you advance, you’ll cover topics such as creating your own custom modules, debugging workflows, and controlling particles with blueprints, and conclude by working on two projects that will bring everything together into a neat package. By the end of this VFX book, you’ll have a deeper understanding of particle systems, improving your skills, portfolio, and the chances of being employed by studios using Unreal Engine 5.

Who is this book for?

This book is for visual effects artists transitioning to real-time virtual production workflow as well as beginners looking to learn Niagara for games and other real-time applications. Game programmers, 3D generalists, and game designers interested in adding VFX for their game and metaverse projects will also find this book useful. A basic understanding of Unreal Engine 5, blueprints, as well as layout, materials, and lighting in Unreal Engine is expected.

What you will learn

  • Brush up your vector mathematics skills
  • Access and create namespaces in Niagara
  • Add a Niagara system to a Blueprint actor
  • Create a particle system with dynamic inputs
  • Publish a custom module for your team members to use
  • Create Niagara Scratch modules
  • Enable your particle emitters to communicate using event handlers
  • Control Niagara systems using Blueprint public variables

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : May 30, 2023
Length: 312 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781801078726
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Epic Games
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Product Details

Publication date : May 30, 2023
Length: 312 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781801078726
Vendor :
Epic Games
Concepts :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

15 Chapters
Part 1: Introduction to Niagara and Particle Systems in Unreal Engine 5 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Unreal Engine Particle System Frameworks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 2: Understanding Particle System Concepts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 3: Exploring Niagara Concepts and Architecture Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 4: Building Our First Niagara System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 5: Diving into Emitter-System Overrides Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Part 2: Dive Deeper into Niagara for VFX Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 6: Exploring Dynamic Inputs Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 7: Creating Custom Niagara Modules Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 8: Local Modules and Versioning Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 9: Events and Event Handlers Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 10: Debugging Workflow in Niagara Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 11: Controlling Niagara Particles Using Blueprints Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.8
(19 Ratings)
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4 star 15.8%
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Victor Dominguez Jan 19, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
100% recommending, a great book!
Feefo Verified review Feefo
Josh Jun 16, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Very comprehensive with lots of pictures and discussion of the UI, really great for beginners and more advanced UE5 users alike! I really like that this book motivates the WHY behind decisions, and always makes the reasoning clear to help you think more like a VFX artist!The first part of the book is fantastic for getting beginners up to speed, and the second part is especially packed with exciting new ways to use these tools and how to think about them! As a beginner, writing your own Niagara modules is pretty intimidating, but this book goes into great step-by-step detail and will have you following along in no-time!I'll definitely be keeping my copy handy when I build my Niagara systems!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
SERGEY NOVIKOV Jun 04, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
For a long time, I really wanted to deep dive into FX in UE5, and finally, I have got the chance,The book is so really well structured, I liked how everything was easy and clear in chapter 1 - I really enjoyed the explanation and example,Chapter 2 gave me a little hard and at the same time really interesting example which I can use in my game and explained how I can debug FX systems,So after all I really like this book, and definitely will recommend everyone who wants to have a fast and interesting learn-weekend with Niagara
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Daniel Mosquera Jul 07, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I am new and slow when it comes to VFX and particles and Unreal's tools looked a bit overwhelming to me. This book helped me, with practical examples, to get to know the tools and familiarize with what each part does. It can also become a quick reference book when you are working on your project.I starts relatively simple but as you progress through you will see more complex stuff you can do and you are never overwhelmed. At the end you will feel accomplished and closer to use the engine for make your dream project a reality
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer May 30, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
After reviewing the book, it looks like a good place to start if you want to try out vfx and understand how vfx works. The author covers some of the math of how the particles move in a space. There's link to github pages so you can download the projects and look over them yourself. So if you're looking into learning vfx this seems like a good place to start.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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