You're reading from Virtual Filmmaking with Unreal Engine 5 A step-by-step guide to creating a complete animated short film

Product type Paperback

Published in Feb 2024

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781801813808

Length 480 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Tools

Unreal

Concepts

Animation

Author (1):

Hussin Khan

Preface

1. Part 1:Pre-Production: Project Development and Gathering Resources

2. Chapter 1: Getting Started with Unreal Engine FREE CHAPTER

3. Chapter 2: Understanding the Principles of Photography, Film Cameras, and Lenses

4. Chapter 3: Understanding the Art of Storytelling and Creating Your Storyboard

5. Part 2: Production: Creating the Environment

6. Chapter 4: Importing 3D Objects and Creating Levels

7. Chapter 5: Creating Environments with Quixel Megascans

8. Chapter 6: Creating and Applying Materials to 3D Meshes

9. Part 3: Production: Adding and Animating Characters

10. Chapter 7: Creating Actors with Unreal Engine MetaHumans

11. Chapter 8: Retargeting the MetaHumans for Unreal Engine 5

12. Chapter 9: Adding Animations and Facial Expressions to Your MetaHuman Characters

13. Part 4: Production: Shooting the Scene

14. Chapter 10: Adding and Animating Virtual Cameras Using the Level Sequencer

15. Chapter 11: Enhancing Set Dressing, Retiming Shots, and Adding Niagara Particles

16. Chapter 12: Setting the Mood with Lighting and Adding Post-Processing Effects

17. Part 5: Post-Production: Adding Post-Processing Effects and Music

18. Chapter 13: Exploring Color Management, Additional Camera Settings, and Rendering Your Shots

19. Chapter 14: Adding Sound and Finalizing Your Virtual Film

20. Index

21. Other Books You May Enjoy

Appendix: Creating Material IDs Using Blender

Navigating the Viewport

To get started, let us first try to move around in the game world a bit by using just the mouse:

Hover the mouse in the Viewport, and then click with the left mouse button (LMB) and start dragging the mouse forward and backward. This will allow you to navigate forward and backward in the Viewport. If you move the mouse left and right, the view will shift to the right and left.
By holding down the right mouse button (RMB), you will be able to orbit (look around) the level.
If you press and hold the middle mouse button (MMB), this will enable tracking (panning) around the level. You can achieve the same by holding down both mouse buttons (LMB + RMB).

Now, let’s introduce some keyboard keys:

While holding the RMB and pressing the Q and E keyboard keys, the view will shift upward and downward
Using the RMB and pressing the W key will move you forward, the S key will move you backward, the A key to the left, and the D key...