UNREAL ENGINE 4.8 IS HERE!
.
Epic has launched Unreal Engine 4.8 with the latest multiplatform VR support including the latest upgrades for Oculus Rift, Gear VR, Morpheus for PlayStation 4, SteamVR and HTC Vive, and updated support for Leap Motion; improved photorealistic and open world rendering features and tools; full control over viewing network replays, and more! You can read more about in the Updated report below.
.
On top of that, the Unreal community can download “A Boy and His Kite” this week – not just the open world content and cinematic components, but also a standalone executable for running the project.
Learn more about the 4.8 launch and the free, no-strings-attached Kite demo release!
.
.
.
TWO-PART LIVESTREAM ON “A BOY AND HIS KITE”
.
To celebrate the upcoming release of the Kite demo, shipping this week with 4.8, Epic will be hosting a special two-part livestream with Community Manager Chance Ivey bringing in a number of the programmers, animators and artists that helped develop the open world cinematic. They’ll be discussing a number of topics ranging from asset creation to storytelling to help the community get the most out of the project’s wide release.
.
Viewers can submit questions here and tune in for the 1st part today at 10:45am PT / 1:45pm ET and the 2nd part tomorrow Friday, June 12 at 10:45am PT/ 1:45PM ET at twitch.tv/unrealengine. We’re starting them a little earlier than normal, so mark your calendars.
.
UPDATE!
.
Epic Games has shipped Unreal Engine 4.8. The engine, which has been free to use since March, just got a whopping update with 88 pages of release notes.
.
Unreal Engine 4.8 brings state-of-the-art support to VR developers:
.
- Now updated to Oculus Rift SDK 0.6;
- Now updated to Gear VR SDK 0.5;
- Support for the new Oculus Audio SDK;
- Comprehensive support for Valve’s SteamVR API and HTC Vive hardware;
- Improved Morpheus for PlayStation 4 features, including support for 120Hz reprojection, support for 60Hz and 120Hz dev kits, and high-quality 3D audio playback;
- Updated support for Leap Motion;
- As always, the ability to preview projects instantly using the “VR Preview” button.
.
Also included are features for building gorgeous open worlds and photorealistic environments, as seen in the real-time demo and cinematic “A Boy and His Kite.” Dynamic height field global illumination, screen space reflections for translucent surfaces, tone mapping, high-quality depth of field, and other rendering improvements are now in developers’ hands. There’s also dynamic navigation mesh for open worlds, a new grass system, new procedural asset generation tools, and a redesigned foliage editor.
.
Animators and anyone managing characters will benefit from the new default example character, which is even more physically accurate and humanlike than its predecessor.
.
This week the Unreal community will be able to download “A Boy and His Kite” – not just the open world content and cinematic components, but also a standalone executable for running the project. It’s coming for free to the Learn tab inside the Unreal Engine launcher, and can be used in any Unreal Engine project for commercial or noncommercial use, no strings attached.
.
To celebrate this sharing of resources and techniques, Epic is hosting a special two-part Twitch livestream at Twitch.tv/UnrealEngine today, June 11 at 1:45pm EDT and tomorrow, Friday June 11 at 1:45pm EDT. Artists, animators and programmers who worked on Kite will share their secrets and pro-tips to help the community get the most out of the project’s wide release.
.
.
.