The biggest frustration with UE5 is the "magnitude" of the engine.
It has so many tools, functions, parameters, editors and plugins. By the time you open the editor and ready to create, you are already overwhelmed by its complexity.
Before you try to create an environment or a game, you need to focus on the essentials of the engine. These include editor's interface, viewport navigation, using different viewport modes, project management, using the Content Browser, working with objects in the editor and creating very simple levels using Starter Content and much more. This is step 1.
This tutorial guide will give you the necessary steps to start using UE5 - TODAY.
Let's jump into it...
First you need to download and install UE5.
Go to unrealengine.com/en-US/download and download Epic Games Launcher file and install it:
Epic Games Launcher is a hub of everything Unreal, which will include all versions of Unreal Engine for you to download.
Open Epic Games Launcher and register an account then log-in.
Inside the Epic Games Launcher go to Unreal Engine and Library tab:
Click the plus icon and choose UE5 version you want to download and install.
Then wait for it to download and install on your computer.
Before you can launch Unreal Engine editor you have to create a new project or open an existing project.
Let's create your first project.
Click on the Launch icon:
Unreal Project Browser will open. You will have a set of templates to choose from to create the project.
What do you want to use this project for? Select one: games, film and video and Live Events, architecture, automotive product design and manufacturing or simulation.
For this tutorial I'll will choose games.
Then you get to choose a template. A template will be preconfigured with some UE5 settings already enabled. It will also include some assets and gameplay elements to begin prototyping your game.
Blank project will not have any gameplay elements.
For this example I will use Third-Person Template.
Then you get to choose project defaults.
Next, define project location. Where will your project be stored on your computer?
Then give a project name. Avoid dashes and spaces.
Click Create and UE5 editor for the project will open up.
Back in Epic Games Launcher, under Library and My Project section you will have a project show up.
You will be able to open this project back up anytime to continue working on it.
If you need to create a new project, repeat the steps.
When you create your first project, you should include Starter Content.
Starter content assets will give you a set of textures, materials static meshes (3D models), Blueprints, audio, particle effects to create with.
These assets are great to start with as you learn UE5.
You can include Starter Content during project creation screen:
Or you can add it into an existing project inside the Content Browser. Click on Add then go to Add Feature or Content Pack:
Then choose Starter Content and Add to Project:
Starter Content assets will be added into your project.
A map or a level is where you will create an environment where the player will play or the viewer will see.
When you first open UE5 editor you will be presented with a default level already opened inside the perspective viewport. This level will vary depending on the Game Template you are using. But you will have something opened as you launch the editor.
To open a new level go to File > New Level. You will be presented with few choices:
If you choose Basic, you will open a simple template level with all the actors or objects already set up for you to begin creating in. You will have all the necessary lights for exterior environment as well as a sky, fog, clouds and a ground plane.
If you want an empty, blank map with no actors or objects in it, choose Empty Level. You would have to insert all the necessary actors into yourself.
As you start with UE5, ignore using Open World or empty open world levels for right now.
To save an existing level, go to File > Save Current Level As, then choose a folder or create a new folder where you want to save your level. It will be saved inside your Content Browser. This level and all the actors or objects in it will be saved for you to reopen and continue working on.
To open an existing level, navigate to that level inside the Content Browser and double click on the icon to open it:
Or you can go to File > Open Level.
Let's cover the interface and all the panels/windows you need to know about to start using UE5.
The UE5 interface is very flexible. You can drag and rearrange any panels to customize your layout.
If you mess up the layout, you can reset it in Window > Load Layout > Default Editor Layout:
Viewports
Perspective view is the main view you'll be working in to create. But you can switch to 2x2 view with top, side, front and perspective view visible by going to Maximize/Restore Viewport:
There is also a shortcut to make your current viewport fill the entire screen and remove any menus you are seeing.
Top Tool Bar
At the very top you have the standard drop down menus you expect from most of the software.
You'll be able to access things like saving or opening maps, different editor windows, Build options and many more. Many of these you'll be using on a case-by-case basis. There is a lot here so we won't cover them all now.
Right below you have a toolbar:
The toolbar allows you to:
Enabling any of the Editor Modes will open up an additional panel for that mode to be used and all the different tools contained within it.
Content Browser
Content Browser is your asset management panel. By default you won't see the content browser opened but you can toggle it using a shortcut key.
You can dock the Content Browser by enabling Dock in Layout:
We'll cover more of the Content Browser in a later section.
Outliner
All available objects/actors inside your current level.
Details Panel
Details panel will show you all the properties for any selected object/actor inside your level.
World Settings
World Settings are properties that can be used to override Project Settings for the currently opened level. Such as game mode type, some lighting and rendering properties and many more.
You can access World Settings under Window > World Settings:
Place Actors Panel
The place actor panel gives you access to many actors that can be used to insert into your level such as lights, basic primitive meshes, visual effects actors and many more.
Go to Window > Place Actors to have it opened inside the Editor. I use this a lot.
You can also access a lot of these actors from Quickly add to the project drop done menu in the toolbar:
Settings
There are two different Settings menu options available inside the editor.
One is at the top right of the editor contains Project and Editor Settings:
Second settings menu is available in the Content Browser. This one is specific to the Content Browser settings and folder options:
Content Browser is your asset management system. It is where you'll find assets like Static Meshes (known as 3d models), textures, materials, particle effects, blueprints, audio and many more to be used within your levels.
In addition to using all these assets and inserting them into your level, you can import or create a lot of these inside the Content Browser.
You can toggle access to the Content Browser using the Ctrl + Spacebar.
You can then dock the Content Browser by enabling Dock in Layout:
You can filter the Content Browser to only show you specific assets inside it by clicking on this FIlter icon and enabling what you want to see:
To create new asset types, you simply Right Click inside the Content Browser and choose an asset type to create:
You can also use the Add icon within the Content Browser and do the same thing:
Content Browser is very important menu and you will be using this a lot.
Engine Content is a folder and a set of assets that always comes included with every UE5 project. By default this folder is hidden. You can enable its visibility and browse through its additional assets to use such as textures, static meshes, materials and much more.
To view Engine Content folder inside the Content Browser go to Settings and then enable Show Engine Content checkmark. For additional content, you can enable Show Plugin Content.
You can now navigate into the engine content folder and use assets within it.
Here is everything you need for mastering UE5 navigation.
Perspective Viewport
Adjust camera movement speed in Perspective Viewport:
Maximize/restore viewports by clicking on the icon at the top right:
Shortcut Switching for Perspective/Side/Front/Top
These are my favorite shortcuts to switch views:
Orthographic Viewport
Orthographic views are your top, side, back, front views.
Camera Bookmarks
Camera bookmarks allow you to set a camera position and comeback to them later. Inside the viewport, click on this icon at the top left (circle with 3 lines in it) and go down to Bookmarks:
There are shortcuts you can use instead of the drop down menu:
An actor is any object that can be placed inside a level (mesh, audio, decal, volume, brush etc).
Here are some common ways to work with objects inside UE5.
You may also use the Outliner to select objects:
When the object is selected, you will see properties for that object inside the Details Panel:
Move Object: left-click hold and drag on a specific axis in perspective and orthographic views.
Move, rotate and scale objects:
You can also use the Detail Panel to move, rotate and scale or reset:
You can move an object inside the viewport without actively using the XYZ gizmo. To do this, select the object then:
Duplicate Objects:
Static Meshes are your 3D models. They have been created in external software such as Maya, 3ds Max, Blender then imported into UE5 or inside UE5's new Modeling Mode.
Almost all of environments you create will use Static Meshes. You will either have to create these Static Meshes yourself or download Static Meshes to use created by others.
Inside the Content Browser, you can filter by Static Meshes:
To use a Static Mesh, you simply Left-Click Hold and Drag from Content Browser into the level:
If you Double-Click on the Static Mesh inside the Content Browser, it will open Static Mesh Editor. This editor will define some important settings for that Static Mesh such as collisions, which material is going to use, level of detail and many more settings:
There is a difference between textures and materials in UE5.
Textures are a single 2D file generated from an external software such as Photoshop, Substance, Gimp and imported into UE5. Some of these texture files are Color or Albedo, Normal Map, Roughness, Metallic, Displacement, various Masks and many others.
You cannot use textures directly in UE5, they have to be used within a Material.
Materials are made up of various textures in UE5.
Materials are a combination of many textures and various UE5 nodes or expressions that provide a result that you can use to apply onto your Static Meshes (3d models), characters and even landscapes.
Inside the Content Browser you can filter for Textures and Materials:
Double-Clicking on a texture will open up a Texture Editor:
Double-Clicking on the Material will open up a Material Editor:
You create Materials inside UE5's Content Browser. Right-click inside the empty space of Content Browser and choose Material or click on Add and choose Material:
You will often hear people say that they are texturing their environments, in UE5 this means they are generating and creating textures to be imported into UE5 where they will create materials to apply onto their geometry.
There are 5 light types you can use in UE5.
You will find lights to use inside the Place Actors panel (Window > Place Actors):
Left-Click on any light and drag it into the level to place:
Inside the Details Panel, you'll be able to set many properties for that light such as color, radius, intensity and many more:
Every environment you create can be lit 3 different ways:
With new lighting system in UE5 called Lumen, you can now use fully dynamic lights with real-time Global Illumination.
What is Lumen?
Lumen is Unreal Engine 5's fully dynamic global illumination and reflections system
It's on by default in UE5 when you create a project. So it is already on and ready to be used right out of the box.
Existing projects converted from UE4 to UE5 will not automatically enable Lumen features. This prevents breaking or changing any lighting paths within those projects. Lumen is enabled from the Project Settings under the Rendering > Dynamic Global Illumination and Reflections categories. See this page if you need to enable Lumen manually.
After placing a light into your level, you will be able to change every light to 3 different Mobility Light Types (Static, Stationary and Movable) inside the Details panel:
For fully dynamic lighting and to use full power of Lumen, change your light Type to Movable (fully dynamic).
Perspective viewport will be your main view to see how the level looks.
Two useful shortcuts for seeing your view as you would in-game:
You can also access these commands through viewport icon (circle with 3 lines in it):
You can also play-test right inside the viewport or in new window using the toolbar by clicking on the 3-dots to set the Play Mode:
Then press Play:
You can also Right-Click inside the viewport and choose Play From Here:
If you have a Player Start actor inside your level, you will spawn to play-test from that location. If you don't have a Player Start, you'll spawn right where your view is.
Insert a Player Start
Go to Place Actors panel and Basic tab, then drag the Player Start into your level:
Now this was just an introduction to get you started with UE5.
There's a lot more that we need to cover for how to to use and create in UE5. Such as:
You can learn all this and more in this 11+ hour "UE5 Fundamentals Vol.1" tutorial course.
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