Did you ever want to learn Unreal Engine 5?
In part one of this tutorial series, I will show you how to quickly get started using UE5 by learning the basics.
Downloading and Installing
The first step to using UE5 is downloading the engine
First, go to unrealengine.com and under Products, go to Unreal Engine 5
Click on the Download Now button
Make sure you check the license and FAQ
You need to first download the Launcher and install it
You will need to make an Epic Games Account if you don’t already have one
Once the Launcher is installed, you can click on the Install Engine button in the upper-right of the Launcher
Epic Games Launcher
The Epic Games Launcher is a hub for everything you do with Epic Games
The News section offers information about Epic Games and Unreal Engine
The Samples section offers free sample projects that can be used within Unreal Engine
The Marketplace tab is where you can purchase and download add-ons, projects, and assets
In case you do not know, Epic Games offers free Marketplace assets each month
Twinmotion is a visualization tool that you can also download from the Epic Games Launcher
We won’t be using this software right now but I do have plans for future tutorials
The Library tab is where your Engine Versions, Projects, and Vault live
You can launch Unreal Engine from the desktop icon but I recommend doing so from the Launcher so you are made aware of any updates to the Engine or your add-ons
Starting a Project
To start a new Unreal Engine project, click on the Launch button in the upper-right of the Launcher
If you have multiple versions installed, you can either click Launch on the individual icons or use the dropdown menu of the Launch button
Once Unreal Engine is launched, you will see the Unreal Project Browser
Here you can access Recent Projects
You can also access templates for Games, Film/Video and Live Events, Architecture, Automotive Product Design and Manufacturing, and Simulations
For this tutorial, we will be using a Games template
Under the Games option, choose the Blank template
Select your Project Location (this will be a large file so make sure you have enough space)
Give your Project a name (no spaces or dashes are allowed but you can use an underscore)
If you are going to be doing any coding, you can choose to use either Blueprint (which is a visual coding language) or C++
We will just leave this on Blueprint for this tutorial
Choose a Target Platform – Desktop or Mobile
In this case, we will leave it as Desktop
The Quality Preset can be either Maximum or scalable
For this tutorial, we can leave it as Maximum
We do want some Starter Content for this tutorial
You can enable Raytracing if you wish
When you have everything set up, click on Create
You are now in Unreal Engine and ready to work
If any of you are coming from UE4, you will notice some differences in the default UI
At the bottom left of the window, you will see your Content Drawer, which can be accessed either by clicking on the icon or using CTRL + SPACEBAR
For me, I like to pin the Content Drawer just to make life a bit easier
With the Content Drawer open, all the way on the right you will see an option to Dock in Layout
The Content Drawer then becomes the Content Browser – you can still resize it as needed
Navigation
If you click on the Icon in right corner (grid), you have the ability to see all four views
This can come in handy to quickly change your view
To select a view, in our case, the Perspective View, click on the box icon in the upper-right corner
You also have the option of changing the view with the dropdown menu in the upper-left
For anyone who is used to using the WASD keys for gaming, you have that option to move around in UE5
Hold down the RMB and use W to move forward, A to move to the left, S to move backward, and D to move to the right
Combining the RMB and the E-key, you can move up
The RMB and the Q-key move your actors down
If you are not a gamer or just not comfortable using these hotkeys, there is another option
You can hold down the LMB and move the mouse forward and backward to move back-and-forth in the level
Using the LMB and moving the mouse side-to-side will rotate around the level
Holding down the MMB and moving the mouse, allows you to freely pan
Scrolling the MMB will allow you to zoom in-and-out
Alternatively, you can hold down ALT RMB and move the mouse to zoom
Holding down the RMB allows you to freely pivot around the camera
Using ALT LMB, allows you to pivot around a selection
If you left-click to select an Actor, and then click on the F-key, you can frame the selected Actor
Transformation
There are four basic Transformation Gizmos in UE5 – Select, Move, Rotate, and Scale
Double-click on the Starter Content folder to open it
Then double-click on the Props folder to open it
This is where your Starter Content lives
Select the Chair by using your LMB and drag it into the Level
*Note: Any object that can be placed within a Level in UE5 is considered an “Actor” – this can be seen in the Outliner where the Chair is a “Static Mesh Actor”
The arrow icon is the Selection Tool
Left-clicking on an Actor will select it
The hotkey for Selection, is Q
Next is the Move Tool – the hotkey is W
We can move the Actor along any of the three Axes by using the arrows of the Gizmo – red for the X-Axis, green for the Y-Axis, and blue for the Z-axis
If you select the center of the Move Tool, you can freely move the Actor in any direction
If you select the blue plane, notice how the Y-Axis and Z-Axis arrows both highlight
This means that you can move the Actor along both the Y- and Z-Axis
If you select the green plane (between the green and red arrows), you can move the Actor along both the X- and Y-Axis
If you select the red plane (between the red and blue arrows), you can move the Actor along both the X- and Z-Axis
A hotkey that will save you a lot of frustration is the END key
If you move the Chair up along the Z-Axis so it is hovering in space, you can then use the END key to snap the Actor back to the ground
The E-key is the hotkey for the Rotate Tool
Just like the Move Tool, you can rotate the Actor around individual Axes
CTRL Z is the undo key
The R-key is the hotkey for the Scale Tool
Once again, you can Scale along an individual axis just like the other Tools
If you select the center of the Scale Tool, you can scale the Actor proportionally
If you select the intersecting lines between the different Axes, you can Scale the Actor along two of the three Axes at once
Next to these Tools, you will see an icon of a globe – this toggles between World Space and Local Space
If you choose the Rotate Tool (E), and rotate the Chair, notice that it rotates according to World Space – that is, according to the World Axes
If you click on the icon and change to Local Space, notice that the Rotate Tool Gizmo changed
This means that you are now rotating in Local Space – that is, rotating according to the Chair’s Local Axes
Click on the icon to go back to World Space
Notice that when you use the Move Gizmo to move the Chair, it is stuttering – this is due to snapping
Snapping to the Grid is automatically turned on by default
You can turn it off by clicking on the Snapping Tool icon
You can also change the Position Grid Snap Value to a larger or smaller Value
UI
On the right-side of the Level Viewport is the Outliner
Anyone who has used Blender will be familiar with an Outliner
This is the area where you can see all of the Content currently within the Level
You can select and deselect Content in the Outliner
You can hide and unhide Content by using the eyeball to the left of the Content name
You can pin Content in the Level so it cannot be Rotated, Scaled, or Moved
To unpin the Content, simply select it
You are also able to double-click on the Content Name and frame it within the Level Viewport
You can also select Content and use F2 to rename it
You can keep things a lot tidier by selecting Content and placing it within folders
Right-click in the Outliner to make a new Folder and name it
Then select your Content with the LMB and drag it into the folder
Below the Outliner is the Details Panel – the options will change depending upon the Actor you have selected
We will be exploring this in more detail in later tutorials
For now, just be aware that if you want to change the Location, Rotation, or Scale, you can do so under the Transform section
The Curved Arrow icons to the right of the Value field will reset the Location and Rotation of the selected Content
Importing Static Meshes
I will quickly show you how to import your own Actors into UE5
First, open the Content folder, right-click and make a new Folder
Rename the Folder to whatever makes sense to you
Open the new Folder since this is where you can import an FBX file that you already have access to – in my case, I will use a maul from a previous tutorial
You can simply drag-and-drop the FBX file into the Folder
You will see a pop-up menu for FBX Import Options
Right now, you can leave everything at default and click on Import
You can just ignore these errors for now
*Note: If you are using Blender, when you export the FBX, under the Geometry panel and under the Smoothing dropdown menu, choose Face – this means you won’t receive a smoothing error in UE5
One of the errors I received was about the wood texture
If I double-click on the Wood material in the Folder, notice that the Base Color is missing
I select the Parameter node and Delete it
I can then drag-and-drop my Wood Color Texture into the Folder
I then drag-and-drop the Color Texture into the Material Window
I connect it to the Base Color
Then I click on Apply and Save
Now my maul is correctly textured
You also have access to Quixel Megascans from within UE5
Under the Window dropdown menu, choose Quixel Bridge
Under 3D Assets, go to Props
Then choose a Prop from the list
Select the Quality and click on Download
Once it is downloaded, click on Add
Back in UE5, notice that you have a new Megascans Folder with your downloaded Prop
Now all you need to do is select the Static Mesh Actor and drag it into the Level Viewport
To bring in Actors from the Epic Games Marketplace, open the Window dropdown menu and choose Open Marketplace
Under the Free dropdown menu, select Permanently Free
Select a Pack and click on Add to Cart
Click on the Cart icon and Checkout
Under the Library tab, find the Asset Pack and choose Add to Project
Select your Project and click on Add to Project
Now you have a new Folder containing the Asset Pack
Open the Folder and find the Mesh Folder
Open the Folder and choose a mesh you want to import
Now, as you did with the Quixel Megascans, drag-and-drop the Actor into the Level Viewport
You can also access the options for Quixel Megascans and Epic Games Marketplace under the Add to Project icon [cube with a green plus]