In this tutorial, we will explore the interface of Unreal Engine 5.7.
Menu Bar
Every editor you have open in Unreal Engine, will always have a menu bar located in the top-left of the editor window (for PCs) or the top-left of the display (Macs). Some of the menus, such as File, Window, and Help, are present in all editor windows. Other certain menus are specific to their own editors.
Main Toolbar
The Main Toolbar contains shortcuts to some of the most used tools and commands in Unreal Editor.
The Save Button – you click this button to save the level that is currently open.
Clicking the Select Open Level Button shows the currently loaded level in the Content Browser. This will open the most recently used content browser which can be docked in the Content Drawer or stand alone Content Browser Panel.
Mode Selection contains shortcuts for quickly switching between different modes to edit content within your level. These modes also change the primary behavior of the Level Editor, which can include toolbar options designed for each mode specifically.
Content shortcut contains shortcuts for adding and opening common types of content within the Level Editor. The Create button can be used to choose from a list of common Actor Types and Recently Used assets. The Blueprints button can be used to create and access blueprints. The Cinematics button can be used to create and access a Level Sequence or Master Sequence cinematic.
The Play Mode Controls contains the shortcut buttons Play, Skip, Stop, and Eject for running your game in the editor.
Viewport Toolbar
The Viewport Toolbar can be used to accomplish many different tasks when building levels. It is located at the top of the Level Viewport with its settings and tools grouped into different categories.
The Transform and Snapping tools are the options to swap between different Transform tools and change the snapping options.
The Camera tools are the options to switch between Perspective and Orthographic views and change camera movement speed.
The View Mode and Show Flag options allow you to pick between different view modes like Lit, Unlit, and Wireframe, and show flags related to the current viewport to hide and reveal types of content in the Level Viewport.
The Performance and Scalability tools dropdown menu can be used to reveal settings like Viewport Scalability and Material Quality Level.
The Viewport options can be used to change viewport related settings, like mouse sensitivity in the Level Viewport.
Level Viewport
The Level Viewportdisplays the contents of the level that is currently loaded. When opening a project in Unreal Engine, the project’s default level is loaded (such the first-person or third-person template). You will see a gray box area with some physics objects, floors, walls, and ramps.
The Level Viewport is where you can view and edit the contents of your Level.
The Level Viewport can generally display the contents of the Level in two different ways:
- Perspective is a 3D view you can navigate to see the contents of the viewport from different angles – meaning you have a sense of depth.
- Orthographic is a 2D view that looks towards a specific direction (top, bottom, left, right, front, back). This creates a view where the distance from the object doesn’t provide a sense of depth.
The Viewport Type can be changed between Default Viewport and Cinematic Viewport. Default Viewport displays gizmos and icons in the level like Camera actors, Collision Components, and the World Grid.
Additionally, you can change the View Modeof your viewport by pressing the Lit button in the top-right corner of the viewport. Lit is the default view mode used for real-time applications where you can preview your scene with normally rendered lighting.
To control the viewport camera, the perspective through which you view the Level, press and hold the Right Mouse Button (RMB) anywhere in the viewport. While holding down RMB, you can use the W, A, S, and D keys to fly through the scene. You can fly up and down with the E and Q keys.
Releasing RMB and holding down the Left Mouse Button (LMB) can be used along with dragging the mouse to move the camera forward, backward, and rotate it left or right. This provides an alternative method for navigating the environment with greater precision.
Clicking on an object in the Level with the LMB selects the object.
The selected objects can be manipulated using the Transform Tool gizmos. Gizmos are used to move, rotate, or scale the object along specific axes.
You can activate the Translate tool by pressing W, the Rotation tool by pressing E, and the Scale tool by pressing R. You can use the Toolbar located at the top-right of the Viewport to switch between Transform tools.
Once you have selected a tool, you can manipulate the object using the gizmo’s axes. With the Translate or Scale tools, you can also drag from the center of the gizmo to adjust all axes simultaneously.
The viewport will have snapping enabled by default for every way of transforming your object. You can turn these off or change their snapping values by using the individual settings on the top-left side of the viewport.
Conclusion
You have now started your journey into using Unreal Engine 5.7 with these interface tips. I hope you find them useful and continue to learn more about UE5.