Return to Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine 4 is one of numerous free game engine platforms available for use by hobbyists and professionals alike. Today, I return to using it after a while for my Systems Modelling assignment.

The Interface


The interface has not changed much since I used Unreal Engine 4 some two years ago. Tools for shaping the environment, known here as Modes are to the left, the World Outliner, or the scene hierarchy as I like to call it, is on the right. Below the scene hierarchy is the Details tab, which shows the user information about the currently selected object in the scene. The middle of the screen is comprised of the scene itself and right below is the Content Browser, showing all the files within the project's folder. 

As Compared to Unity


Though this interface may prove a bit intimidating to a beginner at first, it is not hard to get to grips with it, especially for someone who is also familiar with Unity. There are many similarities between the two game engines - for example, the interface itself is especially similar. 

One major difference between Unreal Engine and Unity used to be the ability to place and shape simple geometric shapes. In Unreal Engine, this is built in functionality, while in Unity it was available only as a separate tool called ProBuilder. However, it has since been integrated into the engine itself, making the two engines even more alike straight out of the box. 

The most key difference between Unity and Unreal Engine are of course the programming languages they use. Unreal Engine uses C++, but also allows for visual scripting using its very own blueprint system. Such a system is not present in Unity, which relies solely on C# instead. There are likely external tools one can install to have visual scripting in Unity, but it is not supported officially as of yet.

Anyhow, I am a bit rusty, so I best get back in the game. Until next time!

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