Unreal Engine 5 continues to bestow artists Worldwide with the tools to craft massively detailed worlds. It seems, at this stage, the only limit to its capability rests with the artist’s imagination, as UE5’s principal innovations – its capability for efficiently rendering huge geometric detail, it’s immersive dynamic lighting, and most recently it’s new framework for animating human emotions – are leading to some jaw dropping demonstrations.
UE5 Environment Art “Cliffwood Village” by Taichi Kobayashi
A virtual escape to a fantasy rendition of Alpine paradise, this Cliffwood Village as crafted by Japanese 3D artist Taichi Kobayashi is a large-scale, ultra-realistic 3D environment showcasing Unreal Engine 5’s ability to seamlessly merge assets from a myriad of external animation tools, rendering near-indistinguishably from real-life. There’s an incredible turquoise river simulation flowing through the highly detailed mountainside settlement, with a smattering of props and weathered texture to ground and cottages, giving this Cliffwood Village a tangible, lived-in feel.
Finnish Serenity – Unreal Engine 5 Real Time Environment by Raynidos
Coming from Environment Artist Ray Vanderhaegen at Jaw Drop Games, this tranquil log cabin retreat was crafted out of desire to learn how to make foliage, and the results are spellbinding. With plant life likely created in vegetation modelling software SpeedTree and rendered in Unreal Engine 5.1 alongside assets made in Blender, Zbrush, and Painter, Ray’s Finnish woodland environment captivates because it feels largely unspoiled by human activity – log cabin and desire paths aside, this is a pristine glade of peace and serenity.
The Old Sawmill – Unreal Engine 5.1 Demo – Lumen & Nanite by Quantum Images
Putting Unreal Engine 5’s dynamic global illumination and reflections system to good use is this abandoned sawmill locale by Quebec based film makers Quantum Images. Lumen here in UE5 is running photorealistic lighting in real time and together with 2D fog assets made in William Faucher’s Easyfog, Quantum Images have created a setting that is both dreamy and atmospheric.
Discovering Perú, a cinematic made with Unreal Engine 5 by Jhosep Chevarria
Maybe the wildlife featured in this cinematic undersell the realism of the landscapes, but that is the only potential blight on this otherwise incredible homage to Peru. These landscapes are simply breath-taking – from the tropical coastline of capital city Lima to dense Amazonian jungles and mountainous Incan citadel Machu Picchu, with lesser-known spots Rainbow Mountain and the Maras Salt Mines of the Sacred Valley, Peru is a country of colour and contrast replicated here by environment artist Jhosep Chevarria using megascans, photogrammetry, and self-made models, all enhanced by Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite virtualised geometry system and Lumen global illumination.
Nocturne – Cinematic Short [Unreal Engine 5] by Alec Tucker
One of two Unreal Engine 5 demos in this rundown by Epic Games Cinematic Environment Artist Alec Tucker. This hazy, dreamlike demonstration bathes rural farmland, deserted neighbourhoods, and moonlit warehouses in gloomy fog-strewn hues. Perhaps the mist dulls the fidelity of the setting; however, these bleak environments harbour an air of mystery instead, making them perfect fodder for creepy, unsettling horror games.
UE 5.2 – RoP (Realtime Niagara PBD with Render Target) by sumours
Heavily inspired by The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series intro, this pulsating demonstration of Niagara’s particle position-based dynamics in Unreal Engine 5.2 comes courtesy of YouTube channel sumours, helmed by Cinematic Director Wallace David. In total, there are 162,000 particles in this demo vibrating in engaging Chladni patterns in real-time, but, perhaps most remarkable is the power afforded by UE5’s Niagara visual effects system together with a skilled craftsman can produce something indistinguishable from big budget TV.
Hacking Reality in Unreal Engine 5 – 3Dystopia
This demonstration starts out as a real-life French city side street before swiftly morphing into an Unreal Engine 5 render, and the differences are near-indistinguishable. If the weathered, crumbling brickwork in this alleyway looks real, it’s because for all intents and purposes it is. YouTuber 3Dystopia specialises in photogrammetry experiments, in this instance ‘hacking’ reality by utilising 1,500 images in full photogrammetry from 6K video to seamlessly recreate a real-world space in a virtual realm, with UE5’s Nanite virtual geometry system able to efficiently render pixel scale detail by working on perceivable detail only.
Geologist’s Lab – Cinematic Short [Unreal Engine 5] by Alec Tucker
This arid, Martian vista hovered by lonely research drone is another imaginative Unreal Engine 5 demonstration in this rundown from Epic Games’ Alec Tucker, who’s ability to craft a story through cinematics shines brightly here. Utilising 3D modelling software Blender alongside plenty of Sketchfab assets to craft a textured, tangible, believable world, Tucker’s Geologist Lab isn’t just sold on its outdoor and interior detail but on its stellar camerawork too.
Porsche_911_GT3_CUP Unreal Engine 5 Movie by 李浩军
With zero video description or artist info, all we can say about the origin of this Unreal Engine 5 demo is it comes from YouTube channel Li Haojun. Although, even without descriptors it’s clear this person has a knack for detail. Carbon fibre patterns shimmer in sun-glinted spoilers; the cityscape reflects on glossy bodywork; the Porsche 911 itself an exact replica of the real thing. Imagine a near-future where Gran Turismo or Forza look this good.
Norilska – An Unreal Engine 5 Cinematic by Oliver Ward
Referencing the documentary photography of Elena Chernyshova and her most iconic work in the closed Siberian city of Norilsk is Norilska, a cinematic short by London based 3D Generalist Oliver Ward. Several of Norikska’s scenes are carbon copies of Chernyshova’s photos imported from high quality image scans – which the exact replication in terms of lighting and atmosphere is an impressive feat in itself – whilst others Ward says were made from scratch. Megascans make up Norilska’s textured terrain whilst the airborne snow VFX, swirling in the wake of the futuristic car speeding through the desolate city behaves incredibly realistically.
Visualization of the interior in Unreal Engine 5.1.1 | Cinematic by Lisa Arsenteva
Freelance artist Lisa Arsenteva showcases the power of Unreal Engine 5 in creating photorealistic interiors. There’s such a wide variety of materials on display in this open plan living space, each with their own detail, timbre, and texture. Most remarkably however is that each surface, object, or piece of furniture reacts to the calming light exactly the way you’d expect in real life. It isn’t hard to imagine sinking into that sofa with a cup of coffee, sensing exactly what that’d feel like.
Walking in Hong Kong created with Unreal Engine 5 Lumen Kitbash3d by Sciontidesign
A window into a future where Sleeping Dogs 2 exists, perhaps, is this immersive walking tour by Sciontidesign. Heavily indebted to the compact humidity of Hong Kong, this demo is an immense labour of love for the artist too with purportedly every mesh manually placed with no procedural generation and building assets from KitBash3D modified with 8k megascan textures. The setting is enhanced by smoggy volumetric fog illuminated by dynamic HDR lighting too.
MetaHuman
Amongst Unreal Engine 5’s most exciting innovations is MetaHuman, a complex framework for easily creating highly realistic humans, complete with facial features, emotions, and skin complexions. At the recent State of Unreal 2023 showcase, MetaHuman’s latest update dubbed Animator was put through its paces capturing Senua actor Melina Juergens on a phone camera before processing and exporting the animation in approximately two minutes. The result is staggering, with MetaHuman’s sculpting tools on hand to refine any fuzzy edges and uncanny expressions.
Unreal Editor for Fortnite
Differing slightly from Unreal Engine 5 is Unreal Editor for Fortnite combining creation tools from Fortnite Creative with the Unreal Editor to create Unreal Engine standard experiences that can be published in the Fortnite ecosystem. The number of features and capabilities pulled from Unreal Engine is overwhelming; Niagara VFX effects, mesh and texture imports, support for custom modelling, collaborative live editing, and building blocks from the existing Fortnite Creative Mode known as devices which can interact with a new built-in programming language called Verse in tons of cool and interesting ways, offering scope for more dynamic, reactive gameplay.
Walking in Winter in 4K by Ostap Gordon
Take a twilight stroll through a snowy Russian suburb courtesy of Belarussian artist Ostap Gordon. Utilising Unreal Engine 5’s many bells and whistles – virtualised geometry on all objects via Nanite, full dynamic lighting including day and night cycles from Lumen, highly detailed assets created in Blender and enhanced with megascans – this environment feels bitterly cold just to look at. The powdery crush of frozen snow underfoot undersells the realism though; a little more finesse in sound design would render this demo perfect.
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