Epic Games is showcasing the latest features of its Unreal Engine 5, in particular an impressive demo around a virtual Rivian R1T.
In 2020, Epic Games held the first public demo of their Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). Almost three years later, players are still waiting for the democratization of this technology. Aside from Fortnite and The Matrix Awakens, there aren’t many games that can be played under UE5, and the first wave probably won’t arrive until the end of the year at the earliest. That doesn’t stop Epic from showcasing the latest features of its technology with many demos during the State of Unreal keynote at GDC 2023.
Epic Games showcases the latest features of its Unreal Engine 5
Probably the most impressive is Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 developer Ninja Theory with their new MetaHuman Animator tool. This promises to make realistic facial capture accessible to indie developers, allowing them to use a simple iPhone instead of specialized hardware to capture the slightest facial expressions. As you can see in the two videos shared by Epic, the tool can quickly and accurately turn a close-up video of an actor into something a studio can use in their game. Epic explains that their system will be available this summer.
Particularly with an impressive demo around the virtual Rivian R1T.
Epic also showed off Unreal Engine 5.2 improvements in a demo that included, among other things, a digital clone of the Rivian R1T electric pickup truck. This electric vehicle is perfect for showcasing the new UE5 Substrate Shading System. This technology allows artists to create various embossing patterns and overlay them as they see fit. Epic provided the R1T with an opal chassis to show how Substrate allows layers of different materials to interact with each other without creating light artifacts. It was also an opportunity to showcase new procedural content generation tools. This allows artists to create vast, highly detailed levels from very few handcrafted assets.
If all goes well, the first Unreal Engine 5 games will hit the market soon. If there are no delays to ruin the party, Stalker 2: The Heart of Chernobyl is due out before the end of the year. Lords of the Fallen and Black Myth: Wukong, two other UE5 titles, don’t have a launch date yet, but have been in development for a few years now.