Penninck G., Butler S. Mastering Technical Art in Unreal Engine: Materials and VFX

CRC Press, 2025. — 251 p. — ISBN: 9781032649689.This book covers how to build materials and VFX that bring your projects to life in the Unreal Engine. Each chapter will provide you with the necessary underpinning theory as well as activities to test your learning inside of the Unreal Engine.You'll learn about Material Graphs, Parameters, Instances, Materials Maths, Nodes, Niagara Emitters, and much more as you complete project-based examples. Included in the book is a series of introductory demonstration videos and quizzes to help test your learning, giving you all the tools and knowledge to make cutting-edge game materials and VFX.As suggested earlier when discussing software, understanding scripting and high-level programming languages can be beneficial for technical artists. You might not always be expected to program in languages such as C++, but the utilization of scripting languages such as Lua, Python, Java, or Blueprint is more common. The more you know, the further you can liaise between the Art and Programming teams. This can be demonstrated by showing an ability to develop small tools or scripts. Demonstrating any example utilities that help to speed up production or solve problems is a fantastic skill. These could be an in-engine tool or a tool for a Digital Content Creation package (DCC). Remember to show the problem/challenge that the tool solves, explain how it does so, and then evidence of how the tool has been built with the end user in mind.This book will be of great interest to all students learning to create technical art within the Unreal Engine, as well as professionals looking to sharpen their skills.What Is Technical Art?
An Artist’s Guide to the Rendering Pipeline.
What Are Materials?
Creating Your First Material.
Material Instances.
Master Materials.
Mesh Painting and Materials.
Introductory Materials for VFX.
Introduction to Niagara and VFX in Unreal Engine.
Creating the Energy Orb.
Creating Our Sparking Cauldron.
The Dawn of Fire.
Magical Spells and Fireworks.