Busby J., Parrish Z., Wilson J. Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I. Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3

Sams, 2009. - 856 p.
Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to modding and level design with the world’s hottest new gaming engine: Unreal Engine
3. Here’s everything you need to know to jumpstart your skills and create stunning new content and games for consoles and PCs alike! Your authors aren’t just the world’s #1 Unreal game development trainers: They’ve even built the training modules that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3: Limited Collector’s Edition. Now, working with the full cooperation of Unreal Engine 3’s creators, Epic Games, they introduce every facet of game development–from simple level creation to materials, lighting, and terrain.even advanced level optimization and streaming!Packed with tips, hands-on tutorials, and expert techniques, Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I is all you need to create levels that look spectacular and work brilliantly.levels that gamers just can’t stop playing!You’ll find expert tips onUnderstanding the game development process from start to finish
Planning projects for greater efficiency, faster delivery, and better quality
Crafting worlds with stunning beauty and clarity
Bringing amazing realism to characters, objects, and props
Making the most of Unreal Engine 3’s massively upgraded lighting system
Scripting complex gameplay quickly and easily with Unreal Kismet
Building animated game assets with Unreal Matinee
Testing game performance during live gameplay
Optimizing levels by improving the interaction between lights and surfaces
Using advanced level streaming to create vast, rich, highly playable levelsIntroduction to Unreal Technology
History of Unreal
June 1998: Unreal
November 1999: Unreal Tournament
March — July 2001: The Unreal Developer Network
September 2002: Unreal Championship and Unreal Tournament
February 2003: Unreal II
March 2004: Unreal Tournament
April 2005: Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict
November 2006: Gears of War
November 2007: Unreal Tournament
Overview of the Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine Components
The Graphics Engine
The Sound Engine
The Physics Engine
The Input Manager
Network Infrastructure
The UnrealScript Interpreter
Overview of Component Interaction
Engine Components at Work
Creating Your Own Worlds with the Unreal Engine
Game Assets
Animations and Skeletal Meshes
The Tools of the Trade
Overview of Game Development
The Importance of Iteration
Start with the Idea
Story Treatment
Considerations for Production Scheduling
Communication
Have Regular Meetings
Make Yourself Heard
Respect Your Teammates
Artists Versus Programmers: Round One, Fight!
Pick Your Battles
Stay Creative
Testing and Feedback
Ending Production
Up and Running: A Hands-On Level Creation Primer
Starting Your First Level
A Universe of Brushes: World Geometry In-Depth
Key Terms and Concepts: BSP and CSG
Brush Types
The Red Builder Brush
Additive Brushes
Subtractive Brushes
A Quick Word on Building
Cleaning BSP Materials
Working with Brushes
Additive and Subtractive Levels
The Almighty Drag Grid
Moving with Pivots
Brush Order
Building to the Proper Scale
Primitives
Cube
Cone
Cylinder
Sheet
Tetrahedron (Sphere)
Curved Staircase
Linear Staircase
Spiral Staircase
Volumetric
Boolean Operations
Intersect Tool
De-Intersect Tool
Brush Solidity
Solid
Semi-Solid
Non-Solid
Brush Manipulation
Geometry Mode
Selection Modes
Toggle Modifier Window
Working with Shadows
Static Meshes
The Importance of Static Meshes
Static Mesh Workflow Overview
UV Texture Coordinates
Considerations When Creating UV Layouts
Creating Textures
Importing Static Meshes
Using the Static Mesh Editor
Collisions
Creating Custom Collisions
Placing Static Meshes
Static Meshes and Shadows
Introduction to Materials
What Is a Material?
Materials vs. Textures
Texture Coordinates (UVs)
Material Instructions
Thinking About Color in Unreal
A Quick Word on Lighting
Anatomy of a Material
Material Nodes
Material Channels
Material Expressions
The Available Material Expressions
Material Expressions List
Parameter Expressions
Material Creation
Surface Properties
The Surface Properties Dialog
Introduction to Lighting
Light Placement
A Word on Building Lights
Lighting Concepts
Light Maps and Shadow Maps
Static and Dynamic Lighting
Per-Vertex Lighting and Lighting Subdivisions
Types of Lights
Toggleable Lights
Moveable Lights
Point Lights
Spotlights
Directional Lights
SkyLights
Pickup Lights
Light Properties
General Properties
Exclusive SpotLight Properties
Exclusive DirectionalLight Properties
Exclusive SkyLight Properties
Lighting Channels
Lighting Volumes
Shadows
Precomputed Shadows (Shadow Maps)
Shadow Buffer Shadows
Shadow Volume Shadows
Shadow Modulation
Light Environments
Light Functions
Workflow Tips
Terrain
What Is Terrain?
Accessing Terrain
Terrain Anatomy and Properties
Terrain Anatomy (Terminology)
Terrain Properties
TerrainMaterials and Layers
TerrainMaterial Properties
Terrain Layers
Terrain Editor Dialog
The Terrain Editing Dialog Interface Overview
Terrain Editing Tools
Decorating Your Terrain: Foliage and DecoLayers
Foliage
DecoLayers
Terrain Workflow Considerations
Introduction to Unreal Kismet
Kismet: The Big Picture
Accessing Kismet
Anatomy of a Sequence Object
Types of Sequence Objects
Events
Actions
Variables
Conditions
Matinee
Kismet Sequence Flow
Simple Kismet Sequences
Commenting Kismet Sequences
Intermediate Kismet Sequences
Unreal Matinee
What Is Matinee?
Matinee Terminology
Accessing Matinee
The Matinee Sequence Object
Inputs
Outputs
Variable Links
Properties
Matinee Data Object
InterpActors
Mover Kismet Event
The Matinee Editor
Toolbar
Curve Editor
Group/Track List
Timeline
Properties
Types of Tracks
Anim Control
Color Property
Event
FaceFX
Float Material Param
Float Particle Param
Float Property
Morph Weight
Movement
SkelControl Scale
Sound
Effects Toggle
Vector Material Param
Vector Property
Director Group-Specific Tracks
Matinee Considerations
Level Optimization
General Optimization
Understanding Overhead
In-Game Performance Diagnostics
Occlusion
CullDistance and CullDistanceVolumes
Levels of Detail
Optimizing Lights and Shadows
Light Maps
Light Environments
Light Functions
Casting Light onto Unlit Materials
The Primitive Stats Browser
Dynamic Shadows and the Dynamic Shadow Stats Browser
Material Optimization
Multiple Materials per Object
Material Instructions
Unlit Translucency
Level Streaming
Level Streaming Benefits
Testing Level Streaming
Streaming Methods
Persistent Levels Versus Streaming Levels
The Level Browser and Scene Manager
Map Changing
Level Streaming via Kismet
Level Streaming via LevelStreamingVolumes
Level Streaming via Distance
Troubleshooting
Level Streaming Considerations
APPENDIX A: The Unreal Editor User’s Guide
The Main Menubar
The Toolbar
File Options
Undo and Redo
Far Clipping Plane Distance
Transform Tools
Search for Actor
Toggle Fullscreen
Cut, Copy, and Paste
Generic Browser
Kismet
Toggle Brush Polys
Toggle Prefab Lock
Use Curves Button
Enable/Disable Socket Snapping
Building
Play Level Area
The Toolbox
Camera and Utilities Area
Brush Primitives Area
CSG Operations Area
Additional Brushes Area
Selections Area
The Viewports
Navigation
Viewport Controls
Viewport Toolbar
Viewport Context Menu
The Console Bar
Command Line
Selection Status
Transform Status
DrawScale Numeric Fields
Drag Grid
Rotation Grid
Scale Grid
AutoSave
Browsers
Generic Browser
Actor Classes Browser
Groups Browser
Level Browser
Referenced Assets Browser
Primitive Stats Browser
Dynamic Shadow Stats Browser
Scene Manager
LogStatic Mesh Editor
Material Editor
Kismet Visual Scripting Editor
Matinee Editor
PhAT (Physics Asset Tool) Physics Editor
Cascade Particle System Editor
User Interface Scene Editor
SoundCue Editor
Post Process Manager
AnimSet Editor
AnimTree Editor
Search for Actors
Property Windows
Actor Properties
Surface Properties
APPENDIX B: The Curve Editor
Animation Curves
Controlling Interpolation Curves
Auto
User
Break
Linear
Constant
Curve Editor Interface
Curve Editor Toolbar
Curve Editor Curve Key List
Curve Editor Graph View
Preset Curves
Available Preset Curve Settings