虚幻引擎 5 (Unreal Engine) 现已推出预览版本。官方强调道，预览版本仍存在不稳定和其他问题，不建议用于生产。他们目前正在制作最终发布的版本，并且已准备好测试将要增加的所有功能。
Unreal Engine 5 (Unreal Engine) is now in preview. The official emphasized that the preview version still has instability and other problems, and it is not recommended for production. They are currently working on a final release and are ready to test all the features that will be added.
The new version includes some new animation tools, basic support for large world coordinates, etc. . Other changes include a redesigned Unreal Editor, better performance, an expanded geometry editing toolset, and improved path tracing.
The development team says that since the Early Access release, they built Fortnite on Unreal Engine 5 and used this version to create the tech demo, The Matrix Awakens: The Unreal Engine 5 Experience.
Update highlights
render
Nanite
Nanite is a new virtualized geometry system in UE5 that allows you to create games and worlds with massive geometric detail.
This release includes many improvements to the system's stability, quality, performance, and tooling, including:
Improved performance and memory usage of Nanite streaming in the editor
Provides new error-based metrics for creating fallback models (previously known as surrogate models)
Provides a user experience for batch bidirectional conversion between assets and Nanite and trimming data on disk
Supports all view modes and usage flags such as shader complexity view modes
Support selection by instance
Support custom data by instance/Actor
Lumen
Lumen is a new fully dynamic global illumination and reflection system in UE5, designed for next-generation consoles.
Since its Early Access release, it has seen many improvements in stability, quality, and performance, including:
Provides full hardware ray tracing support, no longer requires distance fields or any other software tracing, and scales to large world scenes
Improved the quality of the final collection, especially on vegetation
Support for glossy reflections on translucent objects
Support for translucent final capture, which improves GI quality on translucent objects
Provides support for terrain
virtual shadow map
This new way of shadow mapping provides consistent high-resolution shadows. Virtual Shadow Maps are designed for highly detailed, cinematic quality Nanite assets and large open worlds with dynamic lighting.
This release includes enhancements to:
Improved overall stability and performance
Improved handling when shadows fail due to mesh movement/deformation
Support for more non-Nanite mesh types
Support for more vegetation material types (double-sided, subsurface)
path tracer
Introduced in Unreal Engine 4.27, Path Tracer is a DXR-accelerated, physically accurate progressive rendering mode that requires no additional setup and allows you to generate offline rendering quality images directly from Unreal Engine.
Preview 1 includes improvements to its stability, performance, and feature integrity, including:
Supports Hair Primitives
Eye shader mode supported
Improvements in sampling, BRDF modes, ray transport, supported geometry, and more
world building
world partition system
The World Partitioning System is a distance-based streaming solution. It changes how levels are managed and streamed, automatically meshing the world and streaming the necessary cells, simplifying the creation of large worlds.
Since the Early Access release, we've made numerous improvements to its stability, performance, and feature integrity, including:
Provides support for terrain
Provides support for Sequencer
Added streaming source shape
Added support for virtual textures in the minimap
Added support for layers in the data layer and provided a new user experience
One Actor One File (OFPA)
The One Actor One File system enables multiple team members to collaborate on the same level at the same time by storing Actor instance data in external files.
In this release, we have mainly improved its stability and quality. Additionally, we've made some improvements to the source control editor.
New: Large World Coordinates (LWC)
In Preview 1, we laid the groundwork for you to create very large worlds in Unreal Engine 5 by adding initial support for Large World Coordinates (LWC) - without resetting the world origin or using other tricks. In addition to changing to doubles under the hood, we also focused on performance and memory optimizations, helping us ensure that these changes add little overhead.
animation
control binding
Control rigs allow you to create custom controls for imported Skeletal Meshes. Using control rigs, you can generate new animations in Unreal Engine, as well as modify existing animations.
This release offers very significant performance improvements and many new features, including:
Graphical debugging tools that let you easily find and fix problems
Dynamic hierarchy and space switching let you link control rigs together
Spline tool for manipulating curves within control bindings
Allows you to create functions that can be shared between control bindings
New Features: Distance Matching and Pose Morphing
In Preview 1, these two new features can be combined to allow a simple set of animations to be paired with a wide variety of actions.
Distance matching controls the speed at which animations play, making them match the movements of characters in the game.
Pose morphing dynamically adjusts animation poses to better match character movements in the game.
New: Animation Blueprint Templates
With this new feature, you will be able to create reusable animation charts and also publish engine functions as animation chart assets. With it, you can create animation Blueprint logic that is not tied to a specific armature or asset. These assets cannot reference animation assets directly, but can be reused in the context of other animation blueprints.
New: IK Binding and IK Redirector
These two new features will help you animate skeletal characters in Unreal Editor more easily and efficiently.
IK rigging enables you to interactively create solvers and targets to edit poses for your skeletal meshes. A common use case is to overlay adjustments to characters while maintaining existing animations, such as having a moving character stare at a target.
The IK Redirector allows you to quickly and robustly transfer animation between characters of different scales using different bones. Retargeting can be done at runtime or used to create new animation assets offline.
audio
MetaSounds
MetaSounds allows audio designers full control over the generation of sound source DSP graphics.
In Preview 1, you can now synthesize MetaSounds within other MetaSounds, similar to materials, plus we have new support for user-defined nodes. In addition to this, you can now reuse charts via presets, which are references to shared MetaSounds charts but provide new custom default inputs and settings.
MetaSounds also now features an interface system, which allows it to connect more deeply with game code and the worlds they live in, enabling richer, more contextual sounds.
Full list of updates: https://forums.unrealengine.com/
Download address: https://www.unrealengine.com/zh-CN/download
新版本除了对之前公开的工具（如，Nanite、Lumen、一Actor一文件、世界分区系统和 MetaSounds）所做出的改进外，还包括一些新的动画工具，以及对大型世界坐标的基础支持等。其他变化还包括重新设计的虚幻编辑器、更出色的性能、扩展的几何体编辑工具集，以及经过改进的路径追踪等功能。
开发团队称自发布抢先体验版以来，他们基于虚幻引擎 5 构建了《堡垒之夜》，并使用这个版本创建了技术演示《黑客帝国觉醒：虚幻引擎5体验》。
更新亮点
渲染
Nanite
Nanite是UE5中全新的虚拟化几何体系统，允许你创建具有海量几何细节的游戏和世界。
这个发行版本对该系统的稳定性、质量、性能和工具做出了许多改进，包括：
- 改进了编辑器中Nanite流送的性能和内存使用量
- 为创建退却模型（之前称为代理模型）提供了基于错误的新度量标准
- 提供了在资产与Nanite之间进行批量双向转换以及修整磁盘上数据的用户体验
- 支持所有视图模式和使用标记，如着色器复杂度视图模式
- 支持按实例进行选择
- 支持按实例/Actor自定义数据
Lumen
Lumen是UE5中新推出的全动态全局光照和反射系统，专为次世代主机而设计。
自从抢先体验版发布以来，它在稳定性、质量和性能方面有了许多改进，包括：
- 提供了完整的硬件光线追踪支持，不再需要距离场或其他任何软件追踪，并且规模可扩大到大型世界场景
- 改进了最终采集的质量，在植被上尤其明显
- 支持半透明物体上的光泽反射
- 支持半透明最终采集，可提高半透明物体上的全局光照质量
- 提供了对地形的支持
虚拟阴影贴图
这种新的阴影贴图方式提供了一致的高分辨率阴影。虚拟阴影贴图专为高度细节化的电影质量级Nanite资产以及采用动态光照的大型开放世界而设计。
此发行版本对以下方面进行了增强：
- 改进了整体稳定性和性能
- 改进了当网格体的移动/变形导致阴影失效时，所采用的处理方式
- 支持了更多非Nanite网格体类型
- 支持了更多植被材质类型（双面、次表面）
路径追踪器
路径追踪器在虚幻引擎4.27中引入，是一种由DXR加速、在物理上精确的渐进式渲染模式，它无需额外设置，允许你直接通过虚幻引擎生成拥有离线渲染质量的图像。
预览版1对它的稳定性、性能和功能完整性做出了改进，包括：
- 支持了头发Primitives
- 支持了眼睛着色器模式
- 在采样、BRDF模式、光线传输和受支持的几何体等方面进行了改进
世界构建
世界分区系统
世界分区系统是一种基于距离的流送解决方案。它更改了关卡的管理和流送方式，自动将世界划分成网格并流送必要的单元，从而简化了大型世界的创建过程。
自从抢先体验版发布以来，我们对它的稳定性、性能和功能完整性做出了大量改进，包括：
- 提供了对地形的支持
- 提供了对Sequencer的支持
- 新增了流送源形状
- 在小地图中提供了对虚拟纹理的支持
- 在数据层中添加了对层级的支持，并提供了新的用户体验
一Actor一文件（OFPA）
一Actor一文件系统通过在外部文件中保存Actor的实例数据，使多名团队成员能够同时在同一个关卡中展开协作。
在这个发行版本中，我们主要改进了它的稳定性和质量。此外，我们还对源代码控制编辑器做出了一些改进。
新功能：大型世界坐标（LWC）
在预览版1中，我们通过添加对大型世界坐标（LWC）的初步支持，为你在虚幻引擎5中创建超大型世界奠定了基础——无需重置世界原点或使用其他技巧。除了在底层改为使用双精度数值外，我们还重点关注了性能和内存的优化，从而帮助我们确保这些更改几乎不会增加开销。
动画
控制绑定
控制绑定允许你为导入的骨骼网格体创建自定义控制。使用控制绑定，你可以在虚幻引擎中生成新的动画，也可以修改现有的动画。
这个发行版本提供了非常重要的性能改进和许多新功能，包括：
- 图形调试工具，让你轻松发现和修复问题
- 动态层级和空间切换，让你将控制绑定连接在一起
- 样条工具，用于在控制绑定内操纵曲线
- 允许你创建可在控制绑定之间共享的函数
新功能：距离匹配和姿势变形
在预览版1中，这两项新功能可以结合在一起，让一组简单的动画和各种各样的动作搭配起来。
- 距离匹配可以控制动画的播放速度，使动画与游戏中角色的动作相匹配。
- 姿势变形能够动态调整动画姿势，使动画更好地匹配游戏中的角色动作。
新功能：动画蓝图模板
通过这项新功能，你将能够创建可复用的动画图表，还可以将引擎功能作为动画图表资产发布。有了它，你可以创建不绑定到特定骨架或资产的动画蓝图逻辑。这些资产不能直接引用动画资产，但是可以在其他动画蓝图的上下文中重复使用。
新功能：IK绑定和IK重定向器
这两项新功能将帮助你更轻松、更高效地在虚幻编辑器中为骨骼角色制作动画。
IK绑定使你能够以交互方式创建解算器和目标，为你的骨骼网格体编辑姿势。一种常见的用例是在保持现有动画的同时，叠加对角色的调整，例如让一个移动的角色盯着某个目标。
IK重定向器允许你在使用了不同骨骼的不同比例角色之间快速、稳健地转移动画。重定向可在运行时完成，也可用于离线创建新的动画资产。
音频
MetaSounds
MetaSounds允许音频设计师完全控制声源DSP图形的生成。
在预览版1中，你现在可以在其他MetaSounds中合成MetaSounds，这一点与材质类似，另外，我们还新支持了用户定义的节点。除此之外，你现在还可以通过预设复用图表，预设是对共享MetaSounds图表的引用，但提供了新的自定义默认输入和设置。
MetaSounds现在还具有一个接口系统，这使它能够更深入地与游戏代码以及它们所处的世界联系起来，实现更丰富、更具情境感的声音。
完整更新列表：https://forums.unrealengine.com/
下载地址：https://www.unrealengine.com/zh-CN/download
