Epic Game recently held a game developers conference, demoed the Unreal Engine 5.2 preview version. The update mainly introduces the Substrate material framework, as well as a set of procedural content generation tools.
The Unreal Engine 5.2 preview started with a sunlit jungle scene, which is a very challenging scene to render graphically. Unreal Engine’s Nanite virtual geometry system was initially not applicable to foliage, but has since been enhanced to allow for deformation and movement in the game world based on interaction.
Epic said that all physical interactions were realistically modeled, down to the rocks tumbling under the truck’s tires and the splash of water. it learned from the report that the truck data was provided to Epic by Rivian, and the model reportedly has 71 million polygons.
The Rivian truck was used to demonstrate the Substrate material framework. This is a modification to the existing material system that can simulate multiple layers of materials, even on the same surface.
The demonstrator changed the painted metal surface of Rivian’s body to a material that simulates opal gems with subsurface refraction that changes realistically as the camera moves around.
