Hey guys, I have just bought a subscription to Unreal Engine 4 to check it out. Is anyone here using it for Arch-Viz? What are your thoughts about it? Feel free to shoot here 
EDIT: Added youtube video previews of the technology
I am using it for fun :- )
I’m interesting UE4 too but haven’t time for him for now)
After i’ve seen those videos, I’ve planned to start teaching UDK. Only what i need now is free time)
I think it’s a future)
Also i’ve read that octane was built in unreal engine. Don’t now exactly how and why, but if they make intercative realtime physicall correct renderings - it’s amazing!
Hey Juraj, yeah I have seen that you were actively participating in discussions about it over at cgarchitect. I am also trying to fiddle with it simply for fun and that is when I get some free time (which is quite rare nowadays unfortunately). Anyway, it looks very decent and it would be relatively quick to use if it wasn’t for that UVW unwrap and shader tree that takes ages to setup properly
I was already imagining my visualizations in full hd / 60 fps heh
The shader tree is not complicated :- ) You don’t need to setup such flexible and robust shaders as they have in demos, you can do your materials just like in Corona or Vray. Just input Diffuse, Roughness, Bump, and you’re ready to go :- ).
The material editor is beautiful thing and so is the shader system, it’s just amazing.
But same thing you and Headoff said: There is no time. For anything.
I’ve been looking into it too. Did a project with unreal2 (I think) years ago for uni. Baking everything in c4d and exporting into it, it was a massive faff.
Just to confirm it is possible to generate a user exe file that you can distribute to clients right? Previously you had to have the unreal game installed to run it.
Absolutely, and very easy to do.
UD4 is an amazing piece of tech, but its hard enough to do some decent modelling to later create good texturing and materials working in projects needed for “yesterday”, adding the extra baking and unwrapping (and optimize everything from polycount, texture resolutions and all that is involved), in some cases just… scares a little.
Dont get me wrong, i’m quite capably to do that but is a lot of work, besides some clients does not have the power machines we use to work so if its not optimized it simply wont run.
There is copious amount of work involved in unwraping a simple wall with custom details. Not even start about a whole lot of small assets.
But actually if you manage to avoid the unwrapping aplying some wild “white or solid” color palette to almost all, i think it worth the shot, more like a toy and if you really have the time why not get serious and create some 3d walktroughs using some like Oculus Rift?.
Maybe there is someone around who can pay for that and have the time to wait for it.
Yeah I was thinking of offering it more as a working/white model for my clients to show their clients the volumes and spaces of the design. I can imagine doing an all singing and dancing model would be a pain. Just need to find the time!
Nice software for fast presentations and some nice realism, the first video is really great but why using a low poly models like in the kitchen side? that kills everything when he gets near this area…
Oh. You just need see the topic of this user - koola. Here is: ArchViz / Lighting - Game Development - Epic Developer Community Forums
He does realy cool works in UE4
And here is his youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpL6btTFD1yTtSUeapW3fNA
get fun (;
I am also exploring the possibility to use Unreal 4 for architectural work. Maybe I am wrong, but Lumion will have to change his game.
World is not black and white, they’re not even targeting the same group of users at all. They don’t compete against each other.
I am not saying that and even remotely compare the two. What I am saying is that Unreal 4 is starting to become a great alternative and hopefully that will force Lumion to change for better the product and the price tag.
Oh yeah, just checked the price. What the hell :- O When did that… ?
A little bit off topic, but I still remember that the first version of Lumion had an affordable price and then when they introduce Lumion 2 the price went to thousands of euros\pounds\dollars. This was something that happened maybe 3/4 years ago. Yes, Lumion has some nice trees, 3d models and visual effects, but sometimes it feels like driving a car using just one gear. You cannot tweak geometry individually and you can only use very simple animations (move, rotate and scale)
I know that Unreal’s team is not promoting themselves as the next big thing for architectural visualization, but when I compare the Unreal and Lumion Pro, I want to take some time to understand the workflow and start exploring Unreal’s potential. And I hope that Unreal this creates at least some pressure to make them to improve substantially the application or drop the price.
Unreal Engine 4.5 released Gotta check it out today!
Have a look at the interior scene (simple two rooms and a tree). Beautiful light
Anyone played with yet… ?
I love the new raytraced shadows, unexpected but nice feature !