Unreal 4.22: Real-Time Ray Tracing & On-Set Tools

Unreal 4.22: Real-Time Ray Tracing & On-Set Tools

The Epic team has shared a new post on Unreal Engine 4.22 and what it brings in terms of real-time ray tracing and tools for film and video production. Let’s have a look.

First, the newest version makes the engine the first one to leverage Microsoft’s DirectX Raytracing (DXR) framework, and take advantage of NVIDIA’s powerful RTX graphics technology for real-time ray tracing. “Our approach lets you choose which passes to ray trace—including reflections, shadows, translucency, and image-based lighting—while continuing to rasterize other passes that don’t benefit from the slower method,” states the team.

“Subtle effects like soft shadows from area lights, ambient occlusion, and illumination from Sky Light HDR textures contribute to the accuracy and believability of your scene,” added Epic staff. “The new system also avoids time-consuming and difficult workarounds like reflection planes and probes, making rendering easier and more fun.”

What is more, the update brings film and video production tools such as:

  • Multi-user editing (Early Access): multiple artists and developers can simultaneously make changes to the same Unreal Engine project in a safe and reliable way, eliminating bottlenecks and inspiring creativity on set. Check out the multi-user editing documentation for more details.
  • Real-time compositing (Early Access): The team has added a new UI to Composure, Unreal Engine’s built-in compositor, making it much easier to use, and enabling artists to leverage its real-time compositing capabilities directly in the Unreal Editor.
  • Take Recorder: A new Take Recorder enables users to record animations from motion capture linked to characters in the scene, and from Live Link data, for future playback.
  • Extended media I/O support: support for higher bit depths, resolutions, and frame rates for professional media I/O.

You can learn more here.