Unreal Development Kit

CARY, N.C. (March 9, 2010) – Epic Games, Inc. has released the March 2010 UDK Beta, an updated version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides uncompromised access to the award-winning game development toolset.

Epic is committed to providing the UDK community with regular software releases at no charge, and the latest beta is available now at www.udk.com/download.

An extensive list of new additions and improvements included with this version is available at:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitBuildUpgradeNotes.html#March 2010: UDKInstall-2010-03-BETA

March 2010 Beta

Improved UDK Features and Tools

• Autodesk FBX format support (FBX version 2010.2)

o Static meshes, skeletal meshes and animations can now be imported from FBX files

o The FBX format is supported by many 3D modeling packages

- including 3ds Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder.

o Download FBX plug-ins from Autodesk

- http://autodesk.com/fbx

- http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/FBXImporting.html

• Interactive Static Meshes

o Static meshes can now be configured so that all instance of that mesh placed in a level can become dynamic and react with physics when shot or pushed, giving the environment a more interactive feel.

o The advantages of this implementation are:

- Consistent behavior

• all objects using that mesh will be interactive, instead of it depending on level designer set up.

- Transparent to meshing

• L.D.s don't have to do anything special, but they can prevent specific objects from being able to become dynamic when necessary.

- These meshes are lit like any other static meshes until they move so there is no visual impact to using this system.

- No additional performance or memory cost to these meshes except during the short period when a mesh is being physically simulated.

o This system is intended for use with small decorative meshes that don't have any gameplay implications.

- The interactivity is client-side and is not replicated.

o http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InteractiveStaticMeshes.html

• New Attachment Editor

o For displaying and modifying object relationships

o Lets you view and edit the attachment graph for a selected set of actors

o http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AttachmentsBrowserReference.html

• mipmap sharpening

o Increases perceived resolution of textures w/o memory or performance impact

o http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ContentBlog.html#MipGenSettings

• Property window favorites

o Simply mark a property as a favorite and it will always be displayed at the top of your property window.

o Combined with the search capability, this will greatly stream-line data access in the Unreal Editor.

o http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PropertyWindows.html#Property Window Favorites

New UDN documentation

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKCommunityLinks.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/EditorPackageSaveProcedure.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CharacterEncoding.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AttachmentsBrowserReference.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ColorPicker.html

Updated UDN Documentation

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LevelBrowserReference.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UnrealUnits.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AnisotropicLighting.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CascadeUserGuide.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InstancedMaterials.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InstancedMaterials_TimeVarying.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicalMaterialSystem.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UnrealScriptReference.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SCCIntegration.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LevelOptimization.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UIDataStore.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AudioSystem.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UsingWaypoints.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CrowdSystem.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LitTranslucency.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DebuggerInterface.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MainEditorToolbar.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UE3MinSpecs.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CreatingHairUsingAlpha.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MaterialsTutorial.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CreatingNormalMaps.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MassiveLOD.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CustomLighting.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/VisibilityCulling.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ParticleExamples.html

• http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ShadowingReference.html

Additional documentation, code samples and more are available at the Unreal Developer Network (UDN):

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitHome.html

Community links:

UDK LinkedIn user group: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2493123

UDK on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/UDK/183744733429

© 2009-2010, Epic Games, Inc. Epic, Epic Games, Unreal, Unreal Development Kit, Unreal Editor, Unreal Engine, AnimSet Editor, Unreal Kismet, Unreal Lightmass, Unreal Matinee, UnrealScript and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.