Sample Project: Experience the Breathtaking Electric Dreams Demo on Unreal Engine 5.2

Have you seen the stunning Electric Dreams demo that Epic showcased during GDC 2023’s State of Unreal presentation? Well, now you can actually experience it for yourself! The Electric Dreams demo is now available as a Sample Project, which means anyone can download it and explore the remarkable features it has to offer, including the innovative Procedural Content Generation framework and the cutting-edge Substrate technology.

The Procedural Content Generation framework takes center stage in Epic’s Electric Dreams Sample Project overview, demonstrating how it can revolutionize the process of creating large-scale scenes in Unreal Engine.

With the Electric Dreams Environment Sample Project, you’ll see firsthand how the PCG framework empowers you to build tools, define rules, and tweak parameters to populate expansive worlds with Unreal Engine assets of your choice. This streamlined approach to large world creation makes the whole process fast, interactive, and incredibly efficient.

The scalable PCG framework is designed with interactivity in mind, allowing you to maintain artistic control while accelerating your worldbuilding workflow.

• Iterate faster using the live-editing tools, which provide immediate feedback
• Create new gameplay opportunities with the runtime component
• Easily customize, share, and reuse procedural content at different complexity levels
• Build your own tools using the extensibility features
• Take advantage of integration with other Unreal Engine 5.2 features, like Geometry Scripting

Within the PCG graph, you have the power to extract data from Actors and other graphs, utilizing this information to construct and regenerate your graph whenever necessary. For example, you can:

• Create a ground surface based on the shape of a neighboring embankment and adjust it to accommodate overlapping assets
• Position a fallen tree in a contextually appropriate manner
• Trigger landslides based on specific conditions

You can even apply debug visuals to any node and customize them according to your requirements.

The Procedural Content Generation framework seamlessly integrates with Quixel’s vast library of assets. Furthermore, all assets included in the Electric Dreams Sample Project can be freely used in both commercial and non-commercial projects.

Electric Dreams also introduces the new Substrate technology, which offers a convenient way to create layered materials. It’s particularly useful for achieving complex visual effects. Please note that both Substrate and the Procedural Content Generation framework are considered experimental features, so Epic does not recommend using them in live projects just yet. However, there are no such warnings for Lumen and Nanite, the signature features of Unreal Engine 5, which have received significant performance and quality improvements in version 5.2. Additionally, there’s Soundscape, a system for generating procedural sounds on the fly.

If you’re interested in diving deeper into the Electric Dreams Sample Project and the Procedural Content Generation framework introduced in Unreal Engine 5.2, you can find the official documentation here. To learn even more, be sure to join the next Inside Unreal live stream, scheduled for June 22 at 2 PM Eastern Time, where Epic will delve into these topics.

Furthermore, in exciting news, Epic has announced that the RealityScan app, which allows users to scan real-life objects and generate high-quality 3D models, is now available on Android! Initially released on iOS last year, the app enables users to export their scanned models to popular platforms like Sketchfab and utilize them in Unreal Engine or TwinMotion.