Vermilion: A Game Development Blog

Vermilion

Unreal Static Mesh and Decal Optimisations

Decal actors and mesh decals behave slightly differently in Unreal, and how they differ can have an impact on how to optimise a scene.

Cave Image using custom unlit shader

Custom Unreal Unlit Visualisation Shaders

A take on a custom unlit shader in Unreal Engine 5 that provides more depth and surface information.

Random Triangular Lines

Git LFS or Perforce for Unreal in 2024

Choosing between Git LFS and Perforce can be tricky if you haven’t used both before, so let’s dive in and compare which is best for your project.

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Variable Rate Shading in Unreal 5

Variable Rate Shading (VRS) received a boost in usability in 5.4, including a similar method to Gear 5's VRS landing in the engine.

Unreal Engine Featured

Unreal 5 – Colour Management

Colour Management for Unreal Engine 5. In this post, we discuss configuring a project to render in a wider gamut.

Fish Eye Effect

Fishy Eyes in Unreal Engine 5

A quick post about implementing a basic fisheye shader post-process effect.

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Unreal 5.3 Camera Motion Blur

As of Unreal 5.3, support for exempting camera rotation from motion blur no longer requires a source build of Unreal.

Image from an aircraft

PSO Caching Update: UE5

An update to the state of PSO caching and to the tools I was making to ease PSO collection headaches.

PCG Assembly Script in Unreal 5.2

PCG Assembly Script in Unreal 5.2

The Procedural Content Generation (PCG) framework is experimental in Unreal 5.2 and using Packed Level Actors assemblies isn't well-documented.

Banner Image of Fun with Tech Art Part 2

Fun with Tech Art

Fun with Tech Art – Pt. 2

We've been cruel to our characters. Now, let's give them the world's softest carpet.

Banner Image of Sphere Clip Transition

Fun with Tech Art

Fun with Tech Art – Pt. 4

In this post, we create a world transition shader for Nanite using sphere masks in Unreal Engine 5

Tech Art Banner

Fun with Tech Art

Fun with Tech Art – Pt. 1

Join me as I create some tech art in Unreal. In this post, we look at shader that lets us submerge, or dunk, our characters into water.

Unreal Waterscape Banner

Previous Lumen Mirror Reflections on Pascal

An older example of Lumen in Unreal 5.0 showing some of Lumen's limitations in Software mode. Updates to Lumen has improved this considerably.

Banner Image of Shanghai

AV1 Video Transcoding

AV1 is a relatively recent video codec build by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM) [https://aomedia.org/]. It provides a encoder that beats H264 in file size for a given quality, and is significantly less patent encumbered than H265 – H264's successor. For completeness, AV1 competes quite favourably

Title image of Cybepunk 2077

Viewpoint Featured

Viewpoint – Camera Perspectives

Choosing a perspective is truly an endeavour that must be analysed on a case-by-case basis. There is both an element of lining up the benefits of each techniques and intent of the team.

Unreal Engine Featured

PSO Caching in Unreal Engine

Pipeline State Object (PSO) caching in Unreal Engine 5 for Windows (DirectX 12 SM5/6) and Linux (Vulkan SM5). PSO caching enables developer control over shader precompilation and reduces stutter linked to just-in-time shader compilation.

LiveLink Facecap to Maya

LiveLink Facecap to Maya

This post covers how to get LiveLink data from Unreal Engine into Maya

Development Featured

CICD in Unreal with Jenkins

Some of the content on the page is likely outdated. This page will be updated in due time. Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment is a cornerstone of modern software engineering methodology. In short, the goal is to always have recent builds of the software available to test against. These builds are

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Unreal Engine 5 – Nanite and Water

Nanite in Unreal Engine 5 enables far greater geometry density. When using this awesome technology for floor geometry, some of the older techniques for achieving visual effects no longer work. A prime example of this is the use of water puddle shaders. When using normals to fake geometry, layering puddles

On the train to Hangzhou

Viewpoint – On Diplomacy in Games

Interactive dialogue is a powerful system with an excellent scope, but from a development perspective, building one is a costly endeavour.

Tips and Tricks – Hashing

Hashing is a common occurrence in digital applications, whether it be for keeping passwords safe or for digital signatures, but what type of algorithm should you use and why?