Almost a year after Cesium won an Epic Megagrant, the Cesium add-on for Unreal Engine was released. The plugin is available on the Unreal Engine Marketplace and installs as an engine plugin. Additionally there is a sample project, which requires the plugin to have already been installed. Cesium enables you to stream 3D data from their online service Cesium Ion, basically enabling you to render the entire world in your UE4 powered title.
Technical details of the Cesium plugin include:
- Get started with Cesium for Unreal – visualize and experience real-world global terrain, imagery, high-resolution photogrammetry in Unreal Engine.
- Learn to create your own digitalized world with real-world content from Cesium ion.
- Cesium ion integration for one-click access to global curated 3D content and adding your own data to the samples.
- Combine Unreal Engine’s physics, lighting, landscaping and foliage, and post processing to create photorealistic environments and simulations.
- Fly around the world in a truly global experience using Unreal Engine Sublevels.
The plugin is implemented as open source on GitHub and is released under the Apache 2 license. Until May 31st/2021 you can stream unlimited data with Cesium for UE4 with a free community Cesium Ion account.
You can learn more about Cesium for Unreal Engine and see the sample in action in the video below.