In addition to the massive announcement of the Fab Asset Store, Epic Games had several other announcements to make at The State of Unreal. This includes the preview release of Unreal Engine 5.2 available for download now, the first version of Unreal Editor for Fornite (UEFN) which also includes the Verse programming language as well as the release of MetaHuman Animator.
Unreal Engine 5.2 Preview Release Details:
Procedural Content Generation Framework
The new in-editor and runtime Procedural Content Generation Framework (PCG) enables you to define rules and parameters to populate large scenes with UE assets of your choice, making the process of large world creation fast and efficient.
Substrate
Substrate is a new way of authoring materials that give Unreal Engine users more control over the look and feel of objects used in real-time applications such as games and linear content creation.
VP improvements
Unreal Engine 5.2 Preview offers multiple improvements to virtual production workflows through new shot creation and scene control tools. For example: shooting with multiple VCams is now possible, giving filmmakers more creative power.
Apple Silicon support
The Universal Binary of Unreal Engine that natively supports both Apple Silicon and Intel CPUs to the Unreal Editor is now available to download from the Epic Games launcher.
Unreal Editor for Fortnite is a new way to design, develop, and publish content into Fortnite that takes advantage of the Unreal Editor’s development workflows and proven PC-based toolset.
Over time, UEFN will evolve to feature most of the same tools available in Unreal Engine 5 (and beyond) that enable the publication and distribution of experiences on a massive scale. Today’s Public Beta release is the first major step towards achieving this goal.
UEFN works side-by-side and is additive to Fortnite’s existing Creative toolset. Launched in 2018, Fortnite Creative is a sandbox editing mode in Fortnite that enables creators to level edit, modify the environment and game mechanics, and publish in-game playable islands.
The Verse Programming Language:
Today, Verse is aimed at getting UEFN developers and creators up and running with the ability to script alongside existing Fortnite Creative tools and teams. In its first release, Verse offers powerful customization capabilities such as manipulating or chaining together devices and the ability to easily create new game logic.
Verse is far more than just a new way to code in Fortnite, however. Verse is being designed as a programming language for the metaverse, with upcoming features to enable future scalability to open worlds with code and content that’s built in collaboration by millions of creators for billions of players.
The version of Verse available in the UEFN Public Beta is an early version of the API and framework, but we’ll expand Verse’s capabilities as the language evolves. Verse will become a fully supported programming language in Unreal Engine. It will be open source, with open API specifications for anyone to use for their own needs or to easily interface with Epic’s ecosystem.
We’re very excited to announce that there is a new MetaHuman feature set coming soon.
MetaHuman Animator will enable you to use your iPhone or stereo helmet-mounted camera (HMC) to reproduce any facial performance as high-fidelity animation on MetaHuman characters. With it, you’ll be able to capture the individuality, realism, and fidelity of your actor’s performance, and transfer every detail and nuance onto any MetaHuman to bring them to life in Unreal Engine.
You can learn more about the Unreal Engine 5.2 preview release, Unreal Editor for Fortnite, MetaHuman Animator and more in the video below.