Unreal Engine 4 y la Realidad Virtual

Epic Games' Tim Sweeney and Mike Fricker give a first glimpse of VR content creation using the first VR Editor for a game engine. Using the Unreal Editor in VR mode developers can create content in VR using the HTC Vive and Oculus motion controls. Check out unrealengine.com/blog for more information, and watch Twitch.tv/UnrealEngine on March 16 for release details.


Now it’s 2016, and the Unreal Engine is the first engine to support building VR content in VR. This breakthrough is the brainchild of Epic technical director Mike Fricker, who began prototyping the concept back in 2014 on Oculus DK1.

Back when Palmer Luckey connected with Brendan Iribe to build Oculus, Mark Rein saw an early DK1 prototype and advocated for immersive Unreal Editor support. I thought the idea was a little bit crazy because the Unreal Editor demanded precise controls, while early VR hardware struggled with low-fidelity input.

But when the HTC Vive and Oculus Touch motion controllers came along, the question of controls answered itself. You can manipulate 3D objects in 3D with the motion controllers just as you do in the real world with your hands. Mike Fricker’s pioneering implementation brought the same magical feeling of using an iPad for the first time: Your brain already knows how to use this thing! For me, VR editing feels so real that I have dreams about it. Not dreams where I’m sitting in front of a computer, but dreams in which I’m there!