Learn Digital Alchemy

10/23/2024

The FAB Marketplace has officially launched and Megascans assets are still free until the end of the year. Epic gave us an easy button to claim the entire Megascans library for free (Ok, so it's a two click solution really, but still painless).

But what about our existing projects? Well the good news is that we can still use Quixel Bridge inside of Unreal Engine just as we did before. So our old projects are still intact and we can even start new projects using Quixel Bridge.

Learn all about it in the video!
https://youtu.be/95tpupoYntE

The new FAB marketplace has finally been released by Epic Games and this consolidates everything down into one place - including Quixel Megascans! Thankfully...

10/13/2024

For Halloween this year I wanted to make a cool scene in Unreal Engine with a spooky theme, so I went with a graveyard. I only had 5 days to pull this off and I needed to make some custom assets too, so I had to be super efficient. Walk with me through how I put this thing together. We're also going to take a dive into things like using tessellation for displacement in Unreal Engine 5 and how to light a night time scene.

For Halloween this year I wanted to make a cool scene in Unreal Engine with a spooky theme, so I went with a graveyard. I only had 5 days to pull this off an...

09/20/2024

With only a limited amount of time to get all of your free Megascans assets before they go paid with FAB, it's a good idea to plan out your kits and start your downloads! In this episode we're going to create a kit library using the asset gym and migration method.
https://youtu.be/WOfvHuxe3I0

With only a limited amount of time to get all of your free Megascans assets before they go paid with FAB, it's a good idea to plan out your kits and start yo...

07/11/2024

Are you a 3D prop artist that needs a short term gig and wants to work on an MMORPG? Got a short term 3 month contract for game prop creation. Going to need hundreds of assets created between now and the end of September. Please read the requirements below and drop a line if interested.

06/26/2024

Dive into the world of Unreal Engine with me!

I spend 85% of my time at work using Unreal Engine, and it's become essential for anyone looking to break into the entertainment industry. If you want to succeed and create stunning visuals, learning Unreal Engine is a must!

🎓 Check out my free courses on YouTube or take your skills to the next level with my advanced classes. Find the link in my bio! 💻✨

05/14/2024

Come learn Blueprint in Unreal Engine at the ONLY Premiere Authorized Unreal Training Center in North America! 10 weeks. No Blueprint experience necessary. Classes start May 21st. Limited Spots Available. Follow the link below to learn more.
CG Pro School

https://www.becomecgpro.com/info-blueprint

05/10/2024

Brand new MUST HAVES for your Unreal Engine projects! It’s May 2024 and the Unreal Engine Marketplace just dropped the FREE monthly assets! I’m super excited because this month is environment heavy. We’re going to look at 8… yes you heard that right… 8 environments for you to download for FREE and use in your Unreal Engine projects.

https://youtu.be/QkoAdvVN6d0

It’s May 2024 and the Unreal Engine Marketplace just dropped the FREE monthly assets! I’m super excited because this month is environment heavy. We’re going ...

05/04/2024

Part 2 of the Let's Build a Lightsaber in Unreal Engine 5.4 tutorial is now out on YouTube! Continuing on from our Blueprint we created in Part 1, we're going to take advantage of the powerful Enum variable type to create a user friendly way to switch lightsaber types. Whether you identify as a Jedi, a Sith, or Samuel L Jackson, the Enum will let you swap in an instant using a drop down select box. Happy Star Wars Day!

Happy Star Wars Day! In Part 2 of the Let's Build a Lightsaber in Unreal Engine 5 tutorial, we're going to use an Enum to add some customization to our light...

05/03/2024

Happy early Star Wars Day 2024!
All my spent time working in Virtual Production on Star Wars IP for Disney+ and the one thing I never got to work with in Unreal was the lightsabers! So I figured I'd make one myself and turn it into a tutorial series for the holiday.
I know it's a day early, but that's because 5/4 falls on a Saturday so it's more like a Star Wars weekend. Which means I'm dropping this first episode on Friday the 3rd. Check it out below!

https://youtu.be/ikOI7vPm6cQ

Happy Star Wars Day 2024! Today we're going to jump into Unreal Engine 5.4 and learn how to create a Lightsaber with Blueprint. All my spent time working in ...

05/03/2024

🐾 Hi Friends, it's Shira, your favorite fluffy influencer here with your weekly Shira says!!

My dad, the hooman that works for me 💁‍♀️, has this genius Master Class course that'll blow your paws off! 🧦🎓 Why is this important?!...

First off, treats. Yep, you heard me right! Treats, treats, and MORE treats! 🍖🍗 With every purchase of dad's Master Class, I'm one step closer to an endless supply of delicious goodies. And trust me, a husky's gotta keep her snack game strong! 💪🐕

But that's not all, fur-friends! 🏖️🌊 Picture this: me, Shira the husky, living her best life at the dog beach, soaking up the sun, and frolicking in the waves. 🌞🌊 With dad rolling in the dough from his Master Class success, he'll have all the time in the world to spend with me at the beach! 🏝️🐾

So what are you waiting for? Don't let this golden opportunity slip through your paws! 🐾💰 Grab dad's Master Class NOW !!!

04/27/2024

Missed the podcast when it was live? You can still catch it on YouTube. This was a fun one! We discussed the 3D asset creation across industries, the realities of AI, game optimization, and much much more. Check it out and have a watch!

https://youtube.com/live/DcCI1NfVKIM

Turn your videos into live streams with Restream https://restre.am/ANImJohn Waynick is an entrepreneurial Creative Director with a background as a Technical ...

04/24/2024

Come join me to learn live and enhance your Blueprint skills in Unreal!

Our Blueprints for Film and Games course is kicking off on May 21st! Led by John Waynick, in this advanced course you'll delve into crafting comprehensive games and enhancing film productions using Blueprints, with no prior blueprint experience required, only a basic familiarity with Unreal Engine! 🤩

https://www.becomecgpro.com/info-blueprint

04/23/2024

Unreal Engine 5.4 is out of preview and has been officially released!

Battle-tested on our own productions, this release brings new features and improvements to performance, visual fidelity, and productivity for game developers and creators across industries.

04/18/2024

Last day in Vegas. I'm going to miss the neon lights.

04/13/2024

We're at this weekend! Get 30% off with cpupon code NAB2024 at unrealenginepro.com while NAB is going on. Come learn today!
And don't forget to come say hi if you're at NAB!

04/09/2024

Missed the Live airing of the CG Pro School podcast? You can catch the playback on YouTube.

Turn your videos into live streams with Restream https://restre.am/ANImJohn Waynick is an entrepreneurial Creative Director with a background as a Technical ...

04/08/2024

I just released a new video. It's April 2024 and the Unreal Engine Marketplace just dropped the FREE monthly assets! This month we're going to start off with a market page review of all 5 free packs, then we're going to put 4 of them into the same project and do a more in depth review. While we're doing that, we'll turn the Ancient Golem into a playable character and even transform everything into a stylized environment.

We're going to be using these 4 packs:
- Ancient Golem by StanislavGeivah
- UCreate - Gothic Cathedral Asset Pack by MichalSornat
- Watermills / Nature Environment + ULAT by Leartes Studios
- Stylized - Clay Forest Village Pack by Studio Kobo

Link in bio or below:
https://youtu.be/yt3W5LPcRiA

It's April 2024 and the Unreal Engine Marketplace just dropped the FREE monthly assets! Let's grab a few of them to install in one project and see if we can ...

03/27/2024

Are your normal maps looking broken in Unreal when they look fine in Marmoset Toolbag? You might have the wrong format! Learn about the 2 different Tangent Space Normal Map formats, which one Unreal uses, and how to fix your normal maps so that they look right in Unreal.

Check out the full video in the link below
https://youtu.be/Wy6H8VfK_oo

Full Unreal Engine Pro Masterclass, Go from Beginner to Pro: https://unrealenginepro.com/Normal maps looking broken in Unreal when they look fine in Marmoset...

03/12/2024

⁉️ Unreal is no longer free?! ⁉️ Epic Games just announced the new pricing model for Unreal Engine this morning and it has some indie filmmakers and students worried. But there's no reason to be. Let's have a look at what the new model actually is and break down the math.

https://youtu.be/ZX737s4cd84

Epic Games just announced the new pricing model for Unreal Engine this morning and it has some indie filmmakers and students worried. But there's no reason t...

03/11/2024

I've released a new Unreal Engine 5 video! Lighting can make or break your 3D scene, no matter if you are working for film or games. Lumen is a system for delivering real time, dynamic global illumination that can offer results that are often on par with offline ray traced renderers. But what is global illumination and how does it actually work? In this video we demystify the real world physics of global illumination into laymen's terms with examples both inside Unreal and in the real world.

I’ve always said that good lighting can make a bad model look good, but bad lighting can make a good model look bad. When rendering a 3D scene, whether it’s for game or for film, the lighting can make the difference between a good render and a bad render.

https://youtu.be/ivFl0FbTJ7M

https://unrealenginepro.com/ - In this excerpt from the World Building course inside the Unreal Engine Pro Masterclass, we start diving into lighting with Un...

03/07/2024

It's March 2024 and the Unreal Engine Marketplace just dropped the FREE monthly assets! Let's grab a few of them to install in one project and see if we can get them working together. We've got both 3D character and 3D environment assets to integrate today. We're going to get the environment set up between 2 packs, then get the character pack all set up to actually play as in the environment (both male and female variants).
We're going to be using these 3 packs:
- Modular Medieval Town
- Ultimate Farming
- Primitive Characters

https://youtu.be/Zhl01CdQyOU

It's March 2024 and the Unreal Engine Marketplace just dropped the FREE monthly assets! Let's grab a few of them to install in one project and see if we can ...

02/29/2024

02/14/2024

01/24/2024

Unreal Engine gives you a convenient jumping off point with starter templates. But did you know that you can easily add multiple starter templates to the same project? Better yet, you can use Game Modes to determine specific starter (or custom) templates per specific map. And of course, no matter what kind of game or cinematic you are creating, you should always include the Third Person Template so you can make use of the mannequins for scale reference and the level prototyping tools. In this quick video, I'll show you how to add multiple starter templates to a blank Unreal Project. Did you forget to check the "Add Starter Content" box when you created your project? I'll show you how to add it in after the fact too.

https://youtu.be/op6r4qChCLg?si=XDQxq57jb19uGMZN

https://unrealenginepro.com/ - Adding Content and Feature Packs to an Unreal Engine project. In this excerpt from the World Building section of the Unreal En...