News From Epic Games - February 2012 UDK Beta Released

[rexoli]

Epic Games Releases February 2012 Unreal Development Kit BetaEpic Games, Inc. has released the February 2012 Unreal Development Kit Beta, the latest version of the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides access to the award-winning 3D game engine and toolset used in blockbuster video game development, architectural visualization, mobile game development, 3D rendering, digital films and more. The latest UDK beta is available now at www.udk.com/download (http://www.udk.com/download).

Unreal Engine Showcase: Renegade Xhttp://www.udk.com/elements/img/galleries/showcase-renegadex-3.jpg (http://www.udk.com/showcase-chivalry)
When the team at Totem Arts wanted to turn their award-winning Unreal Tournament 3 mod into a standalone experience, they instantly knew that the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) was the only tool for them.
Now, with a single-player campaign already released and multiplayer on the way, Renegade X (http://www.renegade-x.com/) is another example of how the powerful and easy-to-use tools of the Unreal Engine 3 toolset (http://www.unrealengine.com/features) enable small developers to make their vision a reality. Read more (http://www.udk.com/showcase).
We have showcases of some of the most outstanding video game, architectural visualization, and mobile apps using UDK atwww.udk.com/showcase (http://www.udk.com/showcase) and www.unrealengine.com/showcase (http://www.unrealengine.com/showcase). Also be sure to check out the Works in Progress (http://forums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=385) and theReleased Projects (http://forums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=386) forums.

February UDK Beta Upgrade NotesiOS Rendering

Added support for uniform color multiply mask
http://www.udk.com/elements/img/Feb2012-iOSrendering.jpg

Documentation can be found here (https://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MobileMaterialReference#Color Blending)
Mobile Scaleform

Added full support for Scaleform user interfaces on iOS devices
http://www.udk.com/elements/img/Feb2012-mobscaleform.jpg
ReCast

Integrated ReCast navigation mesh toolset, which provides fast and robust generation of navigation meshes
http://www.udk.com/elements/img/Feb2012-ReCast.jpg

Unreal QualitySwitch material expression

A new material expression that enables you to make High and Low quality versions of a material
http://www.udk.com/elements/img/Feb2012-QualitySwitch.jpg

Controlled by a switch in the material editor within the Utility Group, called QualitySwitch
The quality mode used is based on video settings. Similar to the Resolution and World Detail settings, Material Quality can now be set to low for older computers
Unreal Landscape

You can now save and share foliage settings in packages
http://www.udk.com/elements/img/Feb2012-Landscape.jpg

Unreal Editor

New “Create Sub-Archetype” feature added to Content Browser. Right click on Archetype assets to create sub-archetypes
Material editor: Added “WorldPosOffset” category to the right click menu
New and Updated UDN Pages

Mobile

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InGameAds.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/GameCenter.html

UnrealScript

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/GFxUDKFrontEndGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CLIKINIList.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CLIKChatBox.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CLIKScriptedAnimation.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CLIKIconScrollList.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/KismetOnlineSubsystem.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NetworkingOverview.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/FunctionReplication.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/GameStateReplication.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationRoles.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/VariableReplication.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PackagesAndNetworking.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ArchetypesTechnicalGuide.html

Getting Started

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AssetPipeline.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ContentHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TechnicalHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MainEditorMenuBar.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitGemsRTSStarterKit.html

FBX

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/StaticMeshHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/EnvironmentArtistHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/FBXSkeletalMeshPipeline.html

Misc

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Scaleform.html.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NormalMapProcessing.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/WebHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitBuildUpgradeNotes.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/FXArtistHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ParticleSystemsHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MeshPaintReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitGems.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ClientServerModel.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationGlossary.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationInfos.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationRelevancy.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationVariableReplicationNotes.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationWeapons.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationPatternClientToServerRPC.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationPatternServerToClientRPC.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationPatternRepNotify.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationTornOff.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationTemporary.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ReplicationProxy.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NetworkProfiler.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NavigationMeshReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/OnlineSubsystemSteamworks.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AIOverview.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NavigationMeshTechnicalGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NavMeshConstraintsAndGoalEvaluators.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NavMeshDynamicObstacleSplitting.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/WaypointsTechnicalGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/NavMeshManualCreation.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AIAndNavigationHome.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CrowdSystem.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKCommunityLinks.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UsingSkeletalControllers.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PostProcessAA.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysXReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicsConstraintReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicsDampingAndFriction.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhATUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicalMaterial.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicalMaterialMask.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysXSoftBodyReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysXParticleSystemReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicalMaterialProperty.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CustomLighting.html

[farshad12]

Thanks epic. Thank you, thank you, thank you. :)

Although some people may think this build doesn't have that much change, at least to me this build is great, even has greater and more useful changes than 2 last builds. Only for "Mobile Scaleform" update.

Actually I'm working on a project (witch is in the last phase before release), and since very first day of this new project I knew that this is a perfect one for iOS, mostly because of straight gameplay, simple controls and no need for large screens. After a little search I found out that some aspects of the project need to change to work on mobile, including landscapes and materials. All of the changes was possible and also not so hard. The only problem that was a serious one for this particular project was UI. The project took me about 4.5 months, but the UI designing alone took me 2 of this 4.5 months. I neither wanted to use canvas (witch couldn't give me this visual effects easily) nor couldn't (mostly because of needed time and lack of features - even by considering that canvas is very very flexible).

So in the last month I kind of decided to release the game only for PC, until 3 hours ago that I saw this new build. I know that iOS has been supported by Scaleform GFx for some time now but without the complete integration we couldn't use it of course. So thanks to this update I now can release the game for both PC and iOS. I was with udk since its start from 2009 and still this update is one of the most exciting updates at least for me. :)

BTW 2 more things:
1. The link for documentation of color mask at the top is wrong. It needs to start with http, not https.
2. Are you going to create some documentation for Mobile Scaleform? (I know that it is much the same as normal but surely there is some limitations or at least some performance issues that we need to be aware of. Maybe even some tips about scaleform touch input.)

Again thank you epic for your efforts and keep up the good work.

[Jetfire]

ReCast? oh wow, so, SO happy, thanks, Epic :D

[Rogdor]

Add me for a +1 for ReCast. =D

Scaleform for mobile is a pretty big deal too. Significant update.

[Farseer]

Recast! That I really didn't see coming, thanks a ton Epic! No more hacking exported maps into Recast and back into Ued, eh Jetfire? ;)

[cheesemoo0]

I don't know much about ReCast. Is it better than the old way? For example would it be better to build with the old system when doing a final build and only use ReCast for testing? Assuming you can switch between the two.

[Solid Snake]

You can switch between Recast and the older NavMesh build system.

http://www.digitalconfectioners.com/images/NavMeshRecastComparision.png

Here's a comparison...