author: Michael Zegar
Here's Another Beautiful Unreal Engine 5 Demo
Another photorealistic fan-made Unreal Engine 5 demo has appeared on the web - this time titled „The Carpenter's Cellar”. To achieve such a high level of visual quality, the author used the path tracing technique.
The next, fifth generation of Unreal Engine will soon come out of the early access phase. The technology offers almost photorealistic visuals, as we could see in Epic Games' playable tech demo titled The Matrix Awakens.
It should come as no surprise, however, that some enthusiasts are trying to set the bar even higher. One of such people is the youtuber known as BlackOudanArt, whose latest video shows off the power of Unreal Engine 5. The effect is stunning.
The Valley of the Uncanny
At first, you may get the impression that what you have just seen is not a render but a smoothly edited video from a real workshop. But a closer look at the shadows on the shelf on the left side of the room and the flickering light on certain surfaces makes it clear that what we've just seen is "artificial" after all.
The developer assures us that he didn't use the benefits of photogrammetry:
"I developed everything from scratch, I didn't use any photoscans - except for the rusty metal texture on the tool wall and the one used on the ground (it came from Quixel).
I also used ZBrush, Substance Painter and Maya to create some assets (...)."
Path tracing
In order to achieve this quality of visuals BlackOudanArt used the so-called path tracing, which works on the basis of ray tracing.
- This resulted in an almost photorealistic level of global illumination.
- The Youtuber is already creating another video from "The Carpenter's Cellar" - but this time he is to use UE5's built-in tool Lumen.
Summary
This engine powers also Senua's Saga: Hellblade II and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (although work on the latter game is currently on hold due to the war in Ukraine). Both titles can boast stunning visuals in the materials presented so far.
What's more, CD Projekt RED announcedthat it also intends to use it in the development of its future works - including the so-called 'The Witcher 4'.
However, it will be a long time before the graphics in video games will reach a level equal to that of the above video by BlackOudanArt. Who knows, maybe, for example, Crytek could manage it in Crysis 4.