Unreal Engine Course

Lesson 1 • Understanding the Project Structure

Explains folder conventions, asset types, and the relationship between levels and maps. Proper structure prevents asset management issues in later projects.

Lesson 2 • Installing and Configuring Unreal Engine

Covers Epic Games Launcher setup, engine version selection, and project templates. Establishes the working environment for all subsequent chapters.

Lesson 3 • Navigating the Editor Interface

Introduces the Viewport, Content Browser, Outliner, and Details panel. Students gain fluency in the core UI panels used throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Blueprint Classes and the Event Graph

Covers Blueprint class types, the Event Graph canvas, and execution flow. Connects visual scripting concepts to the actors placed in Chapter 1.

Lesson 2 • Variables, Data Types, and Casting

Teaches declaring variables, common data types, and casting between object types. Proper typing prevents runtime errors in complex logic.

Lesson 3 • Blueprint Communication Patterns

Covers direct references, casting, interfaces, and the Event Dispatcher pattern for inter-Blueprint communication. Enables scalable multi-actor interactions.

Lesson 4 • Debugging and Profiling Blueprints

Introduces breakpoints, print strings, and the Blueprint debugger to identify logic errors. Students develop systematic troubleshooting habits early.

Lesson 1 • Material Instances and Parameters

Teaches creating Material Instances from parent materials and exposing scalar and vector parameters. Instances enable efficient variation without recompilation.

Lesson 2 • Advanced Material Techniques

Explores blend modes, opacity masking, emissive surfaces, and vertex color blending. Students create complex surfaces needed for environment art.

Lesson 3 • Textures and UV Mapping

Covers texture import settings, UV coordinate nodes, and tiling. Correct UV setup is essential for realistic surface detail.

Lesson 1 • Light Types and Properties

Covers Directional, Point, Spot, and Rect lights along with their mobility settings. Light mobility determines which rendering pipeline is used.

Lesson 2 • Rendering Performance Optimization

Teaches GPU profiling, draw call reduction, and scalability settings. Students balance visual quality against target hardware performance.

Lesson 3 • Baked Lighting with Lightmass

Explains Lightmass settings, lightmap UV requirements, and building lighting. Baked lighting delivers high-quality results for static environments.

Lesson 4 • Sky, Atmosphere, and Post-Process

Covers Sky Atmosphere, Volumetric Clouds, and the Post-Process Volume for color grading. These systems complete the visual look of any scene.

Lesson 1 • Game Mode, Player State, and Game State

Covers the Gameplay Framework classes that manage rules, scores, and player data. Proper use of these classes enables multiplayer-ready architecture.

Lesson 2 • Physics Simulation Fundamentals

Explains enabling physics on actors, mass, damping, and constraints. Students create physically reactive props for gameplay scenarios.

Lesson 3 • Collision Setup and Responses

Covers collision presets, channels, and overlap versus hit events. Correct collision configuration is the foundation of all physics interactions.

Lesson 4 • Damage, Health, and Pickups

Implements a health component, damage events, and pickup actors using Blueprints. Students complete a self-contained gameplay loop.

Lesson 1 • Blend Spaces and Locomotion

Teaches 1D and 2D blend spaces to interpolate between walk, run, and strafe animations. Smooth locomotion is essential for player-controlled characters.

Lesson 2 • Animation Sequences and Montages

Explains animation sequence import, notifies, and montage sections for triggered actions. Montages enable on-demand animations like attacks and interactions.

Lesson 3 • Skeletal Meshes and Skeleton Assets

Covers importing skeletal meshes, skeleton retargeting, and socket creation. A correctly configured skeleton is required for all animation work.

Lesson 4 • Animation Blueprint State Machines

Covers state machine creation, transition rules, and layered animation blending. State machines manage complex animation logic in a maintainable graph.

Lesson 1 • UMG Widget Blueprint Basics

Introduces the UMG Designer, common widgets, and the widget hierarchy. UMG is the primary UI framework used throughout this chapter.

Lesson 2 • Binding Data to UI Elements

Covers property bindings, event-driven updates, and passing data from game logic to widgets. Efficient data binding prevents performance issues in complex UIs.

Lesson 3 • Animations and Transitions in UMG

Explains UMG animation tracks, widget transitions, and sequencer-driven UI effects. Animated UI improves perceived polish and player feedback.

Lesson 4 • Inventory and HUD Systems

Builds a grid-based inventory widget and a persistent HUD using the HUD class. Students integrate UI with the gameplay systems built in Chapter 5.

Lesson 1 • Asset Optimization and LOD Setup

Covers mesh LOD generation, texture compression, and asset auditing tools. Optimized assets are the single largest factor in runtime performance.

Lesson 2 • Platform-Specific Deployment

Covers desktop, console, and mobile platform requirements, SDK setup, and device testing. Each platform has unique constraints that must be addressed before release.

Lesson 3 • Packaging Settings and Build Configuration

Explains packaging project settings, cook maps list, and Development versus Shipping builds. Correct configuration prevents missing assets in the final build.

Lesson 4 • Memory and CPU Profiling

Introduces Unreal Insights, the stat commands, and memory profiling tools. Students identify and resolve CPU and memory bottlenecks before shipping.