r/UnrealEngine5

We’ve all run into the issue where Unreal Engine landscapes look gorgeous up close, but completely lose their soul and turn flat near the horizon. Brute-forcing grass density or heavy displacements kills performance, so I spent the last few months looking for a loophole.

I ended up creating DistanceLushGrass, an early-stage, plug-and-apply material function that restores that lost distance depth.

Instead of adding geometry, it uses a spatially aware, temporally stable screen-space noise to hold volumetric detail. Because it relies on a single 512px texture footprint, the performance impact is almost unnoticeable and it works on top of any existing landscape shader.

It’s still a work in progress, but I wanted to share the concept. How do you guys usually handle the "flat distance" curse in your own projects? If anyone has questions about the screen-space noise setup, fire away!

Hi everyone,

This is an extended comparison based on the original motion capture test shared by u/Shateiel3D on X, which compared Unreal Engine 5.8 MetaHuman Animator vs QuickMagic using the same motion actor performance.

In this post, I added AIMoCap into the same benchmark using the identical motion actor performance video to ensure a consistent and fair comparison.

What I found interesting is that even with the same input motion, each system seems to interpret foot contact and motion stability very differently, especially in fast directional changes and transitions.

Workflow:

• Input: professional motion actor performance video
• Same source used across all systems
• Motion processed independently per system

Systems compared:

• Unreal Engine 5.8 MetaHuman Animator
• QuickMagic
• AIMoCap

Key aspects observed:

• Motion stability
• Foot sliding / ground contact behavior
• Overall perceived realism differences

This is intended as an experimental extension of an existing benchmark, not a ranking or “best tool” comparison.

I’m curious how others here would interpret the differences — especially from an Unreal Engine animation workflow perspective:

👉 Which result would actually require the least cleanup in production?

Hey everyone,I’ve been working hard on this project for the last two months. I’ve put a lot of focus into the mechanics—doors actually open, elevators function, and the windows are fully breakable.Now that the programming framework is mostly there, I’m staring at the actual layout and feeling a bit overwhelmed about the visuals and composition. It's a blockout right now, but I want to make sure the foundation is solid before I dive into texturing and detailed assets.As a solo creator, it’s easy to get tunnel vision. I would really love some fresh eyes on this:Does the layout of the buildings make sense for an island base?How is the overall scale looking between the structures and the terrain?Any tips on how to make the empty spaces feel more natural or alive later on?I'm totally open to constructive, gentle feedback. Thank you so much for taking a look and helping me push through this creative block!

My game is heavly inspired by the game Carrion, where you play as a red tentacle monster eat humans and escape from the bunker, look at the video do you all think the creator of the game Carrion can sue me ??? I have no intention of stealing other people idea, I really like that game and wanted to make own game like that.

Saw a tutorial on youtube for pixelating a texture but it was in Unity, So decided to recreate that effect in Unreal Engine! Attached the Node system as well so anyone can recreate it as well!! Lemme know what you guys think!
Node Image: https://postimg.cc/LJbXxQFq

If you're on Unity here's the link to the original video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZDlCuIpq9I

Hey everyone!

I’m currently optimization-hunting for my upcoming first-person survival horror game built on Unreal Engine 5, specifically targeting the Steam Deck.

In my project, Nanite and MegaLights are forced on by default. After tweaking the settings to a Custom Medium preset (using Screen Space reflections/GI and TSR on Balanced at 1280x720), I’m getting a stable 39–44 FPS (averaging right around 40).

As you can see from the performance overlay in first screenshot, RAM and VRAM usage are extremely low, leaving plenty of headroom. The second one shows how the atmosphere holds up with the spooky character model (Metahuman character) in the dark.

For those who regularly play modern indie games on the Deck:

1. Do these frame rates and visuals look acceptable to you for a portable UE5 title?
2. Would you prefer an unlocked 40+ FPS or a rock-solid 40Hz/40FPS lock for better frame pacing and battery life?

Would love to hear your feedback and technical thoughts!

Hi everyone!
I’m an indie game developer currently working on a new horror concept called El Duende – The Forest That Watches.
Rather than jumping straight into full production, I created this short teaser to test whether the atmosphere, visual direction and overall concept resonate with players.
Before committing several years of development, I’d really love to hear honest feedback from the community.
A few questions:
Would you wishlist a game like this?
Does the atmosphere make you curious?
What kind of gameplay would you expect after watching this?
Would you rather play it on PC or Nintendo Switch 2?
I’m not looking for compliments—I genuinely want to know if this concept feels strong enough to become a full game.
Thanks for your time, and I appreciate any honest feedback.
Disclosure: AI tools (Tripo AI) were used during the creation of this concept teaser. This post is intended to gather feedback on the game’s atmosphere and concept before full development.

Hey Guys,
I made a Metahuman Rig for Maya..
you can Animate using this rig inside of maya then export that Animation to any Metahuman in UE5

Demo youtube video:- https://youtu.be/EGn_AxxFza4
Download link Gumroad:-kaustubhkanchan.gumroad
Discord:- https://discord.com/invite/APwmN2tujA
Insta:- https://www.instagram.com/kaustubh.kanchan/
Coffee:- https://buymeacoffee.com/kaustubhkanchan

Hey Guys,

We are hosting a limited time bundle with the awesome creators over at ScansFactory. It features over 15 of their crazy quality scanned environments.

If you are looking for a good deal feel free to have a look here:

https://bundlefoundry.com/bundle/ue-scanned-ruins-abandoned-environments-bundle-by-scansfactory

Hey Reddit! I'm currently working on this personal environment concept. The goal is to build a cozy fantasy village that serves as a backdrop for a "save the town from bandits" mission.

Before I dive into the production art and texturing, I want to make sure the foundation is solid. How is the scale and overall composition looking to you?

Any suggestions on how to improve the storytelling through the blockout are more than welcome!

I'm using Landscape Splines to place roads, and corner/4way meshes at the end of the spline. Even though my models are precisely compatible, and x and y axis values are all 0 for all the spline control points(same for the corner mesh at the end), the spline road's one side sits a little higher than the other side. This doesn't happen when I use the meshes and snap them together without using the spline. I need the spline to curve the road and give it a natural look, but I couldn't fix this no matter what I did(even flattened the landscape region) what could be the cause for this, and how could I fix this?

I don't know if this helps anyone, maybe if you guys don't want to buy from fab or looking for a cheap workaround. I first downloaded a control-panel reference image from Google, then cleaned and enhanced it in Photoshop so the details looked sharper and clearer. After that, I brought it into Blender and used it as a material on a cube mesh. The cube was slightly deformed and adjusted so the image would sit properly inside the cabinet shape instead of looking completely flat. I also added some extra mesh details and cube frames like dividers and borders to create depth. Then I added two glasses, one translucent blackish shade and one with the rain effect on top, and used an angled perspective/parallax effect to make the flat image feel more 3D.