We were talking about it last May (see article), engine UnrealEngine ofEpic Games is full of technologies of all kinds to try to obtain the best rendering with the least possible power, this is what we more commonly call optimization. However, the two most important components, namely Nanite and Lumenwere not available for game development in VRbut that was before !
But what are we really talking about? On our modern PCs and next-gen consoles (Xbox Series X|S, PS5), the geometric system Nanite of the’EU5 brings a new way to create and view assets (elements) of our games. In previous engines, when the camera moved far enough away or got close enough to an element (a stone, a car, a character…), one or more versions of this same element were displayed depending on the distance at which placed the camera, with detailed textures for close elements and less detailed textures for those further away. This technical process, which is called LOD (Level of Detail), reduces the resources of our machines. With NaniteIt’s from the past !
From now on, the artists no longer have to model each version of the game object several times, it is the engine that takes care of doing it for them in real time and without the reduction being visibly perceptible by the player. . Therefore, the assets of the game look incredibly detailed from near and far, while avoiding the “popping” effect that was previously considered the engine’s trademark. You will have noticed it in your life as a gamer, when you instantly see the detailed textures suddenly become poor and vice versa depending on your movement. With Naniteyou will no longer see any difference in detail on textures or polygons, no matter where you are in the game.
Re Lumenit is a global lighting system, understand by this that it is enough to indicate a point (like the sun) and the engine takes care of the restwhether it is the effects of reflections, shadows, lights, refraction, everything is calculated by the engine, a bit like the ray tracing from home NVIDIAbut much less greedy. Lumen allows artists to free up time, where they had to place the lights in the majority of cases to obtain this or that effect. In addition to this gain, the said technologies will allow, as you will have understood, to benefit from a better rendering in VRmeaning better graphics.
With l’UnrealEngine 5.1, Nanite and Lumen now work in VRas confirmed by Alex Coulombe, CEO of Avenue (company specializing in immersive shows for the metaverse). He states in his tweet that his test build maintains 90fps on a laptop with a mobile RTX 3080. If you want to test his level, he posted a download link public of its test application.
The public version of theUnreal Engine 5 on GitHub works for pc VRbut Meta has its own branch EU5 that he recommends for native development on Quest 2. Be careful however, Nanite and Lumen do not work on Android, and are not designed to work with mobile chips in general, so native Quest 2 or Pico 4 games will be limited to existing technology, in other words, only PC games VR are affected by the thing!
If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, you can treat yourself to a Meta Quest 2 to the Fnac, Darty or at Amazon for €449.99. You can also find good PCs for gamers there.