Epic has released a new version of their UDK. Updated features include:
Upgraded to Scaleform 4
- Vastly improved rendering integration with multithreaded renderer
- Added Action Script 3 support. Action Script 2 is still supported.
- Includes CLIK 3.0 (Lightweight Interface Kit)
- Major improvements to the AMP profiler
- Updated UDN documentation
Unreal Landscape and Foliage
- Landscape flatten tool tool is enhanced with a flatten to slope option
- New Clay Brush makes sculpting of landscape vertex data much quicker and easier
- Foliage scale axis locking allows for variable Z scale but uniform XY scale, plus z-offset settings
- New reimport Heightmap / layer button for each layer
- Updated Unreal Landscape documentation with info on new layer nodes
- Updated foliage documentation with info on new features
- Foliage now follows base component on copy/paste/move/rotate/move-to-level
- Much improved brush painting behavior for both vertex and layers in regular (non-clay) mode. Repainting the same area no longer causes artifacts
- Changed the regular paint tool behavior so that painting over the same area requires multiple brush strokes. The functionality is now consistent with Zbrush and prevent artifacts
Editor
- You can now export skeletal meshes and animations from the editor, enabling bi-directional cinematic workflow
- Added the ability to adjust sound class volume levels from a matinee track
- The content browser’s ‘Packages’ view now returns to previously active view (hierarchical or flattened) when filter is cleared
- Added support for turning off startup movies and toggling cinematic mode for matinee movie captures
iOS
- High level Twitter UnrealScript-accessible support has been added
- You can now show the iOS 5 Tweet UI and optionally attach a local .png image and/or a URL, making use of the single-sign-on Twitter account(s) in iOS 5
- You can also submit a generic Twitter request (i.e., get the local user’s followers)
- Implemented for iOS 5
- Added ADPCM sound encoding support
Mac OS X feature parity work
- Additions and upgrades
- Added support for "Maximize" button
- Added full support for vertex texture fetch
- Minor PhysX library update, addressing some rare crashes, and adding "quickload" extension support
- Support for loops and secondary color attribute during shader generation
- Fixed issues
- Instanced drawing now on full parity with PC
- Light shafts now render properly and have full visual parity with PC
- Full-screen rendering and MSAA
- Inconsistent lens flares compared to PC
- Inconsistencies with anisotropic filtering between PC and Mac
- Shadows from spotlight on dynamic / skeletal meshes
A fairly significant release, especially if you are on Mac OS X. It is a 1.5 GB download. You can get it here.
Of course, now that you read all of that, is it a bad time to mention they have a video version highlighting all the recent changes?
I really have to look into it a bit closer. I downloaded and installed the last release, played around a little bit with the default level in the editor ( while watching my computer cry under the strain ) but never got into it much deeper than that.
It simply staggers my mind the wealth of affordable and professional tools available these days. I still recall not that long ago where everyone had to create everything themselves and the first available engines cost in the hundred of thousands of dollars to license. Amazing how much things have changed!
General