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Legal/Copyright Info

“UE5 Beginner’s Quick-Start Guide: How to Start Using Unreal® Engine 5 - Today”

Copyright ©2023 World of Level Design™ LLC. All rights reserved.

First Published: June 2023

Version: 1.0
Cover Image: Starter/Example Maps in Unreal® Engine 5
Ebook Created and Published by World of Level Design LLC
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Section 1: 11 Principles to Learning Unreal Engine 5
• Decide What Do You Want From UE5
• UE5 is a Collection of Editors and Plugins
• Most Common UE5 Terms You Need to Know About
• Everything in UE5 is Contained Within a Project
• Start with UE5 Project Game Templates
• What Does a Standard Level Contain in UE5
• Don't Make This As Your First Project
• What Should Your First Project Be with UE5
• Learn UE5 Modeling Mode
• Importance of Building Environments to Scale
• Beginner Roadmap to Learn UE5

Section 2: 14 Steps to Begin Using UE5 - TODAY

• Download and Install UE5
• Create Your First Project
• Include Starter Content
• Start, Save, Open Levels
• Interface Essentials
• Content Browser
• Engine Content
• Mastering Viewport Navigation
• Working with Objects/Actors
• Using Static Meshes
• Difference Between Textures and Materials
• 5 Light Types in UE5
• Working with Lights
• Play Test in Editor
• Essential Beginner’s Guide to UE5

Section 3: Complete Guide to Player Scale, Environment Dimensions

and Creating to Proportions
• Important Thing About Scale
• Scale in UE5
• Character/Player Reference Scale
• Walls
• Doors/Doorways
• Steps
• Windows
• Step-by-Step UE5 Beginner Tutorial Course

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Section 4: Re-Create Standard Map Template Lighting &
Disable/Control Auto-Exposure (Eye Adaptation)
• Create New Project
• Insert the Floor
• Which Actors to Insert
• Directional Light
• Sky Atmosphere
• Sky Light
• Volumetric Cloud
• Exponential Height Fog
• Player Start
• Post Process Volume
• Disable Auto-Exposure in 5.0
• Disable Auto-Exposure in 5.1+ (Update)

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Thanks for downloading this guide.

I love level design and environment art. Most of my time consists of

teaching, learning, testing and experimenting inside various game engines
and modeling software. I then take what I learn and create tutorials, videos,
and guides. I do all the work, so you don’t have to and so you can focus on
creation.

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UE5 Fundamentals is a step-by-step tutorial course to learning Unreal Engine
5 as complete beginner without any prior knowledge or experience.

“UE5: Fundamentals Vol.1 - Essential Beginner's Guide to Getting

Started with Unreal® Engine 5”

Learn UE5 as a complete beginner so you can

begin creating your own environments. The only
course you need to start creating environments
with UE5.

In this guide you will get:

• 40 videos
• 11+ hours of tutorials
• Instant Digital Download

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO...

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You just installed UE5 and want to begin learning and creating
environments.

Typing in "UE5 beginner tutorials" into Google will returns 300,000+ search
results. Google video search will return 70,000+ results.

So, starting at the top you begin watching and learning. After few tutorials
you start to get extremely overwhelmed, realizing there is a lot more to UE5.

At first glance, UE5 interface looks simple. But the more you learn, the more
you discover a massively complex piece of software.

In this post I will outline how to begin learning UE5 so you have a good
foundation to build on. This way you can begin using it rather than being
overwhelmed by it.

Here are 11 core principles you need to know about for learning UE5 from
scratch...

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 1. DECIDE WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM UE5
One thing you have to understand about UE5 - it is the complete game
engine.

It is used across many different industries such as video games, film,

television, architecture, broadcast, live events, training/simulation,
automotive/transportation.

Because of this, you will NEVER master every aspect of Unreal Engine and all
it has to offer. There is not enough time for that. So you need to narrow
your focus.

Decide what you want from UE5:

• Why you want learn UE5?

• What do you want to create with it?

The easiest way to decide is to pick an industry you want to go into

and create for:

• video games
• film
• television
• architecture
• broadcast
• live events
• training/simulation
• automotive/transportation

Narrow down to 1 on the list. This will help you focus on learning industry
pipeline to what you need out of UE5.

2. UE5 IS A COLLECTION OF EDITORS AND PLUGINS

The simplest way to think of Unreal Engine is a collection of editors, modes
and plug-ins.

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UE5 has a lot of editors, modes and plug-ins out of the box. Many of these
require a separate tutorial course to cover the complexity and depth of what
it can do to help you create in UE5.

Here is a list of some common editors and modes that are enabled in UE5:

• Level Editor: gameplay level editor

• Landscape Mode: landscapes
• Mesh Paint Mode: vertex color painting
• Foliage Mode: placing foliage
• Static Mesh Editor: 3d model behavior and visuals
• Modeling Mode: 3d model creation
• Material Editor: materials
• Texture Editor: textures
• Blueprint Editor: visual scripting
• Physics Asset Editor: physics
• Behavior Tree Editor: AI behavior
• Niagara Editor: particle
• UMG UI Editor: user interface
• Font Editor: fonts
• Sequencer Editor: cinematics
• Animation Editor: animation
• Control Rig Editor: animation rigs
• Sound Cue Editor: sound
• Media Editor: external media playback
• nDisplay 3D Config Editor: virtual production and live events
• DMX Library Editor: live events

This list doesn't even include hundreds of Plug-ins available in UE5. Some of
them are enabled at project start and many can be enabled by going to Edit
> Plugins:

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You can even download custom plug-ins created by others to extend the
functionality of UE5.

No wonder once you start learning UE5 you open the Pandora's Box and you
feel more confused and overwhelmed than before.

But the important thing is - you do not need to learn them all. Some of
these you will use on daily basis but many others only when needed.

3. MOST COMMON UE5 TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW

You will hear a lot of terms being used as you work in UE5. Here are some of
the common ones you'll encounter as you begin:

• Project: contains and organizes the content of your game or

environment within a specific folder directory.
• Blueprint: visual scripting system that can be used to create
gameplay for your game.
• Static Mesh: a 3d model created inside an modeling package such as
Maya, Blender, 3DSMax and imported into UE5. You can also use
Modeling Mode in UE5 to create Static Meshes.
• Asset: referrers to things like textures, materials, blueprints, Static
Meshes. Usually anything found inside the Content Browser is
considered an asset.
• Actor: refers to any object within a level. This can include lights,
Static Meshes, Blueprints, Player Start etc.
• Level/Map: level is made up of collection Static Meshes, lights,
blueprints, particles and more where the player will play or the viewer
will see. Terms level or map is used interchangeably.

4. EVERYTHING IN UE5 IS CONTAINED WITHIN A

PROJECT
Everything in UE5 is contained within a project. Before you can launch the
editor and work on creating your game or environments you have to create
a project.

A project will contain and organize the content of your game or environment
within a specific folder directory.

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Once you have a project created you can re-open this project to continue
working on your game or environment.

To create a project is very simple.

Launch UE5 version installed on your computer:

Go through the menus to select various Project Templates or start with a

Blank Project:

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 5. START WITH UE5 PROJECT GAME TEMPLATES
Creating your first Unreal Engine 5 project, make sure to use these 3 things:

• First, use one of the available game templates such as First Person
Shooter, Third Person Shooter, Top Down or Side Scroller.

These will give you the basic gameplay mechanics to use with your project
and begin prototyping.

You could also reverse engineer the mechanics for learning and build on the
existing functionality by adding your own changes.

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• Second, select to use Blueprint. Blueprint is a visual scripting
language inside UE5 and does not require you to have any C++
programming knowledge. Blueprints are extremely powerful and you
can use them to create an entire game.

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 • Third, include Starter Content. This will give you few assets to use
within your project such as Static Meshes, textures, materials, audio
and particle effects.

See this tutorial for a step-by-step to creating a project inside UE5.

6. WHAT DOES A STANDARD LEVEL CONTAIN IN UE5

A standard level should contain the following actors. Most of these but not all
are included in Basic Template map when you go to File > New Level.

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 • Directional Light
• Sky Light
• Sky Atmosphere
• Exponential Height Fog
• Static Meshes
• Materials
• Post Process Volume
• Player Start

These will give you enough to start creating your environments in but there
are many other actors you will need such as point lights, spot lights,
landscapes, particle effects, audio, blueprints, water, animations etc.

7. DON'T MAKE THIS AS YOUR FIRST PROJECT

It is very tempting to want to create a game or a custom environment as
your first project.

Don't.

There are too many moving parts and requires many skills. You have to
manage programming, modeling, lighting, texturing, material creation,
animation, effects etc. You will become overwhelmed and frustrated before
you even gotten a chance to learn the editor.

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 8. WHAT SHOULD YOUR FIRST PROJECT BE WITH UE5
You want to start with simple, small environment project using only Starter
Content. Most importantly something you can start and finish while learning
UE5. The goal is to learn UE5 editor and the tools.

First recommended project for all beginners is to create a small environment

such a single room, hallway or exterior area with only Starter Content.

Use the included assets such as Static Meshes, textures, materials, audio,
particle effects and Blueprints to construct an environment and light it.

Two ways you can add Starter Content to a project.

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First is during Project Creation screen:

Second is adding it into an existing project. Go to Add and Add Feature or

Content Pack:

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Use Starter Content assets to create a simple environment while focusing on
learning the fundamentals of UE5.

9. LEARN UE5 MODELING MODE

UE5 now comes with a Modeling Mode. You can create custom Static Meshes
(3d models) right inside the editor.
Modeling Mode is for:

• Creating new Static Mesh assets

• Editing existing Static Mesh assets

This Modeling Mode will not be replacing 3d modeling software such as

Maya, Blender, 3dsMax and others but it is a great tool to know how to use
in UE5.

Modeling Mode will be already enabled for you if you created UE5 project.

On the off chance that Modeling Mode isn't enabled by default, go to Edit >
Plugins and search for Modeling.

Enable Modeling Tools Editor Mode. This will require editor restart:

To open Modeling Mode use the drop down menu to change to Modeling
Mode (Shift + 5):

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There are a lot of tools here and it's not something you can learn by messing
around.

In Module 2 of the "UE5 Fundamentals Vol.1" we spend 3+ hours going over

how to use the Modeling Mode.

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 10. IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING TO SCALE
Number one mistake beginner's make is creating environments that are
either too small or too big. Wrong scale and proportions are off.

So here are some important dimension measurements you need to know

about when creating in UE5.

Everything in Unreal Engine uses centimeters (cm) as the measurement

system. UE5 calls this Unreal Units.

• Unreal Units (uu) = Centimeters (cm)

• 1 unreal unit = 1 cm
• Character Height: 180uu (about 6ft)

Third-Person Game Template has UE4 and UE5 mannequins that can be
added into a level and used as to judge proportions.

Go to Characters folder and either into Mannequin_UE4 or Mannequins

subfolder:

For Mannequin_UE4 go into Meshes folder and use SK_Mannequin:

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For Mannequins go into Meshes folder and use SKM_Manny,
SKM_Manny_Simple, SKM_Quinn or SKM_Quinn_Simple:

Always insert this scale mannequin into your levels to help you judge
proportions as you create.

11. BEGINNER ROADMAP TO LEARN UE5

Your first goal as a beginner is to learn how to use UE5 editor and its tools.

You want to stay entirely inside UE5 game engine. Avoid introducing any
external software such as Blender, Maya, Houdini or Substance
Painter/Designer. Focus on learning UE5.

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Here is the best way to learn UE5 as a complete beginner:

• First: focus on the essentials of the engine, such as editor's interface,

viewport navigation, using different viewport modes, project
management, using the Content Browser, working with objects in the
editor and creating very simple levels using Starter Content.
• Second: you need to learn how environments are constructed in UE5
and how to use existing assets in UE5 to create your own
environments. This includes using Static Meshes (3d models) and how
to work with Materials/Textures.
• Third: learn the Modeling Mode to create your own custom Static
Meshes (3d models) to use, right inside the editor.
• Fourth: learn essentials of lighting and how to light exteriors and
interiors with UE5.
• Fifth: learn how to use atmospheric effects such as fog, sky
atmosphere, using particles, adding audio and how to use Post Process
Volume to control visuals of your environment.

Once you are able to create your own environment following these steps,
you will be in a strong position to take UE5 in any direction you want.
I will teach you Unreal Engine 5 as a complete beginner with zero knowledge
of the engine and without any prior experience. I will guide you through
these 5 steps of learning UE5 in this "UE5 Fundamentals Vol.1" tutorial
course.

Download the UE5 Fundamentals Vol.1 Tutorial Course...

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The biggest frustration with UE5 is the "magnitude" of the engine.

It has so many tools, functions, parameters, editors and plugins. By the time
you open the editor and ready to create, you are already overwhelmed by its
complexity.

Before you try to create an environment or a game, you need to focus on

the essentials of the engine. These include editor's interface, viewport
navigation, using different viewport modes, project management, using the
Content Browser, working with objects in the editor and creating very simple
levels using Starter Content and much more. This is step 1.

This tutorial guide will give you the necessary steps to start using UE5 -
TODAY.

Let's jump into it...

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 DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL UE5
First you need to download and install UE5.

Go to unrealengine.com/en-US/download and download

Epic Games Launcher file and install it.

Epic Games Launcher is a hub of everything Unreal, which

will include all versions of Unreal Engine for you to
download.

Epic Games Launcher is a hub of everything Unreal, which will include all
versions of Unreal Engine for you to download.

Open Epic Games Launcher and register an account then log-in.

Inside the Epic Games Launcher go to Unreal Engine and Library tab:

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Click the plus icon and choose UE5 version you want to download and install.

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Then wait for it to download and install on your computer.

CREATE YOUR FIRST PROJECT

Before you can launch Unreal Engine editor you have to create a new project
or open an existing project.

Let's create your first project.

Click on the Launch icon:

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Unreal Project Browser will open. You will have a set of templates to choose
from to create the project.

What do you want to use this project for? Select one: games, film and
video and Live Events, architecture, automotive product design and
manufacturing or simulation.

For this tutorial we'll choose games.

Then you get to choose a template. A template will be preconfigured with

some UE5 settings already enabled. It will also include some assets and
gameplay elements to begin prototyping your game.

Blank project will not have any gameplay elements.

For this example I will use Third-Person Template.

Then you get to choose project defaults.

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 • Blueprint or C++. Choose blueprint. Blueprint is a visual scripting
language inside Unreal Engine. It's a very powerful tool that allows
you to script gameplay and create entire games using nothing else but
blueprint. No programming C++ knowledge required.
• Target Platform: Desktop. Are you developing for a desktop or
mobile?
• Desktop Quality Preset: Maximum. This is performance quality of
your project.
• Include Starter Content. This will include a set of assets to use with
your project. Such as textures, materials, static meshes, audio and
more.
• Ray Tracing: on or off. Real-time ray tracing i a method of rendering
that simulates the physical behavior of light. However real-time ray
tracing requires a compatible DX12 video card. So if you video card
doesn't support it, you can't use it For this example will keep it off.

Next, define project location. Where will your project be stored on your
computer?

Then give a project name. Avoid dashes and spaces.

Click Create and UE5 editor for the project will open up.

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Back in Epic Games Launcher, under Library and My Project section you will
have a project show up.

You will be able to open this project back up anytime to continue working on
it. If you need to create a new project, repeat the steps.

INCLUDE STARTER CONTENT

When you create your first project, you should include Starter Content.
Starter content assets will give you a set of textures, materials static
meshes (3D models), Blueprints, audio, particle effects to create with.

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These assets are great to start with as you learn UE5.

You can include Starter Content during

project creation screen:

Or you can add it into an existing project inside

the Content Browser. Click on Add then go to
Add Feature or Content Pack:

Then choose Starter Content and Add to Project:

Starter Content assets will be added into your project.

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 START, SAVE, OPEN LEVELS
A map or a level is where you will create an environment where the player
will play or the viewer will see.

When you first open UE5 editor you will be presented with a default level
already opened inside the perspective viewport. This level will vary
depending on the Game Template you are using. But you will have
something opened as you launch the editor.

To open new level go to File > New Level. You’ll be presented with few
choices:

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If you choose Basic, you will open a simple template level with all the actors
or objects already set up for you to begin creating in. You will have all the
necessary lights for exterior environment as well as a sky, fog, clouds and a
ground plane.

If you want an empty, blank map with no actors or objects in it, choose
Empty Level.

You would have to insert all the necessary actors into yourself.

As you start with UE5, ignore using Open World or empty open world levels
for right now.

To save an existing level, go to File > Save Current Level As, then choose
a folder or create a new folder where you want to save your level. It will be
saved inside your Content Browser. This level and all the actors or objects in
it will be saved for you to reopen and continue working on.

To open an existing level, navigate to that level inside the Content Browser
and double click on the icon to open it:

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Or you can go to File > Open Level.

INTERFACE ESSENTIALS
Let's cover the interface and all the panels/windows you need to know about
to start using UE5.

The UE5 interface is very flexible. You can drag and rearrange any panels to
customize your layout.

If you mess up the layout, you can reset it in Window > Load Layout >
Default Editor Layout:

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Viewports

Perspective view is the main view you'll be working in to create. But you can
switch to 2x2 view with top, side, front and perspective view visible by going
to Maximize/Restore Viewport:

There is also a shortcut to make your current viewport fill the entire screen
and remove any menus you are seeing.

• F11 = Immersive Full Mode View

Top Tool Bar

At the very top you have the standard drop down menus you expect from
most of the software.

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You'll be able to access things like saving or opening maps, different editor
windows, Build options and many more. Many of these you'll be using on a
case-by-case basis. There is a lot here so we won't cover them all now.
Right below you have a toolbar:

The toolbar allows you to:

• Save your current level

• Choose editor modes (for example Landscape, Folaige or Modeling
Modes)
• Quickly add different actors to project (similar to Place Actors panel)
• Blueprint menu
• Cinematics menu
• Play Testing your level or your game options
• Publishing your level/game options

Enabling any of the Editor Modes will open up an additional panel for that
mode to be used and all the different tools contained within it.

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Content Browser

Content Browser is your asset management panel. By default you won't see
the content browser opened but you can toggle it using a shortcut key.

• Ctrl + Spacebar = Toggle Content Browser

You can dock the Content Browser by enabling Dock in Layout:

We'll cover more of the Content Browser in a later section.

Outliner

All available objects/actors inside your current level.

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Details Panel

Details panel will show you all the properties for any selected object/actor
inside your level.

World Settings

World Settings are properties that can be used to override Project Settings
for the currently opened level. Such as game mode type, some lighting and
rendering properties and many more.

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You can access World Settings under Window > World Settings:

Place Actors Panel

The place actor panel gives you access to many actors that can be used to
insert into your level such as lights, basic primitive meshes, visual effects
actors and many more.

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Go to Window > Place Actors to have it opened inside the Editor. I use
this a lot.

You can also access a lot of these actors from Quickly add to the
project drop done menu in the toolbar:

Settings

There are two different Settings menu options available inside the editor.
One is at the top right of the editor contains Project and Editor Settings:

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Second settings menu is available in the Content Browser. This one is
specific to the Content Browser settings and folder options:

CONTENT BROWSER
Content Browser is your asset management system. It is where you'll find
assets like Static Meshes (known as 3d models), textures, materials, particle
effects, blueprints, audio and many more to be used within your levels.

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In addition to using all these assets and inserting them into your level, you
can import or create a lot of these inside the Content Browser.

You can toggle access to the Content Browser using the Ctrl + Spacebar.

You can then dock the Content Browser by enabling Dock in Layout:

You can filter the Content Browser to only show you specific assets inside it
by clicking on this FIlter icon and enabling what you want to see:

To create new asset types, you simply Right Click inside the Content Browser
and choose an asset type to create:

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You can also use the Add icon within the Content Browser and do the same
thing:

Content Browser is very important menu and you will be using this a lot.

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 ENGINE CONTENT
Engine Content is a folder and a set of assets that always comes included
with every UE5 project. By default this folder is hidden. You can enable its
visibility and browse through additional assets to use such as textures, static
meshes, materials and much more.

View Engine Content folder inside Content Browser by going to Settings and
enable Show Engine Content. For additional content, enable Show Plugin
Content.

You can now navigate into the engine content folder and use assets within it.

MASTERING VIEWPORT NAVIGATION

Here is everything you need for mastering UE5 navigation.

Perspective Viewport

• Hold RMB + Move Mouse = Look Around

• Hold LMB + Move Mouse = Move Forward/Back; Look Left/Right
• Hold MMB + Move Mouse = Pan Up/Down/Left/Right
• LMB + RMB + Move Mouse = Pan (Same as MMB + Drag)
• Mouse Wheel = Move Forward or Back
• Hold RMB + WASD = Move Forward/Back/Side-to-Side
• Hold RMB and Press Z or C = Zoom In/Out
• Hold RMB and Press Q or E = Move Camera Up/Down

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Adjust camera movement speed in Perspective Viewport:

Maximize/restore viewports by clicking on the icon at the top right:

Shortcut Switching for Perspective/Side/Front/Top

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 • Alt + G = Perspective View
• Alt + H = Front View
• Alt + J = Top View
• Alt + K = Side View

These are my favorite shortcuts to switch views:

• Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse Click Drag = Switch Views

• Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse Click Drag UP = Top View
• Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse Click Drag DOWN = Bottom View
• Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse Click Drag LEFT = Back View
• Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse Click Drag RIGHT = Front View
• Hold Ctrl + Middle Mouse Click Drag DIAGONAL BOTTOM LEFT =
Perspective View

Orthographic Viewport

Orthographic views are your top, side, back, front views.

• Hold RMB + Move Mouse = Pan

• Hold LMB + Move Mouse = Marquee Selection
• Hold LMB + RMB and Move Mouse Forward/Back = Zoom In/Out
• Mouse Wheel + Drag = Zoom In/Out
• Hold Middle Mouse Click and Drag = Measuring Tool

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Camera Bookmarks

Camera bookmarks allow you to set a camera position and comeback to

them later.

Inside the viewport, click on this icon at the top left (circle with 3 lines in it)
and go down to Bookmarks:

There are shortcuts you can use instead of the drop down menu:

• Ctrl + 0, 1, 2, 3 etc. = Set Camera Bookmark

• 0, 1, 2, 3 etc. = Jump to Camera Bookmark

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 WORKING WITH OBJECTS/ACTORS
An actor is any object that can be placed inside a level (mesh, audio, decal,
volume, brush etc).

Here are some common ways to work with objects inside UE5.

• Left Click = Select Object

• Hold Shift + Left Mouse Button = Add to a Selection
• Hold Ctrl + Left Mouse Button = Add to or Remove from a Selection
• Hold LMB + Move Mouse = Marquee Selection in Orthographic
Viewports
• Esc = Deselect Object or click off of that object
• Delete = Remove Selected Object
• Ctrl + Z = Undo

You may also use the Outliner to select objects:

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When the object is selected, you will see properties for that object inside the
Details Panel:

• F = Center View on Selected Object

• Hold Alt + Right Mouse Button = Move In/Out on Centered Object
• Hold Alt + Left Mouse Button = Rotate Around Centered Object

Move Object: left-click hold and drag on a specific axis in perspective and
orthographic views.

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Move, rotate and scale objects:

• W = Move
• E = Rotate
• R = Scale
• Q = Select
• Spacebar = Cycle Through Move, Rotate, Scale

You can also use the Detail Panel to move, rotate and scale or reset:

You can move an object inside the viewport without actively using the XYZ
gizmo. To do this, select the object then:

• Hold Shift + Left Mouse Button = Move Along with the Object
• Hold Ctrl + Left Mouse Button = Move Object Along X
• Hold Ctrl + Right Mouse Button = Move Object Along Y
• Hold Ctrl + Left + Right Mouse Button = Move Object Along Z

Duplicate Objects:

• Ctrl + D = Duplicate
• Ctrl + C = Copy
• Ctrl + V = Paste
• Hold Alt + LMB = Duplicate

USING STATIC MESHES

Static Meshes are your 3D models. They have been created in external
software such as Maya, 3ds Max, Blender then imported into UE5 or inside
UE5's new Modeling Mode.

Almost all of environments you create will use Static Meshes. You will either
have to create these Static Meshes yourself or download Static Meshes to
use created by others.

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Inside the Content Browser, you can filter by Static Meshes:

To use a Static Mesh, you simply Left-Click Hold and Drag from Content
Browser into the level:

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If you Double-Click on the Static Mesh inside the Content Browser, it will
open Static Mesh Editor. This editor will define some important settings for
that Static Mesh such as collisions, which material is going to use, level of
detail and many more settings:

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEXTURES AND MATERIALS

There is a difference between textures and materials in UE5.

Textures are a single 2D file generated from an external software such as

Photoshop, Substance, Gimp and imported into UE5. Some of these texture
files are Color or Albedo, Normal Map, Roughness, Metallic, Displacement,
various Masks and many others.

You cannot use textures directly in UE5, they have to be used within a
Material.

Materials are made up of various textures in UE5.

Materials are a combination of many textures and various UE5 nodes or
expressions that provide a result that you can use to apply onto your Static
Meshes (3d models), characters and even landscapes.
Inside the Content Browser you can filter for Textures and Materials:

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Double-Clicking on a texture will open up a Texture Editor:

Double-Clicking on the Material will open up a Material Editor:

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You create Materials inside UE5's Content Browser. Right-click inside the
empty space of Content Browser and choose Material or click on Add and
choose Material:

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You will often hear people say that they are texturing their environments, in
UE5 this means they are generating and creating textures to be imported
into UE5 where they will create materials to apply onto their geometry.

5 LIGHT TYPES IN UE5

There are 5 light types you can use in UE5.

• Directional Light: outdoor light, acts like a sun light and casts light
into infinite distance. Only one of these should be in your level.
• Sky Light: used for illuminating indirectly lit areas of your
environment, the shadows (requires a sky dome, sky atmosphere or
HDRI image). Only one of these should be in your level.
• Point Light: acts like a light bulb, casts light in all direction from its
source
• Spot Light: emits light in one direction, acting like a spot light
• Rect Light: emits light in rectangular surface in a single direction

You will find lights to use inside the Place Actors panel (Window > Place
Actors):

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Left-Click on any light and drag it into the level to place:

Inside the Details Panel, you'll be able to set many properties for that light
such as color, radius, intensity and many more:

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 WORKING WITH LIGHTS
Every environment you create can be lit 3 different ways:

• Static Lighting (Baked Lighting)

• Dynamic Lighting (Real-Time Lighting)
• Hybrid (Some lights are static, some are dynamic)

With new lighting system in UE5 called Lumen, you can now use fully
dynamic lights with real-time Global Illumination.

What is Lumen?

Lumen is Unreal Engine 5's fully dynamic global illumination and reflections
system.

It's on by default in UE5 when you create a project. So it is already on and

ready to be used right out of the box.

Existing projects converted from UE4 to UE5 will not automatically enable
Lumen features. This prevents breaking or changing any lighting paths
within those projects. Lumen is enabled from the Project Settings under the
Rendering > Dynamic Global Illumination and Reflections categories. See
this page if you need to enable Lumen manually.

After placing a light into your level, you will be able to change every light to
3 different Mobility Light Types (Static, Stationary and Movable) inside the
Details panel:

• Static: completely static lights that cannot be changed during

gameplay
• Movable: fully dynamic lights that can change during gameplay
• Stationary: hybrid between static and dynamic light types. Can
change some properties during gameplay, such as color or intensity
but cannot be moved

For fully dynamic lighting and to use full power of Lumen, change your light
Type to Movable (fully dynamic).

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 PLAY TEST IN EDITOR
Perspective viewport will be your main view to see how the level looks.
Two useful shortcuts for seeing your view as you would in-game:

• G = Game Mode
• Ctrl + R = Real Time

You can also access these commands through viewport icon (circle with 3
lines in it):

You can also play-test right inside the viewport or in new window using the
toolbar by clicking on the 3-dots to set the Play Mode:

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 • Selected Viewport: will play in the active viewport
• New Editor Window: start play in editor in new window (ESC to exit)
• Stand Alone Game: starts the game in its own window and opens the
level through the game menu (Alt + F4 = Exit Stand Alone Game)
• Simulate: simulate the game inside the active viewport, good for
physics and Blueprints

Then press Play:

You can also Right-Click inside the viewport and choose Play From Here:

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If you have a Player Start actor inside your level, you will spawn to play-test
from that location. If you don't have a Player Start, you'll spawn right where
your view is.

Insert a Player Start

Go to Place Actors panel and Basic tab, then drag the Player Start into your
level:

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 ESSENTIAL BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO UE5
Now this was just an introduction to get you started with UE5.

There's a lot more that we need to cover for how to to use and create in
UE5. Such as:

• Using different viewport options

• Architecture scale and dimensions
• Using Static Meshes to create environments with
• Using materials to texture your environment
• How to create custom static meshes using the modeling mode
• How to light Exteriors
• How to light Interiors
• How to use atmosphere actors such as Sky Atmosphere and
Exponential Height Fog
• and much more

You can learn all this and more in this 11+ hour "UE5 Fundamentals Vol.1"
tutorial course.

Download the UE5 Fundamentals Vol.1 Tutorial Course...

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Number one mistake beginner's make is creating environments that are
either too small or too big.

The entire scale of the world and its proportions are off and you can easily
tell when you see it.

When you begin working on a new environment, you need to know the
player and world geometry dimensions to avoid problems with scale.

Here is what you need to know:

• Character scale (height)

• Average wall height, width and depth
• Door/doorway height and width
• Step height and depth

In this section you will learn all the dimensions you need for creating to
correct scale.

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 IMPORTANT THING ABOUT SCALE
Scale and dimensions of your character and architecture will always be
relative to the game and the environment you are creating.

Art style and gameplay mechanics will determine the size of the world and
scale of the props.

If you created realistic environment that match dimensions from the real-
world but when you walk around it feels small, then you need to re-work
your environment to make sure that your environment scale "feels right". All
depends on how the player perceives your environment.

Remember: Everything is relative to the player and how the player sees the
world.

Dimensions listed in this post are a good starting point but they will always
need to be tweaked to the player scale you are using in game.

SCALE IN UE5
Unreal Engine uses centimeters (cm) as the measurement system. In UE5
centimeters are called Unreal Units (uu).

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 • Unreal Units (uu) = Centimeters (cm)
• 1 unreal unit = 1 cm

Character scale is the most important metric to know first.

Everything is relative to the point of view of the player and how they view
the world.

Base dimensions of a player character in game are:

• Character Height: 180cm/uu (about 6ft)

•

180cm is a good starting point to use. But always remember, if you have a
custom character in-game, the size may be different.

CHARACTER/PLAYER REFERENCE SCALE

Great way to reference everything in the world is to insert a Player
Reference Scale mesh into your level. This is a Static Mesh or a Skeletal
Mesh of the character that can be placed all over your map to help you
judge proportions of the environments you create.

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You can use:

• Basic Static Mesh Box (180Hx50Wx50D)

• Mannequin Skeletal Mesh (comes with UE5)
• Custom Character (imported into UE5)

Third Person Game Template Mannequin

If you used Third Person Game Template project, you will have 3 different
mannequins to use.

Go to Characters > Mannequin_UE4 or Mannequins folders:

• Characters > Mannequin_UE4 > Meshes

• Characters > Mannequins > Meshes

Left-Click and drag any of the following:

• SK_Mannequin (From: Characters > Mannequin_UE4 > Meshes)

•

• SK_Mannequin, SKM_Manny, SKM_Manny_Simple, SKM_Quinn,

SKM_Quinn_Simple (From: Characters > Mannequi > Meshes)

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If you didn't use Third Person Game Template but want to use these
mannequins, you can add the Third Person Template into an existing project
by going to Add > Add Feature or Content Pack:

Then choose Third Person and Add to Project:

UE4 Mannequin: Mobile from Marketplace

There is a UE4 Mannequin: Mobile available in Epic Games Marketplace for

free. You can add it into UE4 or UE5 projects.

Go to Marketplace and search for Mannequin to download:

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Then in Library under Vault section, Add to Project:

It will not be compatible with UE5 but you can still add it into any project
and it will work.

Click on:

• Show all projects

• Choose any UE5 project
• Select latest available version
• Add to Project

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UE4 Mannequin: Mobile will now appear inside your content browser to use
inside your project for reference scale.

Basic Cube Scale

If you don't want or have ability to use UE4/5 mannequins then use a simple
cube Mesh. Either import one from 3d modeling software or use Modeling
Mode in UE5 to create it.

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Go to Modeling Mode (Shift+5) and under Shapes, select a cube and enter
the following dimensions:

• Width/Depth: 50
• Height: 180

Place it into your map and hit Accept.

Custom Character Mesh

If you have your own player character already created, you can import and
use that as scale reference. It doesn't have to be rigged. Static Mesh will do
just fine.

WALLS
Walls height and width will always vary based on architecture style but there
are standard dimensions for height to start using.

• Standard Wall Height/Width: 300-400uu

• Standard Wall Depth: 20uu

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Here are two walls, one at 300uu (left) and 400uu (right) in height:

Always test in-game from point of view of the player.

Interior with 300 unit height walls:

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Interior with 400 unit height walls:

DOOR/DOORWAYS
Standard doorways/doors has the following base dimensions:

• Standard Doorway Width: 110-140uu

• Standard Doorway Height: 210-230uu

Add 10-20cm/units for a door frame that you may include for aesthetics.

You always want to test it in-game and see if you can walk through it due to
player collision in-game.

Here is a doorway/door at:

• Door Height: 230uu

• Door Width: 140uu

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 STEPS
Standard stair height and depth that looks good is:

• Step Height: 15uu

• Step Length/Depth: 30uu

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One thing to consider when you are creating stairs is the height of the entire
stair set.

If you have a wall that is 300uu high then you would need 20 continuous
steps to reach that height.

• 20 steps x 15uu each step = 300uu

If you have a wall that is 400uu high then you would need 26.6 steps to
reach that height. This causes a bit of a problem that you will have to
compensate for in order to make sure that your stair set reaches the top of
the wall. That is of course if you are using the stair height of 15uux 30cm to
begin with.

If you use stair height of 10uu or 20uu and depth of 30uu, these will work
for most walls without any decimals due to 10/20uu value. But the step
height of 10uu is too small and 20uu is slightly larger than you may want it
to be.

Again, you will have to play around with these values to find what you are
happy with.

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 WINDOWS
There are no standard dimensions to provide for the windows.

Windows are going to be relative to the wall and often will vary in size.
As long as you get the wall size correct, you will be able to carve out a
window based on the architecture style you are after.

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In this secton you will learn how to recreate the standard map template with
all the lighting actors that you need to make it work and a UE Mannequin
model to judge scale as you build environments.

As well as how to disable Auto-Exposure (Eye Adaptation) which controls

how your eyes naturally adjust when you go from a bright environment into
a dark environment and vice versa.

So why do you need to recreate the standard map template?

This is for you to understand what actors need to be inserted to make your
initial level work. This is how Epic Games has their Standard level setup and
if you know what you need to use then you have better control over what to
adjust.

Let's get started.

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 CREATE NEW PROJECT AND EMPTY
You should have a project created using any of the available game templates
and with Starter Content.

Reference Section 2 of this guide to create a new project to start with and
launch the editor.

Create a new Empty Level. Go to File > New Level and choose Empty
Level:

INSERT THE FLOOR

You need a ground plane to spawn on. Insert a Static Mesh floor from Engine
Content. Enable Engine Content:

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Search for Floor mesh to use as your ground:

This is the same Static Mesh in the standard map template.

WHICH ACTORS TO INSERT

Here are the actors you need to insert into your level:

• Lights: Directional Light

• Visual Effects: Sky Atmosphere
• Lights: Sky Light
• Visual Effects: Volumetric Cloud
• Visual Effects: Exponential Height Fog
• Basic: Player Start
• Visual Effects: Post Process Volume

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 DIRECTIONAL LIGHT
Directional Light: outdoor light, acts like a sun light and casts light into
infinite distance. Only one of these should be in your level.

You’ll find Directional Light under Place Actors panel (Windows > Place
Actors), under Lights:

Change the Mobility to Movable:

Then change the Light’s Angle, Color and Intensity:

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 SKY ATMOSPHERE
Sky Atmosphere: used to add physically-based sky and atmosphere
around your environment. It can be used to create earth-like atmosphere
with sunrise and sunsets or alien-like planets.

If you have a Directional Light already inserted into your map, Sky
Atmosphere will add a sky right away as soon as you drag it into your map.

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You’ll find Sky Atmosphere under Visual Effects: Sky Atmosphere

Directional Light and Sky Atmosphere are now working together. If you
change the angle of Directional Light, the sky will also begin to update and
change:

Sky Atmosphere has a lot of properties to control and change the look of
how it looks inside your level. You can experiment and see what it does by
changing many of its properties:

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 SKY LIGHT
Sky Light: used for illuminating indirectly lit areas of your environment, the
shadows.

Here is what it looks like before Sky Light and after Sky Light:

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To make Sky Light work in your level you will need one of the following:

• Sky Atmosphere
• Sky Dome (Static Mesh sphere acting like a sky sphere/dome)
• HDRI image

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Insert one Sky Light into your level from Lights panel:

Set Mobility: Movable and Real-Time Capture: Enabled:

Source Type will be set automatically to SLS Captured Scene. This means
the Sky Light is using Sky Atmosphere as it’s light source to bounce light
from the sky back into your scene’s indirectly lit areas.

VOLUMETRIC CLOUD
Volumetric Cloud: will insert physically-based clouds into your
environment.

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You will find Volumetric Cloud actor under Visual Effects in Place Actors
panel:

You will need to have Directional Light, Sky Light and Sky Atmosphere inside
your level for the clouds to look correct.

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Volumetric Clouds will have some properties for you to tweak in the details
panel:

Volumetric Clouds are controlled through a material. If you know your way
around the Material Editor, you can modify and change how these clouds
look and behave more than what Details panel has to offer.

EXPONENTIAL HEIGHT FOG

Exponential Height Fog: will create fog in your environment. It creates
more density in low places of a map and less density in high places.

You’ll find Exponential Height Fog under Visual Effects in Place Actors panel:

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As soon as you drag Exponential Height Fog into your level it will work but
you will have a lot of additional properties to adjust in the Details panel.
Such as thickness and color of the fog.

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 PLAYER START
Player Start: will allow you to spawn inside your level from that location
instead of randomly from the perspective view camera.

You’ll find Player Start under Basics in Place Actors panel:

Light Blue arrow points to the direction the player will face when they
spawn.

Now every time you click Play to test, you will spawn from this player start:

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 POST PROCESS VOLUME
Post Process Volume: will control auto-exposure and many other visuals
of your level. This includes colors, depth of field, contrast and many more.

Post Process Volume is a very important actor that you should insert into
every level you create.

You’ll find Post Process Volume under Visual Effects in Place Actors panel:

There are two ways to use Post Process Volume: Locally or Universally.

• Locally: applies the settings of this volume when you enter into it (fly
with the camera or player is inside the volume).
• Universally: applies the settings of this volume to the entire level,
doesn’t matter if you are inside the volume or not.

By default every Post Process Volume is local. To make the volume

Universal, enable Unbound in the Details Panel:

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 DISABLE AUTO-EXPOSURE IN UE5.0
In UE5.0, Auto-Exposure is enabled by default and often you need to control
this yourself or disable as you work on your lights.

This will allow you to control lighting without brightness to darkness being
automatically adjusted.

Insert Post Process Volume found in Visual Effects into your level or use the
Add icon:

Enable Min/Max Brightness and change both to 1 and Enable Infinite Extend
(Unbound) to make this Post Process universal. This means you don’t have
to be inside the volume for it to take effect:

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You can then adjust Min/Max Brightness with different values to tweak your
Auto-Exposure if you decide to use it.

UE5.1+ UPDATE: DISABLE AUTO-EXPOSURE

UE5.1+ has introduced an update to how you would adjust Auto-Exposure.
Instead of using Min/Max Brightness set to 1, now use Min/Max EV100 set
to 0:

Extended Default Luminance Range property is enabled for new projects

by default and Min/Max Brightness has been changed to Min/Max EV100.

Before 5.1 you would have to enable this option from the Project Settings in
the Rendering > Default section. But having this property disabled has
been deprecated.

Now in 5.1+ this Luminance Range option is enabled by default and you
have to use Min/Max EV100 values.

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UE5 Fundamentals is a step-by-step tutorial course to learning Unreal Engine
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