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Disguise User Guide

UE Project Setup

This topic covers the steps needed for configuring an Unreal Engine scene for use with RenderStream.

Unreal Engine (UE) is a third-party game engine that can be used to create 3D scenes. Unreal Engine projects can be adapted such that they create RenderStream output streams using Disguise’s UE plugin. This plugin contains several components that enable both camera based mappings with tracking as well as non-camera based (2D) mappings (e.g. direct).

Plugins

  • In order to communicate with Disguise, Unreal Engine requires the installation of a plugin on the render node.

  • The RenderStream pre-packaged plugins for Unreal Engine are available in the Disguise RenderStream-UE GitHub.

  • When adding a plugin to a UE/project, it is important that it is placed in the correct location and that the folder containing the plugin files is named correctly otherwise you may encounter unexpected errors. The plugin cannot be added as an engine plugin, it must be in the project.

Setup Unreal Engine Project

  1. Launch the Unreal Engine Editor.
  2. Create a new Game > Blank, or Film > Blank project with default settings and ensure it is saved in: D:\RenderStream Projects (or C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\RenderStream Projects if you are using a personal laptop/PC).
  3. Open the project folder in Windows Explorer and create a new folder with the name, Plugins.
  4. Place the RenderStream plugin in the Plugins folder.
  5. Restart Unreal Engine.
  6. Search for CineCamera in the Place Actors panel.
  7. Drag and drop a new CineCamera into the scene.
  8. Click the Add Component button from the Camera Actor’s Details panel and add a RenderStream Channel Definition.
  9. The name of the Channel in Designer will be the name of the camera actor, so name the camera accordingly.
  10. The setting Default Visibility defines whether the camera will see most actors in the scene.
  11. Open Window > Message Log > RenderStream Validation and resolve the issues mentioned on the window, these are based on nDisplay limitations/features. Resolve these settings and save the scene making sure the notification has disappeared from the list.

RS Channel Definition

  1. [Optional] Force the visibility of select Actors within the Camera’s Channel Definition (useful for splitting content between the front and backplates): If you wish to add multiple Actors to a visibility set at the same time, lock the current selection into the Details panel, select the Actors you wish to add either from within the scene or the Inspector panel, right-click the visibility set you wish to add the Actors to, and select “Add from Selection“.
  2. [Optional] To make Unreal Engine run at full speed when out of focus go to Edit → Editor Preferences and untick “Use Less CPU when in Background” (search “cpu”).
  3. Save the project.

Useful Unreal Engine information

Unreal Engine has several methods for saving a project. When making changes to a project for use with RenderStream, it is best to close the project before attempting to start a workload. This will prompt you to save all changes to your project. If your Unreal Engine project is not saved correctly, you may experience unexpected behaviour.

Note that a key difference between a blank Games project and a blank Film project is the way that project manages the skybox. A Games project has an auto-updating skybox relative to the sunlight (directional light) for a day/night cycle, but a film project has a refresh material button for updating the skybox relative to the sunlight.