Creative Journey with Unreal Engine
This episode is basically a production diary where I talk about my journey with Unreal Engine. The main focus is on shifting from just learning forever to actually finishing projects. I want to create a space to share insights that might click with you if you're on a similar path—dealing with that mix of excitement and those moments where you just feel discouraged.
Over the last two years, I've hit a lot of walls working on different things, which often left me feeling disappointed because I didn't finish them. In this episode, I talk about why I’m optimizing my workflow and the new tech investments I’ve made to level up, especially for cinematics. I also really want to invite you to connect and collaborate so we can build a community of people who are passionate about mastering Unreal.
I’m taking a deep dive into the creative process here, sharing my personal experiences and thoughts on how I learn. It’s an informal, introspective look at my time with the software. I want to bring you into my world, which can feel a bit isolating, but I’m really looking for that connection with like-minded creators.
I talk about the emotional ups and downs—the thrill and the despair—that come with this kind of work. I also get into the technical struggles, like hardware limits and figuring out advanced stuff like Metahumans. Moving from a MacBook to a proper PC setup was a huge milestone for me to improve my work and finally get those polished results. It’s all about moving away from just experimenting and actually completing meaningful projects.
I’m encouraging you to reach out because I bought a face capture rig recently, which is a real step toward my cinematic goals, and I want to share that. I wrap things up by emphasizing how important shared experiences are and the potential of mastering Unreal. I want to break out of the solitary creative bubble. I hope this story not only informs you but inspires you to start your own journey of discovery and creation.
Takeaways:
- The podcast serves as a personal diary where I share my experiences with Unreal Engine.
- I aim to regularly update listeners about my projects and discovered tutorials related to Unreal Engine.
- The journey of learning often involves both enthusiasm and discouragement, which I have experienced firsthand.
- I have transitioned to using a PC for Unreal Engine, seeking to enhance my creative output significantly.
- My commitment to complete projects stems from a desire to share my work and possibly monetize it.
- I have invested in equipment for face capture to enhance my filmmaking capabilities using Unreal Engine.
contact me at: cmonkxxx@gmail.com
Transcript
Welcome to my little podcast that I kind of do for myself.
Speaker A:And it might be exactly the reason why you would want to tune in.
Speaker A:It's meant to be very casual and it's meant to be, you know, stream of consciousness, a bit of a production diary.
Speaker A:I want to share what I discovered each time I use Unreal Engine.
Speaker A:Maybe not each time, but every few days, every week.
Speaker A:We'll see.
Speaker A:We'll see what feels right.
Speaker A:And I don't really have anything to teach you, but I have things to share for sure.
Speaker A:Because quite often I feel like I'm walking away from my computer thinking, oh my gosh, there are so those amazing things that I just saw, how easy they are, how amazingly they work.
Speaker A:And now, unfortunately, you go to sleep because it's so late in the night.
Speaker A:And I tend to have so much to share, but there is no one to share it with.
Speaker A:It's not like I'm lonely.
Speaker A:It's more like, who around me would understand?
Speaker A:Nobody.
Speaker A:Nobody.
Speaker A:I mean, I guess I could write about it on Reddit, but it doesn't have the same level of embrace.
Speaker A:So I thought, I will just create a podcast feed and I will share those irregular, but hopefully, hopefully, regular updates about what is that I am working on, and I'll be sharing tutorials I came across, and maybe we'll make use of this.
Speaker A:I really think you might be in the same position that I'm in.
Speaker A:You might be in this learning journey and you're going from tutorial to tutorial.
Speaker A:Maybe you're trying some course.
Speaker A:And in any case, it's very likely that you're there on your own and you're going through this path of enthusiasm and discouragement.
Speaker A:You're having little accomplishments, and then maybe everything crumbles down because you encounter a bug and your project gets corrupted or.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I think I know because this is what was my case until now.
Speaker A:I've been working on Unreal Engine for the last two years, and I've been working on quite a number of projects, all for my own enthusiasm, for my own joy.
Speaker A:And they would always lead to this kind of disappointment because I would never really finish those projects.
Speaker A:They would kind of morph to something else, or I would stumble upon some kind of a block that would prevent me from moving forward.
Speaker A:It's entirely different game if you have sufficient hardware.
Speaker A:Like, initially, I started with running Unreal engine on a MacBook, which could work to some extent.
Speaker A:Actually, to any extent except metahuman integration.
Speaker A:Because at the time I think I got into Unreal engine with version 5.3 or 4 and metahuman was not fully supported on Mac.
Speaker A:Right now we are on 5.7 and it is fully supported and it's incredible.
Speaker A:I don't know if I would actually upgrade to a PC at this point because yeah, I mean, performance wise my PC is a lot stronger, so I would probably update, upgrade.
Speaker A:But I had serious bottlenecks that were coming from the fact that I was working on insufficient hardware, which was kind of crazy because at the time my MacBook M3, I think it's M3 Max, it was sort of top of the line and it was still not good enough for Unreal Engine.
Speaker A:Well, right now it's not really my concern.
Speaker A:I use my MacBook as well as my work computer for UX and illustration and UI work that I provide to my employer.
Speaker A:But for my Unreal Engine, I work on my PC now.
Speaker A:That was the most significant purchase I've made for this.
Speaker A:Well, at this point hobby I'm not really earning at all through Unreal.
Speaker A:Maybe it's good, maybe it's also healthy because why should everything be monetized those days?
Speaker A:But my goal is to really get with my work out there.
Speaker A:I want to share my work.
Speaker A:I want to actually complete projects.
Speaker A:And maybe there will be a way to monetize this stuff.
Speaker A:I don't know how.
Speaker A:But the key here right now is to complete projects and not to constantly just learn and test things.
Speaker A:So I got my PC I think three months ago and testing and playing around, that's.
Speaker A:That's all what I've been doing really.
Speaker A:I realized that making a game is really out of my abilities.
Speaker A:Yes, I could, I could get some of the, you know, blueprint packs and just replace graphics, I guess and models and call it my game.
Speaker A:But it just doesn't feel right.
Speaker A:I think if I would really want to create game, I would do everything from scratch, which I just don't want to do.
Speaker A:I don't want to go so deep into coding.
Speaker A:I know there is this new AI assistant integration.
Speaker A:Maybe this will help in the future.
Speaker A:But for now I kind of gave up on game design.
Speaker A:And there is still a lot I would like to do with sort of interactive environments to kind of allow player or user to interact with the environment and maybe create some kind of a Zen low, low key interactive, okay, let's call it game experience.
Speaker A:But not a typical game.
Speaker A:I'm not really into that.
Speaker A:But I got my computer because my PC because I really wanted to get into cinematics.
Speaker A:I realized that If I render movies, this will be the deliverable, this will be the outcome, the ultimate output.
Speaker A:If I put like one week of work, working on evenings, late into the night, if I render something, this is the outcome and it's indisputable.
Speaker A:There will be no bugs.
Speaker A:I mean, yeah, there might be imperfections, but it will be a video I can upload to YouTube and so on.
Speaker A:So this is the goal and this is something that I've been trying.
Speaker A:I've been trying and not really accomplishing anything.
Speaker A:There was this, you see, I'm finding that I'm getting over occupied by technical limitations, looking for the right workflow to achieve something.
Speaker A:And once I actually optimize my workflow, I realized that I forgot what I wanted to say, you know, so you work on the tool that once you have that tool, you, you no longer have the message.
Speaker A:So it's, it's a bit of a theme that I've been experiencing for the last three months maybe.
Speaker A:And two months ago I pulled the trigger and I committed to another, well, not significant, relatively significant investment into my setup.
Speaker A:And I ordered a head rig or face mocap face capture device.
Speaker A:Not really device, it's really just a rig.
Speaker A:It's a helmet with, with two kind of arms that hold the phone in front of your face and you get to perform your face animation.
Speaker A:Okay, so this is one of the, one of the few components of filmmaking that I have in mind.
Speaker A:I would like to.
Speaker A:Well, of course, yes, I'll be testing and experimenting with it, but the goal is to fairly soon to come up with some end results and I want to share them with you.
Speaker A:And you know, on this channel, not on this channel.
Speaker A:Well, I don't know where this podcast will be eventually hosted, but there will be YouTube channel and I'll be sharing my results.
Speaker A:But when it comes to this podcast, yes, I will be posting my updates, I'll be sharing with you resources that I found.
Speaker A:So if you're into, you know, working with Unreal Engine and you find that you don't really get anywhere, I will maybe be a good company and maybe we can bounce some inspiration ideas, maybe we can help each other out in the show.
Speaker A:Notes to this episode, you will find my contact email.
Speaker A:So use that if you want to get in touch.
Speaker A:And we can, you know, we can use this podcast, maybe we can have sort of, you know, you can be my co host for an episode or two or regular, who knows.
Speaker A:I'm really open with what this podcast could become, but I'm definitely looking forward to get connected with some of you guys and exchange ideas.
Speaker A:Maybe combine powers.
Speaker A:Yeah, so I don't think I have anything else to share other than to share maybe a teaser because what just arrived in mail is this head rig.
Speaker A:It arrived today, half an hour ago.
Speaker A:Maybe I've managed to assemble it and my next episode will be a review of my head rake.
Speaker A:So I hope before that happens I'll also publish a video showing me using it or not showing me but showing metahuman reacting to my performance.
Speaker A:So yeah, that's all for now.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening.
Speaker A:I hope that was in fact listenable and relatable.
Speaker A:Enjoy Unreal Engine subscribe to this podcast, share it among those who might be interested.
Speaker A:And yeah, get in touch.
Speaker A:Remember, we are in this together and Unreal is an amazing tool and we really need to master it to create worlds and animations, movies.
Speaker A:Let's do it.
