Unreal Engine

Please note, Unreal Engine integration has changed significantly for Unreal Engine 5.3 and 5.4, so this User Doc is outdated.

Video tutorials

You might want to refer to YouTube Unreal Engine playlist which walks you through the entire process of setting up Unreal Engine integration.

Overview

Communication diagram between 2 servers

LightAct features a unique integration with Unreal Engine. It can be described in the following main points:

1. First, both apps run on the same machine, which reduces system complexity and latency.

2. Second, LightAct controls the pace of Unreal's render cycle, which prevents the 2 apps from fighting for computer resources.

3. Third, LightAct passes runtime data such as Timecode to Unreal, so that the content is in perfect sync.

Please note, LightAct's workflow with Unreal Engine is not working in 5.0 or 5.1.0 versions. You need to have either 4.27 or 5.1.1 or above UE version.

So let's discuss the overall workflow in a general way before diving into the specifics in the following chapters.

LightAct Unreal Engine Plugin

LightAct's Unreal Engine plugin is a required component for making the integration work. It takes care that the data is passed back and forth between the two apps.

You can find out more about how to install and set up the plugin in the link below:

Required Unreal Engine Plugins

UnrealLink

UnrealLink is a window in LightAct where you can setup the integration on LightAct's side.

UnrealLink

Texture Sharing

In most projects, getting a texture from Unreal is the main goal, so in this chapter we will explain how this is done.

Texture Sharing