Epic Released a New Third Person Sample With Motion Matching

By Unreal Sensei··1 min read
Characters running, jumping, and posing around blocks in the Unreal Engine motion-matching sample.

Epic has released a third person sample project that uses Motion Matching which is a new feature introduced in Unreal Engine 5.4. It uses a library of animations to dynamically pick the best frame that represent a character’s movement. You can learn more about it in this video.

This Motion Matching project is ready to be used in our own games! Epic also hosted a stream explaining how they created it. The features of this sample project will keep expanding, with sprinting and crouching planned for UE5.5!

A walkway leading to a large golden dome above the sea in Riven.

The classic PC game Riven has been reimagined in Unreal Engine 5. Riven is a puzzle adventure game released in 1997 and is a sequel to Myst which was the best selling PC game of all time at that point.

At the time Riven and Myst had to prerender their environments, giving the illusion of exploring a 3D world. Now the artstyle of Riven has been fully realized with Unreal. You can watch this comparison between the original and remake.

It is incredible to see how far PC gaming has advanced since 1997.

A blue alien character from a Wonder Dynamics demonstration.

Autodesk, the creator of Maya and 3D Max, has acquired Wonder Dynamics. Wonder Dynamics is one of the first and most prevalent AI companies focused on VFX. In this video you can watch Corridor Digital use some of their tools.

Looks like most 3D creation tools are going to be owned by Autodesk and Adobe.

Originally published in the Unreal Sensei Newsletter, Jul 1, 2024.