UDK or Cryengine 3 - Specific Scene

Makkyo · May 2012

Hello.

Im looking for advice on choosing between UDK or Cryengine 3 for a scene i have in mind, Im aiming for a realistic street scene set at night, lots of rain, and water for puddles, realistic reflections on wet surfaces such as the pavement and roads, Lamposts and moon for light source.

Performance or learning curve isn't an issue, im looking for which engine produces the best visuals for the scene type i specified.

Im familiar with UDK, but know nothing about cry engine, which is why i need help.

Thanks.

Joshua Stubbles · May 2012

If you're familiar with Unreal, why not just use that? I mean both engines have their highs and lows, but using CryEngine would add another layer of having to learn it from scratch. They are both very capable engines and editors, it's really just about the artist's capability.

Makkyo · May 2012

i understand, i really wouldn't mind learning cry engine 3 at all, the reason im not going ahead and jumping into unreal is because i would like to know which one would produce more realistic results, you mention each editor has its highs and lows, do you know which one would be better suited for the scene i specified?

Shuriken UK · May 2012

I think UDK is generally easier to use, more intuitive, and its possible to get simple "event" based "game scene" made in a few hours, plus theres now starter kits/templates you can use which are basically like a Uscript framework that specifies whether the game is a "2.5D platformer", "RTS strategy", "Racer" etc. As cool as UDK is though, it still has some STUPID problems, such as being almost useless when it comes to dynamic shadows (one of the greatest atmosphere enhancing effects in the history of 3D gaming, and also a VERY old effect), it doesn't support TRUE reflections unless you have a DX11 card either, you cant "exclude" the skybox from DOF or other filters, and some other things I forgot. Still, even with that, I think its one of the greatest engines available, and has been since 1999 lol!

On the other hand, Cryengine has always had the leading edge when it comes to graphics, and probably physics too. Cryengine is definitely a mouthwatering engine, but I've just heard and read that its VERY hard to do anything except level design, and its also pretty buggy. I'm yet to try it, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a go.

If all your bothered about is pure visuals, then Cryengine is probably the one to go for, but from what I've heard, its nowhere NEAR as user-friendly as UDK.

Makkyo · May 2012

Thanks for the reply

, Yes visuals are all im concered with when it comes to this project alone, i too enjoy UDK, and will be using UDK in future projects, However this specific scene i have in mind is just to showcase some 3d environment work, Plus i get to learn a new engine

My only concern is ive never seen any urban scenes set at night with good reflections using cryengine, they all seem to go for the typical natural environment/daytime scene, infact the best ive seen for night/urban visuals is from "the samaritan" video by the guys over at Epic.

iniside · May 2012

It depends. For me personally I would go with CE3
Reasons:
1. No lightmap baking.
2. Very fast iteration on lighting setup (you just add, and change lights as you wish, and see results immedietly)
3. You don't have to make any shaders (and you can't for that matter), but stock ones are good enough for any realistic scene.
4. You can very easily setup weather effects (rains, lighting, fogs, volumetrics), and it's far easier than in UDK, as you allready have them done and ready to use. Of course if you want something more fancy you still need to code it in LUA, on other hand in UDK you would do it in US.
5. Very powerfull ToD Editor. Makes lighting setup much easier than in UDK.
6. It will work well for Nightime scene. Crysis 2 have night levels.

7. My biggest complain about CE3 as for now are lack of node material editor (not shader), and very aged terrain system, that have multiple problems (scaling issues, texture smoothing issues, and so on).

If all your bothered about is pure visuals, then Cryengine is probably the one to go for, but from what I've heard, its nowhere NEAR as user-friendly as UDK.

That's funny because most CE users will say exactly same thing about UDK ;p.
They both have their workflows. CE Sandbox looks more like 3ds max. And UDK look more like.. Uhm.. Well UDK.

I've been working with both. From time perspective I will never touch engine that do not support All Time Real Time. Unless I have no other choice.

And as for making game. Overall CE3 (FreeSDK) is more powerfull simply because it exposing more interfaces to developers.

Makkyo · May 2012

iniside wrote: »

It depends. For me personally I would go with CE3
Reasons:
1. No lightmap baking.
2. Very fast iteration on lighting setup (you just add, and change lights as you wish, and see results immedietly)
3. You don't have to make any shaders (and you can't for that matter), but stock ones are good enough for any realistic scene.
4. You can very easily setup weather effects (rains, lighting, fogs, volumetrics), and it's far easier than in UDK, as you allready have them done and ready to use. Of course if you want something more fancy you still need to code it in LUA, on other hand in UDK you would do it in US.
5. Very powerfull ToD Editor. Makes lighting setup much easier than in UDK.
6. It will work well for Nightime scene. Crysis 2 have night levels.

At this point, i think i will go for cryengine, 1 because i want to try a new engine, and 2 because those 6 points sound very appealing. im going to go learn the engine now and then import my assets into it, see you when i have some work in progress pictures.

Pancakes · May 2012

To me, CryEngine 3 is simpler to ues than UDK. Spend a few hours watching tutorials and playing around and you'll get the hang of it. The hardest thing is setting up those interior lighting areas though. It's not like in CryEngine 2 where all lighting was done automatically. So that does at a level of complexity to it.

iniside · May 2012

Pancakes wrote: »

To me, CryEngine 3 is simpler to ues than UDK. Spend a few hours watching tutorials and playing around and you'll get the hang of it. The hardest thing is setting up those interior lighting areas though. It's not like in CryEngine 2 where all lighting was done automatically. So that does at a level of complexity to it.

There wasn't anything automatic about interior lighting in Ce2. It was simple Ambient Lighting. So you can do in CE3. But for more complext interior scenes yes you have to setup Lighting Volumes and Portals or they will look unnaturally lit.

Here
Crysis 2
[ame="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vXQjkWRthk"]Crysis 2 Night - YouTube[/ame] Night Level.

Makkyo · May 2012

Just to add, i agree it is very easy to use so far, since im a 3ds max user i love the interface, feel very at home with this software

Thanks for the video, lighting looks amazing

Ace-Angel · May 2012

If you don't know shaders, go with CE, if you know shaders, go with UDK.

You're not going to get your realistic concrete without Schlick's fresnel.

Shuriken UK · May 2012

Sorry if I came across as a bit condescending towards CE3, I'm only going on what I've heard and read. I'm yet to try it myself so I can only go on what I've seen from games made with it (all of which are breath taking LOL).

All I know for definite is that the games made with CE, TEND to have far better graphics than those made with UE, although if Samaritan is anything to judge the future of gaming by, then hopefully UE will be catching up!

Yes the night city scene looks TASTY as hell! I wish more games looked as good as this. Sadly I have the PS3 version, which, very surprisingly, is nowhere near the best looking game on PS3 (even though it says "achieved with Cryengine 3"!

Maybe one day there'll be an engine that puts both UE AND CE to shame, but that could be a pipe dream!

UDK or Cryengine 3 - Specific Scene

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