Fortnite: New ‘Water’ features teased during an event showcasing Unreal Engine 4.26

The Unreal Fest Europe 2019 was held in Prague and was quite a success. The event showcased the various features and the transformative journey of Unreal Engine 4. This year, the event was canceled. However, Epic had announced that they will instead conduct a one-day online event that will be open to all and will provide an exciting look into the future of Fortnite.

Credit: unrealengine.com

The Unreal Fest Online 2020 had around 50 total sessions across the fields featuring architecture, automotive, games, film, TV, live events, and cross-industry. As a part of the ‘Games’ category, a presentation titled ‘Building Worlds in Fortnite with Unreal Engine’ was conducted by Ryan Brucks, who is the Principal Technical Artist for Epic Games.

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Fortnite: New water features

The talk was announced as part of the one day event, while Ryan Brucks posted the following on his Twitter account:

You can see the ease with which water bodies can be created and detailed in the video posted below:

Hey everyone, quick reminder that in a bit less than one hour (11:15 est), my "GDC" presentation "Building Worlds in Fortnite With Unreal Engine" will be given as part of #UnrealFest. Come learn about the new Water features coming to #UnrealEngine 4.26!https://t.co/WZKduf4w36 pic.twitter.com/jja2FWA844

— Ryan Brucks (@ShaderBits) July 14, 2020

The talk was about how the Fortnite's developement team was able to create Chapter 2 of the popular game using the new world-building tools of Unreal Engine 4.

Covering all the major tools related to the engine, the team showcased layered landscape systems that allows for increased level of detailing on rocks and other parts of the terrain, while the custom brushes allow the procedural editing of height fields with ease.

Further scattering tools and grid based steaming levels were also talked about. However, the most crucial and exciting aspect of the talk was the sneak peak that people got of the new water bodies system that will be added to Unreal Engine 4.26.

Credit: mxdwn.com

The Terrain editor caused quite some excitement among Fortnite fans on Reddit, while understanding the water bodies system might prove to be of great help to all artists and designers who want to build worlds in Unreal Engine.

Further, while the online fest itself has now concluded, you can still watch the sessions on demand by registering on the Fest’s website. Fortnite Fans have already begun appreciating the ‘terrain editor’ tool, talking about all the ways it will help them in the creative mode.

You can see some of the reactions below:

Me during the whole presentation so far pic.twitter.com/30Jfkve6kp

— Tom Nietfeld (@Tomble38) July 14, 2020

Credit: twitter.com