Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) was officially launched in April this year and aims to bring unprecedented freedom, fidelity, and flexibility to the community. The engine is designed to help game developers and creators in various industries, including the XR industry, to create the next generation of real-time 3D content and experiences.
The notable features of UE5 version 1 include support for XR, specifically virtualized micro-polygon geometry system Nanite and dynamic global illumination and reflection solution Lumen. UE5 version 1 also brings various updates and improvements to help users create next-gen real-time 3D content and experiences, including enhanced OpenXR support, improved input, and support for Nanite, Lumen, and temporal super-resolution stereo rendering.
Nanite is a new virtualized micro-polygon geometry system that allows users to import and manipulate meshes consisting of millions of polygons in real-time without any noticeable distortion. Lumen is a global illumination and reflection solution that adjusts indirect lighting in real-time as changes occur in the scene. Temporal super-resolution improves image quality while rendering at a lower resolution, thus improving performance.
The text also mentions improved OpenXR support, enhanced input, and discontinued support for Oculus VR and SteamVR plugins in Unreal Engine 5 version 1.