Unreal Engine 5 Beginner Tutorial - UE5 Starter Course

Unreal Engine 5 tutorial for beginners! In this free tutorial we will go over everything you need to know to get started in Unreal Engine 5. Specifically we will focus on Unreal's new features: nanite and lumen. You will learn how to install Unreal Engine, navigate the 3D viewport, create materials and worlds, sculpt landscapes, paint foliage, program in Unreal using Blueprints, and end with creating a photorealistic world in real time.

Check out the Unreal Masterclas:

Downloadable Assets to Follow the Tutorial:

Watch the sequel to dive deeper into Blueprints!

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:33 - Download and Create a Project
4:26 - User Interface
11:55 - Movement
14:35 - Viewport Settings
17:31 - Moving and Creating Objects
27:11 - Post Process and Camera Exposure
35:47 - Intro to Materials
47:08 - PBR Explained
54:37 - Textures
1:02:31 - Material Parameters and Instances
1:09:01 - Create a Master Material
1:14:43 - Import/Create a Static Mesh
1:23:23 - Move Assets Between Projects
1:26:33 - Lighting with Lumen!
1:32:49 - Types of Lights
1:41:19 - Archviz Lighting Lumen
1:46:36 - Archviz Lighting Baked
1:56:11 - Landscape Tool
2:03:48 - Landscape Material
2:13:32 - Megascan
2:23:19 - Foliage Tool
2:36:25 - Nanite!!!
2:45:40 - Create a Game with Blueprints
3:20:03 - Castle Intro
3:27:00 - Auto Landscape Material
3:37:25 - Large Details
3:46:52- Water
3:57:45 - Cliffs
4:05:25 - Trees
4:34:55 - Modular Castle
4:53:30 - Small Details
4:58:31 - Outro

[UnrealSensei]

Have fun learning Unreal!

Want to master Unreal check out the Unreal Masterclass!

[influencefear]

Can we all just take a second to commemorate this man as he made not one, but TWO FREE unreal engine 5 in depth tutorials. This is knowledge that should be paid for but is given to us for free because a legend wanted to help those who wanted to learn. Thank you Unreal Sensei!

[ItsLaro]

For anyone that finds themselves seeing an empty desert at 3:50 instead of the table and the chairs:
Go to File > Open Level...
Now (assuming you had correctly ticked 'Include Starter Content' at the Project Creation screen), in the 'Open Level' Dialog, navigate to and select 'Minimal_Default'.

[sagitta]

As an Unity refugee, I really thanks you for making this video. Really helpful!

[Stiffybeaver]

If you love games (I'm 37...ugh) LEARN NOW....I can't stress this enough. I grew up with Super NES (90's) and always pushed it off next thing I know I'm 37 in my living room trying to learn regretting never learning in my early years. Trust me....time will FLY. NEVER too late but starting early is the best not to mention you have FREE teachers! It's crazy how lucky we are now a days.
Thanks for the in depth tutorial!

[evanracer]

To anyone just starting, they've changed the starting level for blank projects to a sort of desert-ish landscape. To find the level with the chairs and table, go to File > Open Level > Minimal_Default.

[brentekuntimeddisaster]

As an 18 year old who has played console all his life and never touched a pc my family recently got a gaming laptop and I was stoked. I love creating things and making games and stories. Your videos are so helpful in getting me started with understanding how UE5 works and I want to say thank you. Hopefully you can inspire more people like you did me. 😎👍🤘

[kaelcatterall]

For anyone following along in 5.4 that can't find the Bloom/Exposure settings under Global Process Volume at 32:20:

The Global Process Volume doesn't appear to be in 5.4, instead it is PostProcess Volume. To get the Exposure settings menu press the +Add button at the top when you select PostProcessVolume, and then select "Post Process" which is under Rendering. That seems to be the same menu that he's using in the tutorial.

[RiverExplorerUS]

I am a retired backed programmer, over 45 years C/C++ in UNIX/Linx. I have decided to learn VR. First was Unity, now Unreal. Wow, if I was still working I would send you a thank you gift. This video is amazing. When I finish, I will be looking for more of yours videos. THANK YOU!

[Yaboie]

Went to college for 4 years and never got this level of comprehensive teaching. What an amazing video

[FlowDefoe]

man, this tutorial is so well designed and so easy to follow - it's unreal.

[MonkeyClipsYT]

Day 1: 27:11
Day 2: 1:09:05
Day 3: 2:16:24
Day 4: 2:46:42
Day 5: 3:21:28
Day 6: 4:04:12
Day 7: 5:00:00

I didn't do this everyday, this is counting the days I worked on this. Took me around 10 hours from start to finish, thank you!

[julialewis-thomas]

This is by far one of the best tutorials I've ever used. Clear, good pace, and engaging. No steps are skipped or skimmed over. Thank you for this in depth, professional learning material. Please make more!

[eshan]

Really blows my mind that you give all this for FREE! This would be priced $$$ too much in a school or an institute. But this guy ....FREE EDUCATION!
Also... no ads, no distraction, no unnecessary talks, calmly explaining everything in an easy to understand manner.
I am here since your first video...and really thankful for providing all this.
EDIT: Finished the whole tutorial! **pats self on back**
arigatogozaimasu sensei🙏

[aalaskaa]

This is some of the most polished and comprehensive education for a software I've ever watched. The way he does stuff incorrectly and then tells you how to get out of it - subtle but it's a massive reason why this video works so well. Great job.

[Andrei-cklv]

Small hint for others encountering the same issue as me. At the Lumen chapter if you see no changes even after enabling infinite extent and lumen in the PostProcessVolume, it is because of the Engine Scalability Settings, mainly the global illumination option being set to medium or lower. You need this set to high in order to actually see lumen activated.

[ugurardin]

Guys, i am in the middle of rhe tutorial and this is the first time that i am using youtube for learning a software. I know zbrush, substance, blender very well and bought a lot of courses. And i can tell you that this is the best course i have ever seen so far. Not just for unreal engine i am talking. The way you explain everything in order and giving only necessary informatinos are amazing.

[Swordshreader]

Notable tips, tricks, and points:

20:32 - Moving a object with it's rotation in mind
22:04 - Easy way to duplicate
23:14 - Select mutiple objects in viewport
24:00 - Move a object with the camera following said object
26:23 - Automatically position a object on the floor perfectly
41:22 - How to dock a window for ease of access
51:00 - Super easy way to move the sun around
52:33 - Great shortcuts for the blueprint feature
59:47 - Make textures not tile as much or tile more
1:03:00 - Auto-apply changes without compiling and thus waiting forever
1:06:14 - Change the intensity of a normal map
1:09:01 - Master Materials!!!
1:14:51 - Important: 3D Objects in Unreal Engine are called Static Meshes
1:24:58 - Move assets from one project to another
1:26:24 - Easy way to open a file in Unreal Engine with Windows file explorer
1:37:12 - Soften shadows of/with lights
1:37:31 - How to use the 'Sky Light' light
2:01:03 - Actual timestamp for Landscape Tool (Get your lighting setup still)
2:17:45 - MEGASCANS Materials Explaination
2:18:06 - IMPORTANT: Albedo Tint
2:21:43 - How to make MEGASCANS Surfaces tile offset less or more
2:22:15 - Cool Trick!!! How to rotate MEGASCANS Surfaces
2:22:50 - GREAT SHORTCUT! How to instantly locate a asset in the content browser without looking through it forever and ever
2:29:30 - Very important point about LOD's specifically LOD4
2:30:15 - Actual timestamp for Foliage Tool (Make sure to still watch the explaination of foliage!)
2:31:58 - Erase foliage
2:33:34 - Make foliage even more dense
2:34:15 - Good tip for adding realism with variable sizing foliage
2:36:07 - GREAT TIP!!! How to NOT paint on top of your buildings, props, house, etc (aka all your static meshes)
2:44:16 - Shortcut he should of mentioned much earlier
2:50:02 - How to get back your mouse / cursor while playing your game
2:52:22 - If you mess up the windows and sizes the windows to all hell; this is the fix
2:53:43 - Rotate the spawn point of the player
2:54:15 - Debugging your blueprints real-time
3:14:56 - Open up the level blueprint

[scpcomps]

I'm into about 1.5 hours as an absolute beginner with Unreal Engine. I would like to say that this is one of the best tutorials I have seen, not just on using Unreal Engine, but any product. Well done and thank you.

[sirdigbychickencaesar]

Thanks for the great tutorial, I went from never touching any type of this kind of software to making a full stage in under a week.
UE5 is so dope.