VizWorld.com

A new free download popped up on Steam last week called ‘Moonbase Alpha’, using the Unreal engine to create a short game where you attempt to repair a crippled lunar base.  The project is an experiment by NASA to see if they can raise interested in the Space Program the same way America’s Army is used in military recruitment.

“It started as an effort to prove we could create a commercial quality game using NASA content that is fun. NASA was looking for a project at the same time the Army Game Studio was looking to branch out from America’s Army. It helped that Army Game Studio and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are co-located at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Virtual Heroes has a history for with America’s Army so we were excited to see them selected to support the Army Game Studio on the game.”

The entire game can easily be completed in 20 minutes, putting it squarely in the ‘proof of concept’ category.  However, this is the testbed for what NASA eventually wants to build: A full blown MMO.

via NASA-funded game aims to make science more appealing.

Graphics, Science education, nasa, unreal, video game

The New York Times has a short writeup on an entertaining visualization of what 25,000 Barrels of Oil looks like, using the Unreal Gaming Engine to stack them 15,000 ft high and then knocking them down

Here’s a new entrant, using software tools from the gaming world to illustrate what a low-end estimate of the volume of oil gushing from the Gulf of Mexico seabed looks like if displayed as stacked barrels. (Hat tip to my elder son, Daniel, who saw this on Kotaku.com.)

via 25,000 Barrels of Oil Seen a New Way – Dot Earth Blog – NYTimes.com.

Graphics oil, unreal

Here’s todays pixels:

• Tutorial: Create a realistic Space Landscape with Photoshop
• New Beta of the Unreal Development Kit
• The “Render Farm on Wheels” (ROW) from Autodesk & BOXX
• Dungeon Defense, Demo game for UDK
• Trimble indoor mapping system (Press Release)

Graphics, Hardware, Science photoshop, pixels, trimble, unreal

Here’s today’s Pixels:

• 361 3D Models and Accessories, starting at $1 from 3DOcean
• DVD: Unreal Development Kit – An Introduction and Application
• New Madrid Sketchup models in Google Earth
• ShaderMeister - Unified Global Shading system for Lightwave3D
• Terragen 2 – natural terrain generator

Graphics dvd, pixels, training, unreal

Less than a month after the release of Epic’s Unreal Development Kit, they’ve partnered with 3D Buzz to release a massive collection of 130 training videos covering everything from the User Interface to Lighting to Physics and Fluids.

Known for high-quality Video Training Modules and the Mastering Unreal Technology book series, 3D Buzz has put together these videos that guide you through the basics of the Unreal Engine editing suite, as well as working with a simple game project.

The file format is MP4. No other codecs are required.

The videos are downloadable in ZIP archives for easy storage.

via UDN – Three – VideoTutorials.

Graphics 3dbuzz, training, unreal

All of you young budding game developers have a new toolkit in your arsenal, the newly released Unreal Development Kit.  A new free version of the popular Unreal3 & Development tools, it brings the power of the Unreal Engine into hands of game developers worldwide.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!”

The UDK comes with PhysX, LightMass, AnimTree, integration systems for SpeedTree, Bink, and FaceFX, and all of the usual Unreal Engine features like UnrealScript.  Licensing restricts it to noncommercial or educational use, so you’ll eventually need to purchase a commercial license if you plan to sell your game.

via News – Epic UDK.

Graphics, Science engine, library, sdk, unreal, videogame