Fortnite Created by Epic Games, Unreal Engine 5 allows anyone to quickly build 3D worlds, so it’s great not just for gaming, but for virtual sets in Hollywood and more. Until now, new Mac users have relied on Rosetta technology to run, but Epic has just released a new update, Version 5.2, this works natively on Apple Silicon. This should allow for a significant performance improvement on the M1 and M2 Macs.
There’s more news for Apple users, too. Epic has unveiled a new iPad app (below) for virtual production that works with Unreal Engine’s ICVFX (In-Camera VFX) editor. The company said it offers “an easy-to-use touchscreen interface for stage operations such as color grading, light card placement, and nDisplay management tasks from anywhere within the LED storage.” In other words, it lets DPs, VFX’s, and others tweak lighting and more on virtual sets from a simple, portable interface.
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The update is interesting in the context of Apple’s antitrust dispute with Epic Games over Fortnite commissions on the App Store. Apple largely won that battle, as the appeals panel found that the company did not have a monopoly in distributing iOS apps. In 2020, Apple attempted to suspend the Epic Games developer account, but the move was later blocked by a judge.
Other new features introduced with the Unreal Engine 5.2 update include a “Procedural Content Creation Framework” that lets you populate large scenes with Unreal Engine assets of your choice, making building large worlds faster. Another feature called Substrate enables material creation with more control over the look and feel of objects used in real-time applications such as games or to create linear content. Epic demonstrated that using Rivian’s previous beta, gave a Metallic appearance paint job to the R1T electric truck.
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