Hourences Portfolio


Last Update April 2026

The Expert Classes: UDK Asset Development – Part 1

The Expert Classes: UDK Asset Development Part 1
Required: UDK October 2012 or newer, 3D Modeling program, Photoshop
Length: 4h 32m
Difficulty: Beginner

The Expert Classes: UDK Asset Development – Part 1 is the first out of a series of two videos, that focuses on texturing and modeling in Unreal Engine 3/UDK. This first video is an introduction into correctly importing textures, making game ready models, and getting into the material editor.

While some parts of the video stick to a basic level, some other parts go into great detail on topics not usually covered. Setting up lightmaps the technically sound way for example, understanding rendering and the way the engine displays your work, the five different ways of handling collision, modular meshes, use of custom vertex normals, and things like altering the color of foliage based on the position in the world or vertex painting meshes.

In other words, it aims to give you a very thorough and detailed introduction into asset development in Unreal Engine 3/UDK.

This video class is aimed at beginners and those on their way to an intermediate level. The video comes with a couple of models and textures, but expects you to do some modeling and texturing on your own as well. The modeling and texturing was intentionally kept to a basic and minimalistic level (low poly), to allow even those with limited experience in a 3D package to follow.

The video uses 3DSMax, but as the video focuses on how to prepare and set models up for Unreal rather than how to use 3DSMax, the concepts and techniques covered in this video is also directly applicable to Maya, Blender, or Modo.

The Expert Classes: UDK Asset Development Part 1 The Expert Classes: UDK Asset Development Part 1

Content – 4h 32m

1. Intro – 7.36m

2. Basic Modeling (3DSMax) – 23.27m

Exporting/Importing

Modular Modeling

3. Collision – 40.56m

Five types of Collision

Unreal generated collision

Per poly collision

Invisible mesh collision

3D package collision

Brush collision

When to use which type

4. Lightmapping – 33.11m

Basic setup

Lightmap Grid Snapping

UV Inversion

UV Generation

5. Vertex Normals – 19.52m

Basics

Real life Application: Road modeling

Real life Application: Foliage

6. Mesh Lods – 6.47m

Basics and Lightmaps

Screendoor Fade

7. Vertex Counts – 5.47m

Basics and Impact on Memory

8. Workflow and Technical Understanding – 36.47m

Understanding Rendering

Unreal's way of rendering scenes

Polycount and drawcalls

3D package – Editor back and forth workflow

Package Organization

9. Material Editor Introduction – 7.16m

Importing Textures

Basic Diffuse/Specular/Normal Map Material

10. Material Editor First Application – 29.12m

Basic Color Modifications

Basic Panning/Rotating/Scaling

Setting Up The Scene Materials

The Road

The Landscape

The Rock

Foliage

11. Material Editor Advanced Use – 61.47m

Detail Normal Mapping

World Position Offset

World Position Texturing

Breaking Up Texture Tiling/Pixel Depth

Vertex Colors – Texture Blending


Videos

Download content used in the videos