# Unreal — Process **Role in the pipeline:** the master engine. One repository holds every character, place kit and program; builds are cooked per surface. **Version lock:** Unreal Engine **5.8** (23 June 2026), the final planned UE5 release. Do not upgrade to UE6 mid-season. UE6 (UE5 + UEFN, Verse) Early Access is targeted for the end of 2027; Blueprints remain in early UE6 and will later be deprecated with conversion tools. See [[Tutorial — Blueprints for Augmented Traveler]]. ## Project structure ``` AT_Studio/ (Perforce or Git LFS) ├── Characters/<Figure>/ MetaHuman, outfits, grooms, anim library ├── Places/<Kit>/ Vestal House, Atheneum hall, whaleship deck ├── Programs/<Figure>/ Sequencer monologues, program-clock state machine ├── Mind/ Conversation client, captions, logging hooks ├── Platforms/ Kiosk, Quest, Vive, AndroidXR, VisionPro configs └── Tools/ Editor utilities, build scripts ``` ## Key systems | System | Unreal feature | |---|---| | Program clock (monologue → Q&A → out of character) | **State Tree** + Sequencer + per-venue Data Assets ([[Tutorial — Authoring a Timed Experience]]) | | Lip sync and expressions for live answers | MetaHuman Audio Live Link Source (real-time audio-driven animation) or NVIDIA Audio2Face-3D; test in a packaged build ([[Tutorial — Authoring a Q&A Experience with Ambient Idle]]) | | Captions | Subtitles and Closed Captions plug-in (Beta) or UMG widget, driven by the script (monologues) or the conversation service's text (answers) | | Waiting behaviour | Layered idle Animation Blueprint, Look At gaze, random fidgets, blinks, breathing | | Costumes | Marvelous Designer USD → Chaos Cloth Cloth Asset → Outfit Asset → MetaHuman Creator ([[Tutorial — Marvelous Designer Garment to MetaHuman Outfit]]) | | Lighting | Lumen / MegaLights for kiosk; baked or Lumen Lite for headsets | | Crowds | MetaHuman Collections (experimental) | | Streaming | Pixel Streaming 2 | | XR | OpenXR, Meta XR plugin, Android XR plugin, Vive OpenXR; visionOS full immersion | | Editor AI | MCP plugin (experimental) for LLM-assisted editor tasks; staff use only | ## Per-surface build settings | Target | Renderer | Character | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | Kiosk (Windows) | Deferred, Lumen/MegaLights, TSR | Cine, strands | Auto-start, watchdog, offline fallback | | Quest / Vive standalone / Android XR | Mobile forward, MSAA, fixed foveation | Optimized, cards | 72–90 fps target; baked lighting | | PC-VR (Vive Focus Vision via DisplayPort) | Forward or deferred | Cine where budget allows | Tethered hero demos | | Vision Pro | Full immersion (Metal) | Optimized | Build on a Mac | **Owners:** technical director, Unreal engineer, XR engineer. Tutorials: [[Unreal — Tutorials]] · start here: [[Tutorial — Getting Started with Unreal Engine 5.8]]