Research Project - Unreal Engine 5 Nanite

Unreal Engine 5 Nanite

What is Nanite?

Nanite is a new mesh rendering technology in Unreal Engine 5. It allows the creation of film quality assets for real-time games. 

It's no different than how anyone currently works in Unreal Engine. All you have to do is enable Nanite when importing any static meshes that do not deform. Anything else, such as skeletal meshes or anything with world position offset cannot be Nanite.

How does it Work?

When imported into Unreal Engine 5, the mesh is analyzed and its tris are put into groups called clusters. The maximum threshold is 128 tris per cluster. But those clusters can swap depending on what is being rendered. 

The method used is called culling. So wherever the camera is placed and what its looking at, will change the cluster groups. 

For example:

When it is CLOSER to the Nanite mesh, there will be SMALLER clusters (High LODS).

When it is FURTHER from the Nanite mesh, there will be LARGER clusters (Low LODS)

*Think of each cluster as its own LOD

So the camera renders what it needs to and culls everything else. Clusters give more controls on what exactly gets rendered. 

Anything NOT in the camera view is culled. Even if part of it is in view, it won't be culled but most likely use a lower LOD.

UVs and Texturing

When UVing and Texturing Nanite Meshes, there will be a change in the usual pipeline to get it in game. 

Resources:

How to Texture props for Nanite - https://youtu.be/lrvPduSC4c8

UE5 Tutorial – Nanite - https://youtu.be/ADIldob0Sxg

Nanite in UE5: The End of Polycounts? - https://youtu.be/xUUSsXswyZM

Absolute Beginners guide to UE5 | Nanite - https://youtu.be/9NgDle3J9lo

How to make Nanite Meshes for Unreal Engine 5 in ZBrush and Substance Painter! - https://youtu.be/uxTteEHDhtA