Today we’re going to discuss Unreal Engine 5 - not just what it’s going to do for gaming or
film - but how it can potentially help give birth to The Metaverse.
You’ve definitely heard this buzzword lately. But what is the Metaverse?
We’re not talking about Zuck and what he’s doing behind the scenes with his Sweet Baby Ray’s.
The Metaverse is the hypothetical connection between the physical,
real world, and the digital world - to facilitate all sorts of human interaction and processes.
This isn’t a new concept - we’ve already seen movies and shows play with the Metaverse.
Think back to the original Matrix back in 1999,
or more recently Ready Player One or Black Mirror’s San Junipero.
But these examples take the idea of The Metaverse to a much more solidified concept. In today’s
day and age, we’ll be seeing the Metaverse used in a whole variety of different fields
in much simpler ways - and we think Unreal Engine 5 will facilitate that transition.
In our last video, we talked a lot about how Unreal Engine had
been used to build the world of The Mandalorian,
and since then, we’ve seen the technology being used on many other film and TV sets.
HBO’s Westworld picked up the engine for their 3rd season. Netflix used it for Space Sweepers.
And most recently we got a full playable demo to help promote the latest Matrix Resurrections.
The Matrix Awakens probably received more hype than the actual movie,
showcasing Keanu Keeves himself mocking what was and wasn’t real to the viewer,
as well as giving us an opportunity to play with Unreal Engine 5 in full action.
The demo showcases the engine's AI crowd system,
shadows and lighting effects with Lumen, updated particle and geometry
systems for improved environment production and destruction, and their enhanced MetaSound system.
These improvements will help bring a new definition to “living, breathing world” when it
comes to gaming. Epic Games has already moved its popular title Fortnite over to the updated engine,
and within the Metaverse style game - we’ve already seen big names jump to Fortnite for
Metaverse style virtual concerts with the likes of Ariana Grande, Travis Scott and Marshmallow.
But Unreal lists off a variety of other industries where the engine could find use for the Metaverse.
Let’s dive into Work life first. Zuck talked a lot about this in their Meta presentation - A work
life where you could strap on your Quest 2 to jump into a virtual meeting space, discuss with your
co-workers as avatars, take notes on a virtual whiteboard, or even work on hologram designs
of your project. Microsoft is also working on this type of technology with their Mesh project.
Of course, we’re not quite at Tony Stark’s level of innovation here - but with the help of AR or
VR glasses and headsets, this is as close as we’ll get to working with holograms for now.
And while your digital avatars look and operate like
this at the moment (show VR chat/Meta’s meeting space) - we think the introduction of
Unreal’s Metahumans could take this to the next level.
Especially as creatives are shifting to the freelance and gig seller environment - working
with clients anywhere in the world - remote work is becoming more of the norm.
And we could see offices shifting to photo realistic spaces created in Unreal Engine
filled with your Metahumans for a typical work day - all from your home.
Obviously, all of this could and likely will have a set of negative repercussions
on the world - and we’ll dive into that a little later in the video.
First - let’s talk about a few other industries that we
could see utilizing the Metaverse and Unreal Engine’s technology.
A big one will be travel. With the use of Lidar technology - we’re already seeing
VR travel experiences get more popular and much more intuitive. The advantage of this
is being able to immerse yourself in another culture or environment without any of the cost
or worry about the current state of the world.
Right now, you can jump into the Brink Traveler VR experience
that gives you access to some really amazing locations. You can follow markers and learn
about the environment around you and even take pictures while you’re there.
Unreal Engine could one up these experiences with even more photorealistic renders of
different locations around the world - maybe even provide you
with a fully animated Metahuman guide to walk you through the environment.
Another big use case will be 3D modeling design for all sorts of industries,
allowing architects to meet with their co workers or clients from anywhere in
the world to collaborate on the same models in real time.
Weirdly enough, digital real estate in the Metaverse is already sellings for millions
of dollars, and as developers create bigger and more interesting digital worlds for your avatar
to live in, snapping up a piece of land may be necessary to stay relevant in the world.
But how far are we from actually seeing this come to fruition?...Actually - not that far.
While virtual reality has its limitations right now, the next iteration will be significant.
Currently, we know that future VR headsets like the next Oculus will be introducing facial
and eye tracking capabilities in order to give your digital avatar more realistic
emotion within the Metaverse. We also know that many developers are working on various
haptic feedback solutions to allow you to actually FEEL the digital world around you.
Meta has already started showcasing their haptic gloves
and third party developers like bHaptics are working with games like Hand Physics Lab
and Unplugged Air Guitar to test their haptic TactGlove.
There are even companies like Virtuix working on Ready Player One style,
360 degree, movement rigs to allow you to fully walk and run through any environment.
And all of this is in addition to the usual upgrades like lighter weight,
increased comfortability, and higher resolution screens coming.
But as many of you commented on our last video on
Unreal - there are some negatives that will come up from this technology.
Most of the concern came from politicians or anyone of power
creating a Metahuman - and yeah - that would be concerning.
But deep fake artificial intelligence is already here, whether Unreal is a part of it or not.
Another immediate worry would be addiction.
Just with any other piece of technology, whether it’s a gaming console or even your phone,
getting addicted to the digital world is likely, and it will be a problem.
The good news is that if you’ve ever spent a couple of hours in VR,
you’d know that your eyes and brain can only handle so much.
So hopefully, people will strain themselves out before getting too addicted to the digital world.
What’re your thoughts on the Metaverse? Let us know in the comments below,
and if you liked this video - tell us what other topics you’d be interested
in. You can also subscribe for many more tech reviews and explainers like these.