The following cases are from the "Digital Twin World White Paper (2023 Edition)"
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Unreal Engine (hereinafter referred to as UE) is a game engine developed by Epic Games for creating video games, virtual reality and augmented reality applications, digital twins and other content. UE supports real-time rendering, high-quality graphics effects and physical simulation, scalable blueprint visual scripting language, and cross-platform and multi-language support. UE also provides developers with a complete set of tools, including editors, resource managers, code editors, and debuggers, so that they can develop in an integrated environment. UE plays an important role in the field of digital twins and can be used to create a highly simulated virtual environment for virtual drills, tests and simulations, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
1) Characteristics of UE
① Powerful rendering engine and physical simulation system
UE has a powerful rendering engine and physical simulation system, which can achieve high-quality graphics rendering and physical simulation. UE's rendering engine uses a rendering technology based on PBR (Physically Based Rendering), which can simulate optical effects such as reflection, refraction, and scattering of real objects, thereby making the scene more realistic. At the same time, UE's rendering engine also supports global illumination, shadows, volumetric light and other effects, which can make the scene more delicate.
UE's physical simulation system can simulate the motion, collision, friction, elasticity and other effects of objects in the real world. Developers can use the physics engine provided by UE to simulate the physical movement of vehicles, objects, characters, etc., and can also use scripts to control the behavior of objects, so as to achieve richer gameplay.
②Real-time rendering and interactivity
UE supports real-time rendering, which allows developers to preview the effect of the scene in the editor in real time. Developers can adjust the elements, lighting, materials and other parameters in the scene in real time through the editor, so as to better observe and debug the scene.
UE has strong interactivity and can realize interactive games and virtual reality applications. Developers can control the movement and behavior of characters, objects, etc. through the input device interface provided by UE, so as to make games and applications more vivid and real.
③ Visual scripting language and blueprint system
UE provides a visual scripting language - the blueprint system, which can help developers quickly build game logic and application functions. The blueprint system provides a series of nodes and connections, and developers can build scripts by dragging and connecting without writing code. At the same time, UE also supports the mixed use of blueprints and C++ codes, allowing developers to use C++ codes to enhance functions when needed.
With the release of UE5, the UE game engine has the following new features that can be applied to the field of digital twins:
④Nanite technology
The technology uses the UE engine's ray tracing technology to achieve real-time rendering, which can render scenes with billions of polygons without dividing them into small pieces for processing. This enables professionals in the digital twin industry to create more complex scenarios and models with greater accuracy and speed.
⑤Lumen Technology
This is a global illumination technology that can calculate the bounce and refraction of light in the scene in real time, making the digital twin scene look more realistic.
⑥ New tools for MetaHumans
Highly realistic character models can be easily created. These models can be used for various applications in the gaming, virtual reality and digital twin industries.
2) UE-based digital twin scenario practice
①Environmental simulation
Digital Twin Weather System
Digital twin day and night alternation system
Digital Twin Four Seasons Switching System
②Dynamic Data Display
Thermal data display
traffic simulation
③ Animation special effects display
Roaming path navigation
Particle effect display
character effect simulation
Custom stroke effect
Model cutting perspective effect
