Glossary

A convenient list of common terms. Let's put every entry under header section, so it can be easily linked from other pages. A Apex Physics engine by Nvidia, more on the Apex Framework. It's no long...

Updated almost 4 years ago

A convenient list of common terms. Let's put every entry under header section, so it can be easily linked from other pages.

A

  • Apex
    Physics engine by Nvidia, more on the Apex Framework. It's no longer supported, Apex plugin is disabled by default. It gonna be replaced by Chaos destruction systems.

B

  • Blueprint (BP)
    Visual Scripting language used in UE4.

C

  • Class Default Object (CDO)
    The template object created for UCLASSs. Can be accessed using

    UClass::GetDefaultObject
    

    or by Get Class Default Object node in blueprints. Pro-tip: you can get a variable's default value (what was set before running a game) by accessing CDO and then simply getting variable value. This way you need only a single variable "health" instead of "max health" and "current health".

  • Chaos
    Physics and destruction system by Epic Games.

  • Cascade
    Particle effects system used in Unreal Engine 3 and 4, planned to be superseded by Niagara.

G

  • Game Ability System (GAS)
    UE4 Plugin for game abilities.

M

  • Matinee
    Cinematic production tool in Unreal Engine 3 and 4. It hasn't been updated at all after the official release of UE4. Entirely replaced by Sequencer and deprecated in UE 4.23.

N

  • Niagara
    New Particle effects system in Unreal Engine 4.

R

  • Repository (Repo)
    The server where your project is stored, usually using a Source Code Control system such as git, Perforce, or Subversion. When submitting our work to server, we often say pushing to repo or committing to repo. And downloading the recent version of project from there is called updating the repo.

S

  • Slate
    C++ UI framework

  • Sequencer
    Cinematic production tool for Unreal Engine 4.

U

  • Unreal Automation Tool (UAT)
    Tool to automate various aspects of UE4 development. For example, the BuildCookRun automation tool Builds, Cooks, and Runs a project.

  • Unreal Build Tool (UBT)
    The build system used by UE4. All other tools, for example Visual Studio projects, end up running UBT to perform the build.

  • Unreal Game Sync (UGS)
    Project synchronization tool for larger teams using Perforce.

  • Unreal Header Tool (UHT)
    A C++ header parser and code-generation tool that is run before the standard C++ compilation. Used to implement parts of the UE4 UObject system.

  • Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG)
    A visual UI authoring tool and collection of widgets. Built on top of Slate.

  • Unreal Shader File (USF)
    HLSL like shader files that implement part of the UE4 rendering system.

  • Unreal Shader Header (USH)
    HLSL like shader files headers that implement part of the UE4 rendering system.