Tutorial — Getting Started with Unreal Engine 5.8

Augmented Traveler local tutorial. Back to Unreal — Tutorials · process: Unreal — Process

The starting point for anyone new to Unreal on the studio. It covers what we use Unreal for, installing the locked version, Epic's beginner courses in order, the studio project, and the order of our local tutorials.

Draft. Written for UE 5.8 (released 23 June 2026; hotfixes 5.8.1–5.8.2). Update this page when the engineering lead has walked through it.

1. What Unreal does for us

Unreal is the master engine. Every figure, place and program lives in one project, and we build (cook and package) it separately for each surface:

MetaHumans are made and assembled inside Unreal (Tutorial — MetaHumans in Unreal). Costumes arrive from Marvelous Designer as Outfit Assets (Tutorial — Marvelous Designer Garment to MetaHuman Outfit).

Version lock: UE 5.8. Epic has said it isn't planning another UE5 release after 5.8 (a 5.9 only if needed), and UE6 Early Access is targeted for the end of 2027. 5.8 is our long-term base. Don't upgrade mid-season. See Tutorial — Blueprints for Augmented Traveler for what UE6 means.

2. Install

  1. Install the Epic Games Launcher. Under Unreal Engine → Library, install 5.8.x (the latest hotfix).
    • Options: Starter Content is optional.
    • Target platforms: Android (Quest and Android XR) and, on the Mac seat, iOS/visionOS.
  2. Windows toolchain: install Visual Studio with the "Game development with C++" workload and the versions the 5.8 release notes list (VS 2026 recommended). Check the release notes before installing.
  3. Android toolchain for headsets: see Tutorial — Packaging Builds for Each Surface.
  4. Plug-ins, turned on in the studio project (not per user):
    • MetaHuman;
    • Live Link;
    • OpenXR;
    • Pixel Streaming 2;
    • Subtitles and Closed Captions (Beta);
    • USD Importer;
    • Chaos Cloth;
    • State Tree.
  5. Source control: connect to the studio depot before opening the project (Tutorial — Source Control Setup).

3. Epic's beginner courses (in this order, about 5 hours)

# Course Why Link
1 First Hour in Unreal Engine (docs + videos) Editor, viewport, Blueprints, UMG, packaging basics https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/first-hour-in-unreal-engine?lang=en-US
2 Your First Game in Unreal Engine (2 h 43 m, Blueprint) Blueprint logic, timers, events https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/your-first-game-in-unreal-engine
3 Sequencer overview Our monologues are Level Sequences https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/unreal-engine-sequencer-movie-tool-overview
4 State Tree overview and quick start Our program clock and idle behaviour https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/overview-of-state-tree-in-unreal-engine · https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/statetree-quick-start-guide
5 MetaHumans in Unreal Engine How the character is built https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/metahuman/metahumans-in-unreal-engine?lang=en-US

Hub: Get Started with Unreal Engine: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/unreal-engine/get-started?lang=en-US

4. The studio project

AT_Studio/
├── Characters/<Figure>/   MetaHuman, outfits, grooms, animation library
├── Places/<Kit>/          Vestal House, Atheneum hall, whaleship deck
├── Programs/<Figure>/     Level Sequences, program State Tree, captions
├── Mind/                  Conversation client, speech, lip sync, logging
├── Platforms/             Kiosk, Quest, Vive, AndroidXR, VisionPro settings
└── Tools/                 Editor utilities, build scripts

Rules:

5. Your first hour in our project

  1. Open AT_Studio, then the level Programs/Mitchell/L_Mitchell_Kiosk.
  2. Press Play. The program runs its opening monologue, then waits for a question.
  3. Open LS_Mitchell_Monologue_01 in Sequencer and scrub it.
  4. Open the Mitchell character Blueprint and look at its components (Body, Face, grooms, outfit).
  5. Open ST_Mitchell_Program and follow its states.

These assets will exist once the first program is built. Until then, use Epic's MetaHuman sample project.

6. The studio path from here

Role Tutorials, in order
Everyone Tutorial — Source Control Setup → this page → Tutorial — MetaHumans in Unreal → Tutorial — Performance Profiling
Environment artist Tutorial — Place Kits for Historic Interiors → Tutorial — Kiosk Lighting for a Life-Size MetaHuman
Unreal engineer Tutorial — Blueprints for Augmented Traveler → Tutorial — Sequencer for Monologues → Tutorial — Authoring a Timed Experience → Tutorial — Authoring a Q&A Experience with Ambient Idle → Tutorial — Conversation Client Plugin → Tutorial — Captions UI → Tutorial — Packaging Builds for Each Surface
XR engineer Tutorial — OpenXR Headset Builds → Tutorial — Packaging Builds for Each Surface → Tutorial — Vision Pro Builds
DevOps engineer Tutorial — Packaging Builds for Each Surface → Tutorial — Pixel Streaming 2
Technical animator Tutorial — MetaHumans in Unreal → Tutorial — Authoring a Q&A Experience with Ambient Idle (idle and gaze)
Cloth artist Tutorial — Marvelous Designer Garment to MetaHuman Outfit

Sources