How to Become an Unreal Automation Expert

As an experienced developer who has worked with Unreal Engine for over 7 years, I‘ve seen firsthand how mastering automation can take you from a capable Unreal generalist to an indispensable technical leader. Automation expertise is a force multiplier – an investment that makes every future project faster, less error-prone, and more polished.

In this in-depth guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know to become an Unreal automation expert, including:

The key automation concepts and technologies in Unreal
Recognizing common automation opportunities
Blueprints vs C++ vs Python – which to use when
Step-by-step tutorials for building practical automation tools
Automation insights from top industry experts
Strategies for making automation a part of your everyday development

Whether you‘re an Unreal veteran looking to level up your skills or a motivated beginner eager to become an engine wizard, this article will put you on the path to automation mastery. Let‘s dive in!

Why Automation Matters

Every developer and artist spends some amount of time on repetitive, mechanical tasks – importing assets, tweaking lighting, setting up collision, and so on. A study by Zapier found that, on average, knowledge workers spend 4.2 hours per week on recurring manual tasks that could be automated. Over a year, that adds up to over 200 hours, or 5 entire work weeks, lost to mindless busywork.

Data via Zapier

Imagine what you could create with an extra 5 weeks per year. By automating the repetitive parts of development, not only do you free up massive amounts of time, you also:

Reduce human error and ensure consistent, predictable results
Make it effortless to enforce standards and best practices
Empower team members to focus on their core competencies
Enable rapid iteration and experimentation with new ideas
Scale your team‘s capabilities without linearly scaling effort

Automation is a key factor in development speed and agility. According to the 2020 State of DevOps Report, elite performers deploy code 208 times more frequently and have lead times 106 times faster than low performers. Automation is a crucial ingredient in how they achieve that velocity.

The best part is, automation has a positive flywheel effect. The more you automate, the more time you have to automate further, creating a virtuous cycle of productivity gains. Let‘s look at how to tap into that power in Unreal Engine.

Unreal Automation Fundamentals

At a high level, automating an Unreal development workflow involves three main components:

Accessing and manipulating data in the Unreal editor and project content
Encoding logic to process that data or perform actions in a reusable way
Exposing the automated process with a convenient interface

Unreal provides three primary options for stitching these pieces together into useful automations:

Blueprints Visual Scripting

Blueprints is a powerful visual scripting system that enables you to automate gameplay logic, interactive systems, procedural content, and more without writing code. By connecting nodes, you can rapidly prototype ideas and create event-driven behaviors.

Some common applications of Blueprints for automation:

Customizing assets as they‘re dragged into the level, like automatically assigning a physics material based on the asset name
Generating landscape details and foliage based on scalable rules
Building "smart" objects that self-configure based on their environment or in-game events
Automating content validation with custom check actors

C++ Programming

Unreal C++ empowers you with total control over the engine and editor. With C++, you can extend the editor UI itself, create new asset types and content creation tools, and optimize low-level systems. If you need the utmost performance, flexibility, and deep engine integration, C++ is the way to go.

Some examples of game-changing C++ automations:

An animation retargeting tool to automatically adapt animations across skeletons
Entity component system for building complex runtime behavior with minimal custom code
Automated navigation mesh generation based on level geometry
Asset import pipeline with automatic LOD/collision/material setup steps

Python Scripting

Python is a quick and expressive scripting language that puts the full power of the Unreal editor at your fingertips. With the Python API, you can automate content management, art tools, level design aids, data processing, and any other part of the development process.

Some powerful applications of Python in Unreal:

Bulk operations on assets like renaming, moving, deleting
Generating detailed analytics on level content and performance budgets
Automating export/cook/package/deploy pipelines
Custom designer-friendly content wizards and context menus

Practical Automation in Action

Let‘s solidify these concepts with a real-world automation example. We‘ll extend the level prop scattering tutorial from earlier into a more complete, user-friendly tool.

We‘ll create an editor utility widget that allows you to:

Select a prop asset from a filtered list
Input scatter settings like density and random scale ranges
Click a button to automatically scatter the selected prop across the level

Here‘s the complete Python code:

import unreal

# Create the editor utility widget
class PropScatterTool(unreal.EditorUtilityWidget):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.set_title_bar_visibility(False)
        self.set_size_and_position(unreal.Vector2D(350, 250), unreal.Vector2D(100, 100), False)

        # Get all StaticMesh assets in the project
        all_assets = unreal.EditorUtilityLibrary.list_assets("/Game", True, False)
        static_mesh_assets = unreal.EditorFilterLibrary.by_class(all_assets, unreal.StaticMesh)

        if len(static_mesh_assets) == 0:
            unreal.log_warning("No StaticMesh assets found in the project content.")
            return

        # Create widget UI elements  
        self.prop_select = self.add_combo_box("Prop", static_mesh_assets, 0)
        self.prop_count = self.add_integer_slider("Count", 1, 1000, 1, 10)
        self.prop_size_min = self.add_float_slider("Min Scale", 0.1, 10, 1, 0.5) 
        self.prop_size_max = self.add_float_slider("Max Scale", 0.1, 10, 1, 2)
        self.scatter_button = self.add_button("Scatter Props")

        # Bind the scatter button click event
        self.scatter_button.bind_on_clicked(self.on_button_clicked)

    # Scatter button click handler    
    def on_button_clicked(self):
        prop_mesh = self.prop_select.get_selected_option()
        count = self.prop_count.get_value()
        size_min = self.prop_size_min.get_value()
        size_max = self.prop_size_max.get_value()

        actors = unreal.EditorLevelLibrary.get_all_level_actors()
        static_mesh_actors = unreal.EditorFilterLibrary.by_class(actors, unreal.StaticMeshActor)

        surfaces = []
        for actor in static_mesh_actors:
            component = actor.static_mesh_component  
            if component:
                vertices = component.get_static_mesh().vertices
                indices = component.get_static_mesh().triangles
                for i in range(0, len(indices), 3):
                    v0 = component.get_world_transform().transform_position(vertices[indices[i]])
                    v1 = component.get_world_transform().transform_position(vertices[indices[i+1]])  
                    v2 = component.get_world_transform().transform_position(vertices[indices[i+2]])
                    normal = (v1 - v0).cross(v2 - v0).get_safe_normal()
                    center = (v0 + v1 + v2) / 3
                    surfaces.append({"pos": center, "normal": normal})

        for i in range(count):
            surface = surfaces[random.randint(0, len(surfaces)-1)]

            prop_actor = unreal.EditorLevelLibrary.spawn_actor_from_object(prop_mesh, surface["pos"])  
            prop_actor.set_actor_scale3d(unreal.Vector(random.uniform(size_min, size_max)))
            prop_actor.set_actor_rotation(surface["normal"].rotation())

# Create and display the tool widget
scatter_tool = PropScatterTool()
scatter_tool.add_to_viewport()

This script demonstrates several key Unreal Python automation concepts:

Creating custom UI with the unreal.EditorUtilityWidget class
Searching for and filtering assets with unreal.EditorUtilityLibrary and unreal.EditorFilterLibrary
Manipulating actors and components with the Unreal Python API
Encapsulating complex logic into a reusable, artist-friendly interface

With under 100 lines of Python, we‘ve created a handy tool that can save environment artists hours of painstakingly hand-placing props. Imagine the more advanced automations you could develop by combining these techniques!

Becoming an Automation-Minded Developer

Beyond learning the technical skills of Unreal scripting, an expert automation engineer needs to cultivate a keen eye for process optimization. Some tips for developing this mindset:

Constantly ask yourself "is this the most efficient way?" as you work. Challenge your assumptions and look for smarter approaches.
Observe your teammates‘ workflows and listen for pain points. What do they complain about? What consumes more time than it should?
Read others‘ scripts on the forums, wiki, and marketplace. Analyze how they structure logic and UI. Adapt their patterns to your own projects.
Participate in gamejams and rapid prototypes. Constraints breed creative automation.
Do something manually once, then immediately script it. Get in the habit of automating early.

As Brendan Vance, lead technical designer at Ubisoft, puts it:

"The best automation experts almost can‘t help but optimize. Any time they find themselves thinking ‘I‘ve done this before…‘, it‘s like an itch they have to scratch. But what‘s beautiful is that scratching that itch – taking the time to automate – actually gives you more time and energy to focus on the bigger picture."

The Future of Unreal Automation

As Unreal Engine continues to evolve, so too will the possibilities for automation. Some exciting developments on the horizon:

Machine learning – Epic is investing heavily in ML for procedural content generation, smart tools, and developer productivity aids. Imagine automations that use neural networks to generate entire levels from scratch based on a few concept sketches.
Visual programming – Unreal is making Blueprints more powerful and C++-like with every release. Soon, visual programming may be all you need for the vast majority of gameplay and tools programming. Complex automations will become more accessible than ever.
Simulation everywhere – Unreal is becoming a preeminent platform for simulation, from autonomous vehicles to digital twins to VR training. These use cases bring huge demand for automated testing, procedural scenario generation, and synthetics data pipelines. Automation expertise will be a critical skill.
Metaverse development – As we build sprawling, persistent virtual worlds, the need for scalable content creation and maintenance will explode. Unreal automation specialists who can generate and manage millions of assets, locations, and experiences will be in high demand.

If you start honing your automation chops now, you‘ll be primed to ride these waves as they change our industry.

Conclusion

We‘ve covered a lot of ground in this deep dive on Unreal automation. To sum it up, becoming an expert automation engineer involves:

Mastering visual scripting with Blueprints, coding with C++, and tool building with Python
Relentlessly analyzing workflows to identify optimization opportunities
Combining technical skills and design thinking to create elegant, intuitive automations
Staying engaged with the Unreal community to learn and share best practices
Always looking ahead to the future of automation and proactively developing cutting-edge skills

It‘s a lot to take in, but remember – every automation you create is a multiplier on all your future work. Think about the impact you could have by making your entire team 10%, 20%, 50% more efficient.

The best way to learn automation is by doing. Get out there and start tinkering! Pick a repetitive task and build a tool for it, no matter how simple. Join a gamejam and challenge yourself to automate as much grunt work as possible. Scour the forums and reverse-engineer an impressive script.

As you flex your new automation muscles, I think you‘ll find that Unreal development becomes more and more enjoyable. You‘ll spend more time on the engaging, creative, rewarding parts of game making, and less on the drudgery.

That‘s the dream we‘re all chasing as Unreal developers. Automation is your ticket to getting there faster. Now go craft some awesome tools and make your world a little bit better. Happy automating!

How to Become an Unreal Automation Expert

Why Automation Matters