Metalearning Unreal Engine 1.0 | The Unreal Engine Proficiency Project - Log 01
In this age in which video is king, prioritizing reading the official docs of certain software as the first learning resource seems to be constantly overlooked. I make an argument in favor of it here.
Often, when we begin learning something new, the most challenging aspect of the process is figuring out what to learn, rather than actually learning the content itself. If you've struggled with this, rest assured that you aren't alone in grappling with this challenge. This is a problem I've encountered myself many times over the years trying to learn stuff across several fields. This issue is rooted on the ways that we were taught to learn something in our conventional education systems (Yeah, I'm talking about elementary, middle and high school).
We were not taught to research the most effective learning methods or resources before beginning the learning process. Instead, we were simply provided with a predetermined path without explanation or consideration for the different kind of needs of each student or topic. As a result, we often approach new topics incorrectly. While this may not be our fault, it is our responsibility to address it and correct it.
On my own personal journey over the last couple months learning Unreal Engine I've been experimenting on which are the best ways and resources to do this. I made many mistakes previously by trying to learn other engines and tools and I am really looking forward to make amendments this time.
First thing that I've been doing differently is to start first and foremost with the official documentation of the engine. This may seem obvious if you are a seasoned (and old school) programmer but many people don't do this as the first step in learning a new engine. We have become so used to watching a tutorial series on Youtube that covers the basics of a tool and go along with it as our main resource for learning. Many of us only look into the documentation of an engine when we encounter a problem or need to use a specific functionality that we don't understand. It's hard to believe for some, but some people never even look at documentations while on their learning or building process. We have resorted so much to using video as our go-to learning resource that many of us have forgotten the power of reading slowly and digging deep into the documentation of software.
In the specific case of Unreal Engine documentation, I've been finding it to be very well suited for beginners. Many topics are taught in a sequential manner so you can go building things as you go reading about the different topics. If you didn't know this, yes, the official Unreal Engine documentation is full of written tutorials that take you through each step of the process on how to use many functionalities within the engine. This is a very different approach from many other documentations that often feel like a dictionary or an index, where you can find a reference on what something is, but you're not really taught how to use it.
We should all aim to read the full documentation of Unreal Engine (and any other software) to become better developers but if you're still finding it a bit overwhelming and don’t know where to start I would say the best place to start is the Making Interactive experiences section. If you want me to be even more specific I would say you should look into the Gameplay Framework sub-section of it as a starting point. This section will explain to you some of the most basic but essential concepts of the engine while using thorough instructions on how to build things with the stuff it i explaining.
The writers of the documentation have even taken the time to make these tutorials available both in C++ and Blueprints programming. This is very practical, as you may be looking to make faster progress on your learning process by using 1Blueprints scripting or go with the deep and old school way of doing things with the C++ programming language.
If you're starting on your journey to learn Unreal Engine, please don't shy away from reading and digging deep into the official documentation. It will make your life easier later when you go into more entertaining type of content like the official Epic Games video tutorials or any other learning resource in Youtube or any other video content site.
I believe we should strive to understand things deeply, and to be honest, I hadn't fully appreciated the power of this in the past. We've grown accustomed to seeking the easiest ways to learn something, always looking for shortcuts and quick methods to acquire knowledge. However, it seems that mastery of certain tools, like the one I'm discussing here, requires us to embrace the grind to become proficient in them.
P.S. This is just the first part of the Metalearning section I want to discuss, I will be talking about other resources I’ve been using besides the official documentation.
If you're new to Unreal Engine, Blueprints are the visual scripting system where you use nodes to create functionality that would otherwise be created with C++ code.