Unreal Engine AI
Pricing Details
Included with Unreal Engine license. The engine is free to use until your product reaches a certain revenue threshold ($1 million USD). Beyond this threshold, a royalty applies.Features
- Behavior Trees for defining complex AI decision-making logic.- Robust Navigation System (NavMesh) supporting complex environments and dynamic obstacles.
- Environment Query System (EQS) for context-aware decision making.
- AI Perception system with various senses (sight, hearing, touch, etc.).
- Support for complex navigation links (NavLink) for diverse movement types.
- Integrated crowd simulation (Detour).
- Seamless integration with Blueprints visual scripting and C++ programming.
- Powerful AI debugging and visualization tools.
- Support for creation of single agents, groups, and large-scale simulations.
Integrations
Native Unreal Engine tools, C++, Blueprints, extensive plugin ecosystem (e.g., for integration with external AI services like OpenAI).Preview
Unreal Engine offers a mature and robust set of tools and frameworks for implementing artificial intelligence in games, simulations, and interactive applications. The AI system within Unreal Engine is an integral part of the engine and has evolved continuously with each new version, providing developers with flexible capabilities to create complex and believable behaviors for Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and other AI-controlled entities. At the core of the decision-making system are often Behavior Trees, which allow for the visual structuring of AI logic, defining sequences of actions and conditions for their execution. This makes the development and debugging of AI behavior more intuitive.
For navigation and movement, Unreal Engine utilizes a powerful navigation system, including Navigation Meshes (NavMesh) that are automatically built based on level geometry, enabling agents to find paths and avoid obstacles. Additional elements like NavLinks provide the ability to create more complex and varied movement types, such as jumping across gaps or using ladders. The Environment Query System (EQS) allows AI agents to explore their surroundings and evaluate different locations or objects based on defined criteria, which is critical for making tactical decisions or finding targets. The AI Perception system gives agents the ability to "sense" the world, processing information from various sensors like sight, hearing, or touch (taking damage), and reacting to stimuli in the environment.
All these components are tightly integrated and can be extended or customized using both the visual scripting language Blueprints and lower-level C++ programming, giving developers full control over AI behavior. Unreal Engine AI supports the creation of diverse scenarios, from simple patrolling NPCs to complex adversaries with adaptive behavior and simulations of large crowds of characters. AI debugging tools within the Unreal Engine editor allow visualizing agents' decision-making processes, their perception, and planned paths, significantly simplifying the AI development and optimization process.