Unreal Engine remains one of the most popular engines for creating in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and is considered powerful and versatile enough that it has even seen use in Hollywood. The latest version is introducing a host of new features and improvements to make the engine even more indispensable to developers and content creators.

Unreal Engine has received many updates and new features from its creators at Epic Games, but thanks to its vast and engaged community, many updates and fixes were submitted by the community of Unreal Engine developers on GitHub. This updated version of Unreal Engine 4.19 was previously available for developers, and has now gone live for general users.

Among these updates are a number of features that will be of interest to VR content creators. Among these is the Unified Unreal AR Framework, which provides a framework for building AR apps for both Google and Apple portable platforms. This allows developers to create an AR app that will work for both ARKit and ARCore using a signal code path, without needing to create two separate projects.

Another new feature is Motion Controller Component Visualisation. This feature lets developers simply and quickly add a display model Static Mesh to your Motion Controllers. By default, this will match the device which is driving the motion controller, such as an Oculus touch, though more complicated, custom models can be loaded.

The Live Link plugin has also received substantial updates, allowing Unreal Engine users to establish a connection between Maya and Unreal Engine 4 and preview changes made in Maya in real-time from within the Unreal Engine 4 editor. Motion Controllers are also now compatible with Live Link.

Support for HTC Vive Pro is included in the new version, though performance will need o be checked. In addition, the latest SDK releases from Oculus, Steam VR, Android, iOS and others have all be integrated.

The full release notes for Unreal Engine 4.19 can be found on the Unreal Engine blog. VRFocus will continue to keep you updated on the latest Unreal Engine news.