A modular rendering method, system, apparatus, and medium based on unreal engine
By separating texture data sources and material adjustment parameters in Unreal Engine and using parameter groups for layered management, the problems of bloated material structures and low iteration efficiency in existing rendering solutions are solved, achieving efficient and flexible rendering effects and performance management.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- HANGZHOU TULINGLING TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
- Filing Date
- 2026-02-15
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-29
AI Technical Summary
The existing rendering solutions lack a unified parameter organization and management architecture for each functional module, resulting in bloated material structures, poor maintainability, low iteration efficiency, and complex performance optimization when integrating multiple complex effects.
By separating texture data sources and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering, parameter groups are created using Unreal Engine for hierarchical management. The parameter groups are then standardized through numbered hierarchical and sorting priority functions, supporting distributed parallel development and adjustment.
It improves the maintainability and reusability of materials, enables flexible configuration from basic shadows to complex special effects, enhances visual consistency and performance controllability, and solves the problem of computer graphics rendering performance.
Smart Images
Figure CN122115674A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This application relates to the field of computer rendering technology, and in particular to a modular rendering method, system, apparatus and medium based on Unreal Engine. Background Technology
[0002] Computer graphics rendering is the process of converting 3D models or scene data into 2D images. It is a core part of computer graphics, generating realistic or artistically styled visual images by simulating physical properties such as light, materials, textures, and illumination.
[0003] Existing rendering solutions mainly rely on various cartoon or stylized shading schemes built from general-purpose shaders, or directly utilize cartoon rendering plugins provided by commercial or open-source communities. These existing technologies typically employ fragmented material functions or independent shading models to achieve specific stylized effects (such as hard shadows, rim lighting, and color grading), and generally suffer from the following problems and drawbacks: The lack of a unified parameter organization and management architecture among the various functional modules results in a bloated material structure and poor maintainability. When integrating multiple complex effects (such as dynamic shadows, layered self-illumination, and special channel control), it is often necessary to manually connect a large number of nodes, which not only reduces iteration efficiency but also increases the complexity of performance optimization. Currently, no effective solution has been proposed for the problem of how to improve the performance of computer graphics rendering in related technologies. Summary of the Invention
[0004] This application provides a modular rendering method, system, apparatus, and medium based on Unreal Engine, to at least address the problem of how to improve computer graphics rendering performance in related technologies.
[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a modular rendering method based on Unreal Engine, the method comprising: Separate the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering; Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, parameter groups for hierarchical management of the material adjustment parameters are created using Unreal Engine; During the computer graphics rendering process, for the texture data sources of different rendering projects, the material adjustment parameters are uniformly called through the parameter group to complete the graphics rendering.
[0006] In some embodiments, based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, creating parameter groups using Unreal Engine for hierarchical management of the material adjustment parameters includes: Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the parameter groups are created using the parameter grouping and sorting priority functions built into the Unreal Engine editor through a hierarchical numbering system. The parameter groups are used to manage the material adjustment parameters hierarchically.
[0007] In some embodiments, based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, parameter groups are created using the parameter grouping and sorting priority functions built into the Unreal Engine editor, through a hierarchical numbering system: Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the parameter grouping function built into the Unreal Engine editor is used to classify the material adjustment parameters into a three-layer parameter group, wherein the three layers are the first numerical number, the second numerical number, and the specific function label. Based on the sequence of the rendering process in the computer graphics rendering, the material adjustment parameters in the parameter group are sorted according to the built-in sorting priority function of the Unreal Engine editor.
[0008] In some embodiments, based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the parameter grouping function built into the Unreal Engine editor is used to categorize the material adjustment parameters into parameter groups in the three-tier architecture, including: Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the material adjustment parameters with a correlation greater than the first strength threshold are classified into the specific function tags of the parameter group; Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the material adjustment parameters whose correlation is greater than the second strength threshold and less than or equal to the first strength threshold are classified into the second numerical number of the parameter group. Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the material adjustment parameters with a correlation less than or equal to the second strength threshold are classified into the first numerical number of the parameter group.
[0009] In some embodiments, separating the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering includes: The basic node operations in computer graphics rendering are encapsulated to obtain corresponding material functions. When the material function is called by the main material, it passes material adjustment parameters to the main material to complete the separation of texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering.
[0010] In some embodiments, the material functions support distributed parallel development and adjustment, and are logically grouped together with their respective material adjustment parameters.
[0011] In some embodiments, the method includes: High-priority global coefficients are set using Unreal Engine. These high-priority global coefficients are used to control the property strength of cartoon-style materials, while the inverse values of these high-priority global coefficients are used to control the property strength of realistic materials.
[0012] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a modular rendering system based on Unreal Engine, the system being used to execute the method described in the first aspect above, the system comprising a separation module, a construction module, and a rendering module; The separation module is used to separate the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering; The building module is used to create parameter groups for hierarchical management of the material adjustment parameters using Unreal Engine, based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters. The rendering module is used to uniformly call material adjustment parameters through the parameter group to complete the graphics rendering process for different rendering projects' texture data sources.
[0013] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide an electronic device including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor executes the computer program to implement the method described in the first aspect above.
[0014] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method described in the first aspect above.
[0015] Compared to related technologies, this application provides a modular rendering method, system, apparatus, and medium based on Unreal Engine. This method separates the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering. Based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, Unreal Engine is used to create parameter groups for hierarchical management of these parameters. During computer graphics rendering, for texture data sources of different rendering projects, the parameter groups uniformly call the material adjustment parameters to complete the graphics rendering. This separation of data source and adjustment parameters decouples the rendering process, improving material maintainability and asset reusability. Furthermore, this decoupled modular rendering method supports flexible configuration from basic shadows to complex effects, effectively enhancing visual consistency, performance controllability, and standardized management capabilities for cross-project materials, thus solving the problem of how to improve computer graphics rendering performance. Attached Figure Description
[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this application and form part of this application, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this application, but do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings: Figure 1 This is a modular rendering method based on Unreal Engine according to embodiments of this application; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation
[0017] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the application is described and illustrated below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the scope of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments provided in this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.
[0018] Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are merely some examples or embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art can apply this application to other similar scenarios based on these drawings without any inventive effort. Furthermore, it is understood that although the efforts made in this development process may be complex and lengthy, for those skilled in the art related to the content disclosed in this application, any changes to design, manufacturing, or production based on the technical content disclosed in this application are merely conventional technical means and should not be construed as insufficient disclosure of the content of this application.
[0019] In this application, the reference to "embodiment" means that a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of this application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it a separate or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It will be explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described in this application may be combined with other embodiments without conflict.
[0020] Unless otherwise defined, the technical or scientific terms used in this application shall have the ordinary meaning understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application pertains. The terms “a,” “an,” “an,” “the,” and similar words used in this application do not indicate quantity limitation and may indicate singular or plural. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and any variations thereof used in this application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion; for example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or modules (units) is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may also include steps or units not listed, or may include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices. The terms “connected,” “linked,” “coupled,” and similar words used in this application are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. “Multiple” used in this application refers to two or more. “And / or” describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships may exist; for example, “A and / or B” can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, and B alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects are in an "or" relationship. The terms "first," "second," and "third" used in this application are merely to distinguish similar objects and do not represent a specific ordering of the objects.
[0021] This application provides a modular rendering method based on Unreal Engine. Figure 1 This is a modular rendering method based on Unreal Engine according to embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the method includes the following steps: Step S102: Separate the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering; Specifically, step S102 encapsulates the basic node operations in computer graphics rendering to obtain the corresponding material function. When the material function is called by the main material, it passes the material adjustment parameters to the main material to complete the separation of texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering. The material function supports distributed parallel development and adjustment and is logically grouped together with its corresponding material adjustment parameters.
[0022] It should be noted that step S102, which separates and decouples the texture data source (e.g., _TEXTURE) from the material adjustment parameters (e.g., _MODIFIER), is crucial for building a high-performance, maintainable rendering system. Specifically, by encapsulating numerous basic node operations into material functions and calling these functions and passing parameters within the main material (i.e., the parent material in Unreal Engine), the number of node connections in the main material panel is significantly reduced. Material functions support distributed parallel development and adjustment, and are logically grouped using a numbering system for easy searching and calling. The fact that material functions support distributed parallel development and adjustment ultimately allows the system to improve material maintainability and asset reusability by separating the data source from the adjustment parameters and decoupling the rendering process. Furthermore, by integrating stylized rendering and physically based rendering pipelines, it supports flexible configuration from basic shadows to complex effects, effectively improving art iteration efficiency, enhancing visual consistency, performance controllability, and standardized material management capabilities across projects.
[0023] Step S104: Based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, use Unreal Engine to create parameter groups for hierarchical management of material adjustment parameters; Specifically, in step S104, based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, the parameter grouping and sorting priority functions built into the Unreal Engine editor are used to create parameter groups in a hierarchical manner using numbering. These parameter groups are used for hierarchical management of material adjustment parameters. Step S104 preferably includes the following steps: Step S1041: Based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, the parameter grouping function built into the Unreal Engine editor is used to classify the material adjustment parameters into a three-layer parameter group, wherein the three layers are the first numerical number, the second numerical number, and the specific function label. Specifically, step S1041: S411. Based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, material adjustment parameters with a correlation greater than the first strength threshold are classified into specific function tags of parameter groups. S412. Based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, material adjustment parameters with a correlation greater than the second strength threshold and less than or equal to the first strength threshold are classified into the second numerical number of the parameter group. S413. Based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters, material adjustment parameters with a correlation less than or equal to the second strength threshold are classified into the first numerical number of the parameter group.
[0024] Step S1042: Based on the sequence of the rendering process in computer graphics rendering, the material adjustment parameters in the parameter group are sorted according to the built-in sorting priority function of the Unreal Engine editor.
[0025] It should be noted that step S104 implements a parameter group architecture based on hierarchical numbering. This is achieved by grouping strongly correlated parameters under the same functional label, then grouping more correlated functional labels under the same subdirectory (i.e., the second numerical number mentioned above), and finally grouping the subdirectories into the main directory (i.e., the first numerical number mentioned above). The subdirectories are then rationally sorted according to the order of the rendering process, thereby encapsulating complex shading logic into discrete and ordered functional modules. Furthermore, the visual similarity between material adjustment parameters can be optionally calculated (by sampling the BRDF values of the material in multiple incident / outgoing directions, calculating L2 distance, cosine similarity, etc.), and this visual similarity can be used as the correlation (e.g., 1.2_LIGHT_SHADOW_RAMP, where "1" is the first numerical number (which can be called the main directory), "2" is the second numerical number (which can be called the subdirectory), and "LIGHT_SHADOW_RAMP" is the specific functional label). Further, more specific examples of the three-layer parameter group architecture are as follows: GLOBAL GLOBAL 0.0_GLOBAL GLOBAL 0.1_FUNCTION GLOBAL 1.0_MAINLIGHT_SHADOW GLOBAL 1.1_LIGHT_SHADOW_SDF_TEXTURE GLOBAL 1.2_LIGHT_SHADOW_RAMP GLOBAL 1.2_LIGHT_SHADOW_SDF_MODIFIER GLOBAL 1.3_LIGHT_SHADOW_COLOR_MULTIPLY GLOBAL 1.4_NORMAL_TEXTURE GLOBAL 1.5_NORMAL_MODIFIER GLOBAL 2.0_MAINLIGHT_COLOR GLOBAL 3.0_BASECOLOR_TEXTURE Step S106: In the process of computer graphics rendering, for the texture data sources of different rendering projects, the material adjustment parameters are uniformly called through the parameter group to complete the graphics rendering.
[0026] In addition, the method also includes step S107, which uses Unreal Engine to set a high-priority global coefficient, wherein the high-priority global coefficient is used to control the property strength of cartoon-style materials, and the inverse value of the high-priority global coefficient is used to control the property strength of realistic materials.
[0027] By separating the data source and adjustment parameters through the above-described method steps in this application embodiment to decouple the rendering process (shadow, color, glow, etc.), the maintainability and reusability of materials are improved. This decoupled modular rendering method supports flexible configuration from basic shadows to complex effects, effectively enhancing visual consistency, performance controllability, and standardized management capabilities for materials across projects. Furthermore, it integrates cartoon-style rendering and realistic rendering pipelines within the same framework. By using a high-priority coefficient in Unreal Engine to control the overall strength of cartoon-style material attributes, and then using the inverse value of this parameter to control the strength of realistic material attributes, adjusting this coefficient simultaneously controls the proportion between cartoon-style effects and realistic material effects. Ultimately, through this highly parameterized centralized control system, flexible customization of visual effects, optimized performance management, and standardized reuse of assets across projects are achieved. This solves the problem of how to improve computer graphics rendering performance.
[0028] It should be noted that the steps shown in the above process or in the flowchart of the accompanying figures can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions, and although a logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases the steps shown or described may be executed in a different order than that shown here.
[0029] This application provides a modular rendering system based on Unreal Engine. The system is used to execute the methods provided in the above embodiments. The system includes a separation module, a construction module, and a rendering module. The separation module is used to separate the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering; The module is used to create parameter groups for hierarchical management of material adjustment parameters based on the correlation between material adjustment parameters; The rendering module is used in the process of computer graphics rendering to uniformly call material adjustment parameters through parameter groups to complete the graphics rendering for different rendering projects' texture data sources.
[0030] By separating the data source from the adjustment parameters through the separation module, construction module, and rendering module in this embodiment, the rendering process (shadow, color, glow, etc.) is decoupled, improving the maintainability of materials and asset reusability. Furthermore, this decoupled modular rendering method supports flexible configuration from basic shadows to complex effects, effectively enhancing visual consistency, performance controllability, and standardized management capabilities for materials across projects. This solves the problem of how to improve computer graphics rendering performance.
[0031] It should be noted that the above modules can be functional modules or program modules, and can be implemented through software or hardware. For modules implemented through hardware, the above modules can reside in the same processor; or the above modules can be located in different processors in any combination.
[0032] This embodiment provides an electronic device including a memory and a processor. The memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to run the computer program to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments.
[0033] Optionally, the electronic device may further include a transmission device and an input / output device, wherein the transmission device is connected to the processor and the input / output device is connected to the processor.
[0034] Optionally, the electronic device may further include a processor, memory, network interface, display screen, and input device connected via a system bus. The processor provides computing and control capabilities. The memory includes non-volatile storage media and internal memory. The non-volatile storage media stores the operating system and computer programs. The internal memory provides an environment for the operation of the operating system and computer programs in the non-volatile storage media. The network interface is used to communicate with external terminals via a network connection. When the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements a modular rendering method based on Unreal Engine. The display screen may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an e-ink display. The input device may be a touch layer covering the display screen, buttons, a trackball, or a touchpad mounted on the device's casing, or an external keyboard, touchpad, or mouse.
[0035] It should be noted that the specific examples in this embodiment can refer to the examples described in the above embodiments and optional implementations, and will not be repeated here.
[0036] Furthermore, in conjunction with the Unreal Engine-based modular rendering method in the above embodiments, this application embodiment can provide a storage medium for implementation. This storage medium stores a computer program; when executed by a processor, the computer program implements any of the Unreal Engine-based modular rendering methods in the above embodiments.
[0037] In one embodiment, Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of this application, such as... Figure 2 As shown, an electronic device is provided, which can be a server, and its internal structure diagram can be as follows. Figure 2 As shown, the electronic device includes a processor, a network interface, internal memory, and non-volatile memory connected via an internal bus. The non-volatile memory stores the operating system, computer programs, and a database. The processor provides computing and control capabilities, the network interface communicates with external terminals via a network connection, the internal memory provides an environment for the operation of the operating system and computer programs, the computer programs are executed by the processor to implement a modular rendering method based on the Unreal Engine, and the database stores data.
[0038] Those skilled in the art will understand that Figure 2 The structure shown is merely a block diagram of a portion of the structure related to the present application and does not constitute a limitation on the electronic device to which the present application is applied. A specific electronic device may include more or fewer components than those shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.
[0039] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the processes in the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by a computer program instructing related hardware. This computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When executed, the computer program can include the processes of the embodiments of the above methods. Any references to memory, storage, databases, or other media used in the embodiments provided in this application can include non-volatile and / or volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in a variety of forms, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), dual data rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), RAMbus direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM), etc.
[0040] Those skilled in the art should understand that the technical features of the above embodiments can be combined in any way. For the sake of brevity, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments have been described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.
[0041] The embodiments described above are merely illustrative of several implementation methods of this application, and while the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention patent. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of this application, and these all fall within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this patent application should be determined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A modular rendering method based on Unreal Engine, characterized in that, The method includes: Separate the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering; Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, parameter groups for hierarchical management of the material adjustment parameters are created using Unreal Engine; During the computer graphics rendering process, for the texture data sources of different rendering projects, the material adjustment parameters are uniformly called through the parameter group to complete the graphics rendering.
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, a parameter group for hierarchical management of the material adjustment parameters is created using Unreal Engine, including: Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the parameter groups are created using the parameter grouping and sorting priority functions built into the Unreal Engine editor through a hierarchical numbering system. The parameter groups are used to manage the material adjustment parameters hierarchically.
3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, Based on the correlation between the aforementioned material adjustment parameters, and utilizing the parameter grouping and sorting priority functions built into the Unreal Engine editor, parameter groups are created using a numbered, hierarchical approach, including: Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the parameter grouping function built into the Unreal Engine editor is used to classify the material adjustment parameters into a three-layer parameter group, wherein the three layers are the first numerical number, the second numerical number, and the specific function label. Based on the sequence of the rendering process in the computer graphics rendering, the material adjustment parameters in the parameter group are sorted according to the built-in sorting priority function of the Unreal Engine editor.
4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, Based on the correlation between the aforementioned material adjustment parameters, and utilizing the parameter grouping function built into the Unreal Engine editor, the material adjustment parameters are categorized into parameter groups within the three-tier architecture, including: Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the material adjustment parameters with a correlation greater than the first strength threshold are classified into the specific function tags of the parameter group; Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the material adjustment parameters whose correlation is greater than the second strength threshold and less than or equal to the first strength threshold are classified into the second numerical number of the parameter group. Based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters, the material adjustment parameters with a correlation less than or equal to the second strength threshold are classified into the first numerical number of the parameter group.
5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Separating texture data sources and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering includes: The basic node operations in computer graphics rendering are encapsulated to obtain corresponding material functions. When the material function is called by the main material, it passes material adjustment parameters to the main material to complete the separation of texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering.
6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The material functions support distributed parallel development and adjustment, and are logically grouped together with their respective material adjustment parameters.
7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method includes: High-priority global coefficients are set using Unreal Engine. These high-priority global coefficients are used to control the property strength of cartoon-style materials, while the inverse values of these high-priority global coefficients are used to control the property strength of realistic materials.
8. A modular rendering system based on Unreal Engine, characterized in that, The system is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the system comprising a separation module, a construction module, and a rendering module; The separation module is used to separate the texture data source and material adjustment parameters in computer graphics rendering; The building module is used to create parameter groups for hierarchical management of the material adjustment parameters using Unreal Engine, based on the correlation between the material adjustment parameters. The rendering module is used to uniformly call material adjustment parameters through the parameter group to complete the graphics rendering process for different rendering projects' texture data sources.
9. An electronic device comprising a memory and a processor, characterized in that, The memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to run the computer program to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7.
10. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the program is executed by the processor, it implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.