{"id":2775992,"date":"2025-05-01T08:12:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2775992"},"modified":"2025-05-08T18:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T01:05:00","slug":"creating-a-cinematic-scene-in-unreal-engine-with-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-unreal-engine","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/unreal-engine\/3d-gis\/creating-a-cinematic-scene-in-unreal-engine-with-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-unreal-engine","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Cinematic Scene with ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine"},"author":371252,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23771,37151,738191],"tags":[25781,23811,757161,757181,756352],"industry":[],"product":[766242],"class_list":["post-2775992","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3d-gis","category-design-planning","category-developers","tag-3d","tag-3d-visualization","tag-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-game-engines","tag-unreal-engine","tag-urban-design","product-unreal-engine"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":371252,"user_firstname":"Jade","user_lastname":"Huang","nickname":"Jade Huang","user_nicename":"jadehuang","display_name":"Jade Huang","user_email":"jadehuang@esri.com","user_url":"https:\/\/sites.psu.edu\/jade\/","user_registered":"2025-04-28 22:26:11","user_description":"Jade (Jiawei) is a product engineer for the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Game Engines. She holds a PhD degree in GIS from Pennsylvania State University. She also has a background in Natural Resources and Environment from University of Michigan. She is passionate about both the creative and technical aspects of game engines.","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"Bring GIS data to life with lighting, materials, game engine asset, MetaHuman and cinematic tools using ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The integration of GIS data with game engine technology represents an exciting frontier in 3D visualization, enabling professionals to create immersive digital representations of real-world environments. ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine allows users to seamlessly import detailed, real-world datasets into interactive scenes. However, transforming GIS data into compelling, lifelike environments often requires additional techniques beyond traditional GIS workflows.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have downloaded the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine and successfully loaded real-world data but find yourself uncertain about how to bring your scene to life, this blog will walk you through the process of enhancing your project using Unreal Engine techniques adapted to ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine. I will walk through my entire process\u2014from <\/span>importing real-world datasets, creating a cinematic atmosphere, editing mesh geometry, fine tuning the environment with material details, animating characters using the high-fidelity MetaHuman, to finally creating an engaging cinematic flythrough.<\/span><\/b> This blog is designed specifically for GIS professionals and 3D content creators who want to leverage the full capabilities of ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine and go beyond basic dataset visualization.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/span>. Import<\/span>ing<\/span> GIS Data<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

In this project, <\/span>I<\/span> used<\/span> Unreal Engine 5.5.4 <\/span>and<\/span> <\/span>the newly released <\/span>ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine 2.0.0<\/span><\/span><\/a>. <\/span>I started by importing <\/span>a<\/span> <\/span>3D Tiles layer<\/span> <\/span>of Boston<\/span>, <\/span>whic<\/span>h gave me <\/span>detailed urban geometry streamed in from a remote server<\/span>, as well as a <\/span><\/span>basemap<\/span><\/span><\/a> and<\/span> <\/span>elevation<\/span><\/span><\/a>. <\/span>You can just as easily use <\/span><\/span>other<\/span> supported data layers<\/span><\/span><\/span>, such as<\/span> <\/span>3D object scene layers, integrated mesh scene layers, building scene layers, <\/span>or <\/span>f<\/span>eature layers<\/span><\/span> (through <\/span><\/span>ArcGIS REST API<\/span><\/span><\/a>) <\/span>depending on the type of data <\/span>you’re<\/span> working wit<\/span><\/span>h.\u00a0<\/span>You can find <\/span>additional<\/span> information on <\/span><\/span>supported data layers<\/span><\/span><\/a> in<\/span> our documentation. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2<\/span>. <\/span>Integrat<\/span>ing<\/span> Game Engine Assets<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Once the GIS data was added to the scene as the base environment, the next st<\/span>ep was to enhance it with detailed assets. <\/span>Fab <\/span><\/b>is the new hub that houses assets from Quixel, Sketchfab, TurboSquid, and the Unreal Engine Marketplace.\u00a0 You can access Fab directly in Unreal (through Window-Fab) and import assets to your project.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After examining my scene, I browsed for a few key assets in Fab:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n