Unreal Engine vs three.js

Overview

Unreal Engine

Stacks377

Followers392

Votes34

three.js

Stacks824

Followers530

Votes0

GitHub Stars109.2K

Forks36.1K

Unreal Engine vs three.js: What are the differences?

Introduction:

1. Performance: The most notable difference between Unreal Engine and three.js is their performance. Unreal Engine is known for its high performance, especially in rendering graphics and handling complex game physics, making it a preferred choice for creating high-end, visually stunning games. On the other hand, three.js, being a JavaScript library, may lag behind Unreal Engine in terms of performance due to the limitations of web technologies.

2. Ease of Use: Unreal Engine provides a more comprehensive and user-friendly integrated development environment (IDE) compared to three.js. This IDE offers a range of tools, such as a visual scripting system (Blueprints), material editor, and animation tools, that simplifies the game development process. In contrast, three.js primarily focuses on providing a lightweight and minimalistic library for creating 3D graphics on the web, which may require a higher level of expertise to work with compared to Unreal Engine.

3. Platform Compatibility: Unreal Engine supports a wide range of platforms, including PC, consoles, and mobile devices, allowing developers to create games for various devices easily. three.js, being a web-based library, is limited to browsers that support WebGL, potentially restricting the platforms on which the created content can be accessed, particularly on older browsers or devices that do not support WebGL.

4. Licensing: Unreal Engine follows a different licensing model compared to three.js. Unreal Engine requires developers to pay royalties based on the revenue generated from the games created using the engine. In contrast, three.js is an open-source library released under the MIT license, allowing developers to use it freely without any licensing fees or revenue-sharing obligations.

5. Community and Support: Unreal Engine has a large and active community of developers, providing access to various resources, tutorials, and forums for assistance in game development. In comparison, while three.js also has a dedicated community, it may not be as extensive or well-established as Unreal Engine's community, which could impact the availability of support and resources for developers using the library.

6. Environment and Ecosystem: Unreal Engine offers a robust ecosystem that includes a marketplace for assets, plugins, and templates, allowing developers to enhance their projects with ready-made resources. On the other hand, three.js may require developers to rely more on custom coding and external tools for additional functionalities, as it does not have a centralized marketplace or ecosystem like Unreal Engine.

In Summary, Unreal Engine stands out for its high performance, comprehensive IDE, and wide platform compatibility, while three.js is favored for its open-source nature, simplicity, and accessibility for web-based 3D graphics.

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Advice on Unreal Engine, three.js

Alexey

Software Engineer / Game Developer at Norlin Games

Jun 11, 2020

Decided

When I started to learn game development, I've tried to use Unity multiple times because it's the most popular option. But never get it worked because of the clunky UI which is very hard to understand for a new user. After some time, I've decided to try UE4 despite there was a lot of rumors that it's "heavy" or requires an AAA team. And suddenly it clicked, everything works as I expecting, UI is clear and much more powerfull, no need to build custom tools to work on the game itself. Blueprints are very helpful for beginners, C++ has a lot of "syntax-sugar" - macroses, a lot of convenient in-engine types for everything. Later while working with Unreal, I've realized it has very consistent roadmap with constant improvements and adding new features. At the same time, each major version update is painless so you can upgrade your project during development to get new features. UE4 is free to use with the full list of features and you only have to pay royalty after getting your first $1 million from the project (and that's just the default case, you can always discuss custom license with an upfront fee, if you want to).

92.3k views92.3k

Comments

Arthur

Software Engineer at Value Industry

Mar 1, 2020

Decided

I chose Unity over Unreal Engine because Unity has a more user friendly UI for beginners looking to learn game development. Additionally, as someone who uses a lot of online resources to learn new languages and tools, I found a lot of tutorials covering game development with Unity as the core engine. This doesn't mean Unreal is not a great choice for game development, I just personally found learning game development much smoother with the amount of resources available with Unity.

89.8k views89.8k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Unreal Engine	three.js
It is a game engine that helps you make games. It is made up of several components that work together to drive the game. Its massive system of tools and editors allows you to organize your assets and manipulate them to create the gameplay for your game.	It is a cross-browser JavaScript library and Application Programming Interface used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser.
Photoreal Rendering in Real Time; Blueprints: Create without Coding	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 109.2K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 36.1K
Stacks 377	Stacks 824
Followers 392	Followers 530
Votes 34	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 11 C++ 6 Blueprints 5 PBR 4 Source Available 4 Suitable for any projects Cons 6 Heavy 1 A lot of "heaviness" myths around	No community feedback yet
Integrations
Python C#	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Unreal Engine, three.js?

Unity

Unity is the ultimate game development platform. Use Unity to build high-quality 3D and 2D games, deploy them across mobile, desktop, VR/AR, consoles or the Web, and connect with loyal and enthusiastic players and customers.

Godot

It is an advanced, feature-packed, multi-platform 2D and 3D open source game engine. It is developed by hundreds of contributors from all around the world.

Gamemaker Studio 2

It has everything you need to take your idea from concept to finished game. With no barriers to entry and powerful functionality.

Panda3D

It is a game engine that includes graphics, audio, I/O, collision detection, and other abilities relevant to the creation of 3D games.

pygame

It is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language.

Corona SDK

It is a cross-platform framework ideal for rapidly creating apps and games for mobile devices and desktop systems. It builds rich mobile apps for iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook. Build high quality mobile apps in a fraction of the time.

Buildbox

It is the easiest drag and drop game maker software.Make your own games without coding and export them to iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, PC and Microconsoles.

AppGameKit

It is an easy to learn game development engine, ideal for Beginners, Hobbyists & Indie developers. It solves many problems caused by mobile device fragmentation. With it you can code your game once and then deploy your game to multiple platforms. Different resolutions and input systems are all easily handled by it.

Amazon Lumberyard

It is a game engine with no royalties or seat fees, frictionless integration with Twitch and AWS, plus much more on the horizon.

Phaser

It is a free open source HTML5 game framework. It uses Pixi.js for WebGL and Canvas rendering across desktop and mobile web browsers. Games can be compiled to iOS and Android apps via 3rd party tools.

Related Comparisons

Unreal Engine vs three.js: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Unreal Engine vs three.js

Overview