We are proud to present Cris Robson as the first speaker in the 2022. lineup.

Cris has been a teacher for over 20 years, and a game developer for even longer. Since the release of UE4 he specialised in teaching the use of foliage systems. His corporate clients include Maxon, Cinemax and many other game and AEC groups throughout Europe. In this talk and live demonstration, Cris will talk about foliage systems, harking back to the simple placement systems of non real time solutions like Autodesk's 3ds Max placement tool, through to the excellent systems of UE3 and UDK and then work towards what is possible in Unreal Engine 5, showing some interesting demonstrations and some useful ideas for anyone looking to expand their understanding of the systems, including culling, occlusion, animated foliage, blueprint foliage and much much more. In Cris' own words: "Foliage - whether it is plants, shrubs and trees, lamposts and concrete or even people and animals, foliage is what fills our virtual worlds, offering a break between biomes, a way to define and soften the edges of our worlds and also a way to bring a level of realism to our systems that many often forget or leave to the last minute. Unreal Engine 4 originally offered a very poor foliage solution, however as the versions have gone by, leading to version 5.x, we now have an ability to control what is on screen and off screen to an amazing level not seen before, allowing us to present millions and millions of our polygons on screen to be seen and enjoyed."