March 8, 2010 – Epic Games has released a free, updated version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK). UDK is the free edition of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3, and all users are encouraged to download the updated software build at www.udk.com/udkdownload.html.

New UDK features and tools:
- Autodesk FBX format support (FBX version 2010.2)
* Static meshes, skeletal meshes and animations can now be imported from FBX files

* The FBX format is supported by many 3D modeling packages
~ including 3ds Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder.
* Download FBX plug-ins from Autodesk
~http://autodesk.com/fbx
~http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/FBXImporting.html

- Interactive Static Meshes
* Static meshes can now be configured so that all instance of that mesh placed in a level can become dynamic and react with physics when shot or pushed, giving the environment a more interactive feel.
* The advantages of this implementation are:
~Consistent behavior
* all objects using that mesh will be interactive, instead of it depending on level designer set up.
~Transparent to meshing
* L.D.s don't have to do anything special, but they can prevent specific objects from being able to become dynamic when necessary.
~These meshes are lit like any other static meshes until they move so there is no visual impact to using this system.
~No additional performance or memory cost to these meshes except during the short period when a mesh is being physically simulated.
* This system is intended for use with small decorative meshes that don't have any gameplay implications.
* The interactivity is client-side and is not replicated.
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InteractiveStaticMeshes.html

- New Attachment Editor
* For displaying and modifying object relationships
* Lets you view and edit the attachment graph for a selected set of actors
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AttachmentsBrowserReference.html

- mipmap sharpening
* Increases perceived resolution of textures w/o memory or performance impact
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ContentBlog.html#MipGenSettings

- Property window favorites
* Simply mark a property as a favorite and it will always be displayed at the top of your property window.
* Combined with the search capability, this will greatly stream-line data access in the Unreal Editor.
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PropertyWindows.html#Property Window Favorites

- New texture viewer options
* To reimport textures and to 'Compress Now'
* Allows artists to easily preview results of texture compression
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TextureProperties.html#Other actions

- In Editor Stats viewing
* Enables the stat HUD in editor viewports
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/StatsDescriptions.html#In Editor Stat Viewing

- New Kismet actions
* stream in cinematic mip-levels
~Allows sharing textures of in-game and cinematics characters
~http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/TextureProperties.html#Num Cinematic Mip Levels
~http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/KismetReference.html#Stream In Textures
* Set VectorParam and Get Location and Rotation
~Adds the ability to get the location and rotation of a socket or bone (if the target is a pawn with a skeletal mesh)
~Makes it possible to hook a kismet vector object.
~http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ContentBlog.html#New kismet functionality for "Set _VectorParam" and "Get Location and Rotation" actions

- New 'Select All Visible Levels' option in level browser right click menu
* http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LevelBrowserReference.html#Context Menu


--- Improvements
* Continued moving UTGame native functionality either to UnrealScript or to the UDKBase package.

* Content Browser
~now tracks recently used assets
* click the new "Recent" check box in the filter panel to show these
~asset list now supports drag and drop
~search now works with full asset path names
~sound cues can now be moved/renamed like other assets
~localized sound nodes can now be moved into different packages

- Crowd Population Manager improvements.
* Now supports streamed GameCrowdDestinations.
(listed as "fixed crowd issues with level streaming" in the engine news)
* Improved LOD support.
* Improved designer control over population manager using Kismet.

- Lighting
* character lighting improvements
~fixed shadows from non-directional lights on characters
~added a WorldInfo property CharacterLightingContrastFactor
* scales up the light environment's primary light
* scales down the secondary light on characters
~added a WorldInfo Lightmass property LightEnvironmentIndirectContrastFactor
* increases the contrast of lighting volume samples
* multiple dominant light improvements
~dominant spotlight cones can now intersect as long as one of them is shadowed in the intersection
~when multiple dominant lights affect the same primitive, only the brightest is used
~dominant lights are now toggleable at runtime
~dominant lights no longer allow bForceDynamicLight set to true
* improved cinematic lighting
~added light option bNonModulatedSelfShadowing
* use normal shadow blending when shadowing themselves
* use modulated shadow blending on everything else
~added light option bSelfShadowOnly
* allows shadows from the light to not affect anything but the caster
~added a higher quality filtering method to reduce aliasing on character faces

- Editor improvements
* you can now press the F2 key to select the builder brush at any time
~ also, added new menu command for this: Edit -> Select Builder Brush
* selecting objects is now super fast, even with tons of objects!
* after a map build the editor will now blink in the task bar
* added auto-save support for asset (non-level) packages!
* added 'Select All' to the viewport right click menu
* 'show references' dialog window now allows more than one open at a time
* you can now customize your PIE launch URL string
~ just right click on the Play In Editor button to edit the URL
* dynamic volumes can now be initially disabled (new 'Disabled' property)
* 'Reimport' now works with skeletal meshes and sound waves!
~just right click on the asset in content browser, and select 'Reimport'
* level browser now prompts you before streaming volumes are cleared


--- Changes requiring a re-save or change
* Any texture imported since the December 2009 UDK build that had its import-time texture format specified as TC_NormalmapUncompressed will have had its source art (stored in the .UPK file) corrupted when the package was first saved.
* This source art data is only used when changing texture formats in the editor at a later date and is not used for gameplay.
* The bug that caused this corruption has been fixed in this UDK build, and code has been added to detect content with this problem.
* If you see a warning dialog box when changing texture formats in the editor, the best course of action is to re-import the texture from the source file.

* Matinee material parameter tracks have been rewritten to create runtime instances of MaterialInstanceConstants so that they do not affect content objects which could have had unintended side effects.
~However, as a result of this change, a Matinee can now only affect the materials on objects in the same level as the Matinee.
~This is required so it can determine the affected objects at save time instead of iterating all Actors at game time.

New UDN documentation
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UDKCommunityLinks.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/EditorPackageSaveProcedure.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CharacterEncoding.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AttachmentsBrowserReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ColorPicker.html


Updated UDN Documentation
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LevelBrowserReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UnrealUnits.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AnisotropicLighting.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CascadeUserGuide.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InstancedMaterials.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InstancedMaterials_TimeVarying.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/PhysicalMaterialSystem.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UnrealScriptReference.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/SCCIntegration.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LevelOptimization.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UIDataStore.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/AudioSystem.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UsingWaypoints.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CrowdSystem.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/LitTranslucency.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DebuggerInterface.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MainEditorToolbar.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UE3MinSpecs.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CreatingHairUsingAlpha.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MaterialsTutorial.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CreatingNormalMaps.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MassiveLOD.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CustomLighting.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/VisibilityCulling.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ParticleExamples.html
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ShadowingReference.html

More details are available at the Unreal Developer Network (UDN):
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitBuildUpgradeNotes (These will go live soon)

Join the UDK user group on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2493123

Check out UDK on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/UDK/183744733429