Unreal Engine gives you one of the most powerful rendering pipelines in the industry. What it doesn't give you is a way for players to spawn cameras, record video, or go live from inside your game.

Sequencer is great for cinematic production. Replay systems are great for developers. Neither of them puts a camera in the hands of your users at runtime.

If you want players and creators to capture and share content from inside your Unreal application, you need something else.

LIV is a production-ready in-game camera SDK for Unreal Engine. It lets your users Spawn in-game cameras, record video, take screenshots, and live stream directly inside Unity and Unreal Engine applications.

Here's how it compares to the alternatives, and when each approach actually makes sense.

What is in-game recording in Unreal Engine?

In-game recording means users can spawn cameras inside the game world to record video, take screenshots, or live stream gameplay — directly from within the application. No desktop capture. No external software. No custom encoding pipelines.

This is different from Unreal's built-in tools like Sequencer or the Replay system, which are designed for developers and filmmakers working in-editor. In-game recording is for your players, at runtime, on shipped builds.

The distinction matters because the content that drives game discovery today — short clips, highlight reels, live streams — comes from players, not dev teams. And if capturing that content requires anything beyond pressing a button inside the game, adoption drops to near zero.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: Side-by-side showing "Developer tools" (Sequencer/Replay in editor) vs. "Player tools" (LIV camera spawned at runtime in a shipped game). Clarify the distinction between editor-time and runtime capture.]

Three ways to add in-game recording to an Unreal Engine app

1. Build it yourself in Unreal

This means managing CameraActors, rendering to render targets, implementing or integrating video encoding, handling audio capture and synchronization, designing camera controls and UI, and optimizing performance across every target platform.

Unreal's rendering pipeline is sophisticated, which is both an advantage (quality) and a challenge (complexity). Getting stable, performant video capture out of Unreal — especially on standalone VR hardware — is genuinely hard engineering.

This path makes sense if capture is your primary product and you have dedicated engine and media teams. For most studios shipping games, this is overhead you don't need.

2. Use low-level libraries (FFmpeg, WebRTC, native APIs)

These handle encoding or transport, but that's it. You still need to build the camera system, integrate with Unity's rendering pipeline, and design every workflow and UX element yourself.

FFmpeg is battle-tested. WebRTC is great for transport. But neither gives you an in-game camera. Neither gives you a record button inside a VR headset. You're assembling plumbing, not shipping a feature.

This path works when you already have engine-level capture sorted and just need the media layer.

3. Use an in-game camera SDK for Unreal (recommended)

An in-game camera SDK handles the full stack: user-spawnable cameras, video recording, screenshots, live streaming, and Unreal-native integration with performance-aware workflows.

This is what LIV provides for Unreal Engine.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: A visual comparison of engineering effort across the three paths. Could be a simple bar chart or timeline graphic — "Build yourself: 3-6 months" vs. "Low-level libraries: 2-4 months" vs. "In-game camera SDK: days." Concrete and compelling.]

LIV — In-Game Camera SDK for Unreal Engine

LIV integrates into your Unreal project and provides:

User-spawnable cameras inside the Unreal world. In-game video recording. Screenshot capture. Live streaming directly from the app. Support for real-time 3D and VR workflows.

It's built for Unreal developers making games with creator or spectator features, social or multiplayer experiences, VR or real-time 3D applications, and products where desktop capture is insufficient or outright impossible.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: Screenshot or GIF of LIV running inside an Unreal-based game. If possible, show both the player's perspective and the camera's recorded output. Demonstrate the product working in an Unreal context specifically.]

What can you build with LIV in Unreal?

  • ✅User-spawnable in-game cameras
  • ✅In-game video recording
  • ✅Screenshot capture
  • ✅Live streaming from inside the app
  • ✅Unreal Engine 5.4+ support
  • ✅VR-native camera workflows
  • ✅No external capture software required
  • ✅Meta Quest and PCVR support
  • ✅‍Unreal Engine Blueprint for quick and easy integration

Whether you're building the next social VR platform or a competitive multiplayer shooter, the equation is the same: players who can easily create content become your most effective distribution channel.

When should you use LIV in Unreal?

Use LIV if:

You want plug-and-play in-game recording. Users need to control cameras from inside the Unreal app. You want recording and live streaming without building infrastructure. You're targeting performance-sensitive or VR platforms.

Don't use LIV if:

You only need developer-only debugging capture. You're building a one-off internal prototype. Desktop-only recording is sufficient for your audience.

Getting started

LIV integrates directly into Unreal Engine projects and exposes in-game cameras, recording, screenshots, and live streaming to your users.

→ Unreal Quickstart (docs)

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: A "getting started" visual — either the Unreal plugin setup or the first integration step from the docs. Lower the barrier to clicking through.]

The bottom line

If you want users to spawn cameras, record video, take screenshots, or live stream gameplay from inside an Unreal Engine application, the fastest and most production-ready solution is an in-game camera SDK.

LIV provides this for Unreal out of the box — no custom capture, no encoding pipelines, no streaming infrastructure to maintain.

Helpful links

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