unreal engine 4 intro notes

Learn tab in launcher, free examples.

moving camera:
l+r at same time
Hold right, + wasd+qe move camera

fog: quickest way to get a basic background

light: atmosphere option -> sun

skylight -> fill light (heuristic based)

dynamic time of day blueprint

blueprint: begin play + tick events
add world rotation
- pitch
right click to split

nav volume.. walkable space. default char size, can customise

create blueprint based on c++ classes

native base class -> native blueprint class -> blueprint

pawn -> controllable character

“controller is a brain”
“controller can shift from person to tank”
.. transfers controls and camera

character is based on pawn.. includes helpful stuff. Humanoid / Bipedal etc. Movement, collision, 

Arrow forward visual indicator only

CharacterMovement component .. base code for movement
- platform
- 3rd person
- pretty flexible

MagicChair .. chair affects nav, turn it off

local nav mesh invoker .. nav within a distance

AIController:
custom event -> function.. no retur
“Wander” event
every 5s walk to a specific location
“get random point in navigable radius”
.. returns position
return point around enemy or item etc

origin is the chair body

“ai move to” functuon

behaviour trees
- sequence: move to
- sequence: attack/defend/hide etc
on fail goes back up the tree
on success goes into leaves

gamepad vs keyboard.. pretty easy
edit -> project settings -> input
action / axis mappings
action mappings: pressed/released
axis mappings: polls for axial values.

“move up” event -> add movement input

camera on springarm
- adds offset to camera
- adds camera lag

GameModeBase -> normally for game rules. Set default player and ai thing.

MaterialEditor
“t” add texture
“v” add colour
linear interpolate for mixing (lerp)

quixel/substance app for baking masks
player outline -  fresnel -> pronounced “frenel”
“power” function blackens greys with maths

material kicks in at certain distance.. “get world position” -> “ get camera position”
clamp(min, max)
pixel distance blend function

animation blueprints -> good and useful
state machine
-> locomotion
conduits + states
“try get pawn owner”
“is falling”
chris.murphy@epicgames.com


movement <- is falling -> jumping
-> final pose (feeds in all possible options)

animation blend
create movement blend
ad blend space movement
“try pawn..” -> get velocity vector -> transform into player space -> “inverse transform”

cached animation
-> reuse info for stuff
slot: upper body
slot: fully body
e.g. attack swing arm but still running
e.g. blend leg movement with upper body animation

layered blend per bone

animation montage -> many animations, plug together.
Anim notify -> at this time call events in blueprint
can edit blend in/out timing

mouse position… convert mouse location to world space
get unit vector. from:player to:mouse

springarm disable inherited pitch etc

yaw rotation -> right click: “interp to ..” “r interp to”

character can take rotation from camera .. disable


store value in character (look at position: vector)
.. mouse position (cached)

UI .. make a HUD
create binding velocity

get vector length

splitscreen!



particle effects:

-> unlit
uv map .. 0,0 -> 1,1
distance to centre -> sphere-ish texture
particle system -> cascade system.. niagra is newer better system..?

fireball, initial velocity
spawn sphere
sparks.. particle is square facing camera. Align to velocity, size along axis


unreal engine meetup melb
unreal slackers -> discord chat
nvidia shield