In this episode I'm talking about a flaw in our game: namely that the selected character does not appear when we load a new level. We need to use a Game Instance object and store the current values, then bring them back before we being play in the next level.
Written instructions here: https://www.versluis.com/2020/10/persisting-variables-across-level-ch...
2020-11-04 19:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll setup two new buttons that will let us load a new level and let our character walk around somewhere other than the grey box. I'll also add a Quit Game option so that when the project is packaged, users have the option of closing the game properly.
2020-11-03 19:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode we'll implement a similar logic to as previously and change materials on our meshes. We want the outfit colour to stay the same though, so we'll create a Map Variable that will give us a new material depending on the current one applied to our character.
More info about that mysterious Map Variable: https://www.versluis.com/2020/10/how-to-use-a-map-variable-in...
2020-11-02 19:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode we'll start changing our characters' outfits by programmatically changing the material that's applied to the Skeletal Mesh.
2020-11-01 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how to replace the skeletal mesh on our character programmatically, and tie this logic to one of our menu buttons. This involves building a custom function on our Selection Menu that will communicate with our Player Character.
2020-10-31 18:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how we'll setup a key to make the menu appear and disappear. We'll also implement some code that makes our character stop moving while we make a selection. This will set the ground work for our character selection logic in the next episode.
2020-10-30 22:30:10 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll explain how we create a menu that's aligned at the bottom centre of our screen. I'm using a set of icons I've made in Blender from the Synty characters.
You can make your own, or grab the free ones I've attached to this post, which match the Polygon City pack. I'll also include them with the downloadable project when this series is released on YouTube.
Enjoy!
2020-10-29 16:14:26 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll retarget the Synty characters and explain how we can walk around as someone other Unreal Guy. I'll leave Unreal Guy intact though, so we can use him as a Hot Dog vendor later in the project.
2020-10-28 22:50:15 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll setup the Third Person Template and explain how to get the Synty content into our project, no matter if you've bought a Synty pack from the Unreal Marketplace or another source. I'll also do some folder housekeeping to give us a clean "launchpad" for our project.
2020-10-28 22:42:54 +0000 UTC View PostGreetings everyone! I've been very productive last week and recorded a full 15 part series on building a small Character Selection project in Unreal Engine 4. Here's the first part, introducing the project and showing what we'll build. It's essentially an extended version of what I've shown you previously.
I've got two other episodes rendering now, they'll be ready later today. My plan is to edit the rest and post it here and on Ko-fi first, then release one or two episodes a week on Yo...
2020-10-28 15:47:47 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how to add animations to your Blueprint Widgets. Rather than make a series of buttons or description appear without transitions, we can animate their position or opacity with an Animation Track. It's slightly tricky to get going, but easy to understand. I've come across this feature by accident and was fascinated with its native and easy integration with the graphical editor. I've used this principle in my recent 2020-10-21 14:56:25 +0000 UTC View Post
In this episode I'll show you how I'm replacing skeletal meshes and materials programmatically in Unreal Engine, using the Synty Town pack. I'm giving you a "behind the scenes" tour of the demo project I've made, the one that lets you pick a character from the pack, change the character from a menu, as well as outfits and skin tones. I'll talk you through the whole project and how I've made it. Topics include Interfaces, Map Variables and String Manipulations. The animated menus are covered i...
2020-10-20 23:31:19 +0000 UTC View Post
As promised earlier today, I've polished my little Character Selection project and turned it into a playable demo. You can pick any of the included Synty characters and run around the demo level in Polygon Town (available from the Synty Store or from the Unreal Marketplace).
Here's how to use this thing:
Last week I've learnt the basics of Behaviour Trees in Unreal Engine. I've followed a neat quick start guide on the EPIC site and adapted it to my own needs while I was playing around with it. Here's the article.
In this video I'll talk you through how I've made my Unreal Guys walk in the park and how Behaviour Trees work in principle,...
2020-10-14 23:07:29 +0000 UTC View Post
I've spawned 251 Unreal Guys into the Cyberpunk City set by Leartes Studio. I got this set as a gift from one of my viewers and thought it would be the idea backdrop for an AI behaviour test (THANK YOU, Felsenstern!) Notice the colourful real time reflections on their bodies.
There's noticeable "clumping" happening on the left hand side after about 150 spawns. Looks like the clones can't find a location and keep standing in the same spot.
I find it interest...
2020-10-09 11:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been looking into Behaviour Trees in Unreal Engine. Those are essentially instruction sets for AI controllers. We can use them to string a series of tasks together and make it look like an automated character is making decisions. In the video above I've used such a Behaviour Tree to make each character find a random point within a radius and walk there at a random speed.
I had this principle going and thought it might be fun to have 100 of these guys spawn into the 2020-10-08 13:33:10 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been playing with the AI Controller class in Unreal Engine. Here I've added a simple "follow player" function with which the red guy keeps chasing the grey guy. Both characters need to be on the same Nav Mesh, so towards the end Red Guy must have walked off a little bit.
I've described how to set this up in this article: https://www.versluis.com/2020/09...
2020-10-02 11:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm giving a talk about cancer survivorship today for students of NCODA at Florida Southeastern University. We were going to do this in person, but have decided to make it a remote event instead. I'll stream it to YouTube, if you want to drop by, the show starts at 12pm EST (5pm UK / 6pm Europe).
2020-10-01 14:29:08 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how to create a circular soft cutout for your web cam in OBS. It will eliminate clutter from your presentation and make you look extra handsome.
To make this work we'll apply an Image Blend filter, using an image with transparency. You can download one from my website. This article also explains how you can make your own: https://www.versluis.com/2019/01/obs-ro...
2020-10-01 11:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how to apply a crop filter to your webcam. This will remove a ton of clutter from your presentation, leave more room for what you're actually showing, and emphasise your devilishly handsome features. All with one simple trick.
I have another video that shows how to crop your webcam into a soft circle:
2020-09-30 11:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you two ways to tilt your camera angle. This is also known as rolling or banking your camera, a technique that lets you create Dutch Angles. Those are visuals with a great eerie quality.
2020-09-29 11:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how to use Geometric Shells in DAZ Studio. Those are nodes that wrap around an existing objects in your scene. While they don't add geometry, they have their own material zones onto which we can apply materials. Those can be used for blending or adding details on top of existing materials (think dirt, scratches, water droplets or soap bubbles).
I'll explain the principle and show you how to blend materials with the the DAZ Brain.
Enjoy!
2020-09-28 13:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll explain how you can interactively zoom into sections of your desktop during a presentation. I get this question a lot and I thought I'll explain my process in OBS.
While the zooming is done via scene switching, using a Streamdeck (or shortcut keys, or manual switching on a second monitor during the presentation), the orange cursor highlight is a separate app you can get from https://pointerfocus.com 2020-09-27 11:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
In my last Unreal Engine update I mentioned how I turned some of the Synty Farm assets into transparent icons, and in this episode I'll elaborate on that process.
In essence I'll pick a mesh, export it as FBX (or OBJ) and then hunt for the flat texture file. This is applied in Blender, framed up and rendered out in transparency. That's how I ended up with a tomato/pepper/potato icon on the scroll menu so it looks like the object in the game.
Enjoy!
2020-09-26 11:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostI happened upon this super exciting Iray feature called Section Node. This little fella acts like a knife in your scene and can cut through the most complex objects like a knife through hot butter. In this episode I'll show you how to use it. This could be used for anything from medical illustrations to sci-fi effects.
Enjoy!
2020-09-25 11:15:03 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll explain the intricacies of a scroll selection menu in Unreal Engine. I've managed to implement it using buttons inside a Wrap Box inside a Scroll Box). The menu shows up when I press a button, stores a value, and lets me plant a vegetable depending on what I've selected. Works with the mouse, keyboard and gamepad.
The key to gamepad success is to give one button (any button) keyboard focus manually when the menu is displayed. Written instructions with screenshots ca...
2020-09-24 12:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostDecals can be used to project additional details onto existing objects. Say a tattoo on a character, some graffiti on a wall, or a logo on someone's t-shirt. Traditionally you'd have to extract the texture file, amend it outside of DAZ Studio and then bring it back , hoping it works. Any change would require another trip to the texture editing app. A decal on the other hand is an independent object that's easy to size and move and can be thrown onto a variety of objects without having to touc...
2020-09-23 11:53:47 +0000 UTC View PostQuick update on my Synty Farm project I keep playing with: Now the plants grow from small to full size, and can only be harvested when they're fully grown. I'll also talk about the the harvesting process by using an abstract Plant class.
In addition, I'll explain how I added two counters to the screen. I'm really excited to find out more about Unreal Engine. Who knows, maybe Jay's Farm will be another demo one day?
I'm currently trying my hand at adding a selection menu so t...
2020-09-18 11:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostIn this episode I'll show you how to use WebP images in Photoshop. Currently Photoshop (2020) does not have native support for this file format, so we'll need a plugin made by the developers (Google) to make it happen. It's aptly titled.
While the code is open source, it's not immediately obvious to non-hackers where and how to obtain it. In this article I'll show you how the process works. See links below for further information.
Julia bought a kit for growing microgreens on our windowsill. I thought it might be find to film them with my GoPro during the growth period over 6 days, day and night. See life do its thing.
We nearly thought we'd killed the poor little guys when they ran out of water, and they went all limp on Day 5, so there's drama in this story too! Thankfully they all came back to life a few hours later. We've since harvested the goods and they taste really nice with every meal that needs so...
2020-09-16 15:17:26 +0000 UTC View Post