March 17, 2021
Intro and Blue Prints
Unreal
Title:
Unreal Engine 4 Complete Beginners Guide [UE4 Basics Ep. 1]
By:
Smart Poly
Description:
A quick introduction to using the Unreal engine and just getting acquainted with the main editor window.
Title:
Unreal Engine 4 – Blueprint Basics [UE4 Basics Ep. 2]
By:
Smart Poly
Description:
Quick introduction to using Unreal’s blueprints.
Title:
Unreal Gameplay Framework
By:
Unreal
Description:
Unreal Gameplay Framework, the official Unreal documentation.
Learning the Basics
It has been a while since I have used Unreal in any significant capacity, so I am going back to the basics to try and make sure I have all the fundamentals covered.
Tutorial #1
Moving/Positioning Objects
By default, Unreal has all the transformation functions snap. So moving an object, rotating it, and scaling it all occur in steps as opposed to smooth transforms. This can easily be changed in the top right of the viewport at any time.
Extra Camera Controls
F: focuses on object (like Unity)
Shift + move an object: Camera follows the moving object
You can directly change the camera speed in the top right of the viewport.
Adding Content Pack Later
If you find that you want to add the starter content to a project later than the start, this can easily be done through “Content” in the “Content Browser” window, then “Add New”, and choosing “Add Feature or Content Pack”. The starter content options will be one of the first to show up by default under the “Content Packs”.
Lighting Basics
“LIGHTING NEEDS REBUILT” Error Message
The static meshes want the lighting to be rebuilt when added so they are accounted for. Fixed with:
Go to: Build -> Build Lighting Only
Light Mobility Options
Lights by default have 3 mobility options: Static, Station, Movable
- Static: can’t be changed in game; fully baked lighting
- Station (Default): only shadowing and bounced lighting from static objects baked from Lightmass; all other lighting dynamic; movable objects have dynamic shadows
- Movable: fully dynamic lighting, but slowest rendering speed
Tutorial #2
General Structure of Blue Prints
Components:
area where different components can be added
what allows you to place objects into the viewport of the blue print
this is where colliders are shaped to the proper size/shape
Details:
all the different details for this particular blue print
Event Graph:
this is the tab where visual scripting is majorly done
Function:
effectively contained event graphs with more specialized functionality
Variables:
representation of fields as you’d expect
Events
These are events which call the given functions when something in particular occurs. These functions are created within the blue print Event Graph.
Actions (Examples)
On Component Begin Overlap: occurs when something initially enters a collider
– Similar to Unity’s OnTriggerEnter
On Component End Overlap: occurs when something initially leaves a collider
– similar to Unity’s OnTriggerExit
E: occurs when the “E” key is pressed
Action: Timeline
Timeline:
allows you to visually create a graph of how a variable changes over a particular set of time
By default, the x-axis is the time and the y-axis is the variable value.
Points can be added as wanted to act as key frames for the variable.
Also allows for easy modifications to the interpolation between points, such as changing it from a line to a cubic interpolation by selecting multiple points.
Make sure to pay attention to the time Length set in the time line. Even if you didn’t put points somewhere in particular, if that is way longer than where your points are, you can get strange results since it will perform the action over the entire length of time.
Debugging Blue Prints
If you select Play from within the blue print, you can get a separate play window while leaving the blue print window visible. This can be helpful for example with the Event Graph, as you can actually see when different events occur according to the system and when inputs are read. This also shows the variables changing in some nodes, such as Timeline.
Classes (as covered by the Gameplay Framework Quick Reference)
Agents
Pawn
Pawns are Actors which can be possessed by a controller to receive input to perform actions.
Character
Characters are just more humanoid Pawns. They come with a few more common components, such as a CapsuleComponent for collision and a CharacterMovementComponent by default.
Controllers/Input
Controllers are Actors which direct Pawns. These are generally AIController (for NPC Pawns) and PlayerController (for player controlled Pawns). A Controller can “possess” a Pawn to control it.
PlayerController
the interface between a Pawn and the human player
AIController
simulated AI control of a Pawn
Display Information
HUD
Focused on the 2D UI on-screen display
Camera
The “eye” of a player. Each PlayerController typically has one.
Game Rules
GameMode
This defines the game, including things such as game rules and win conditions. It only exists on the server. It typically should not have much data that changes during play, and definitely should not have transient data the client needs to know about.
GameState
Contains the state of the game.
Some examples include: list of connected players, score, where pieces in a chess game are.
This exists on the server and all clients replicate this data to keep machines up to date with the current state.
PlayerState
This is the state of a participant in the game (which can be a player or a bot simulating a player). However, an NPC AI that exists as part of the game would NOT have a PlayerState.
Some examples include: player name, score, in-match level for a MOBA, if player has flag in a CTF game.
PlayerStates for all players exist on all machines (unlike PlayerControllers) and can replicate freely to keep machines in sync.
via Blogger http://stevelilleyschool.blogspot.com/2021/03/intro-to-unreal-basics-and-intro-to.html