VFExtra is a collection of useful assets for vfx developement in unreal engine. It is an ongoing project to provide extra functionality to help artists and students increase their productivity.
If you have any problems using the pack, please contact me.
INSTALL
Unpack the zip and paste the folder named “VFExtra_[EngineVersion]” inside of your project content folder. VFExtra needs to be placed directly in the content folder, otherwise the references will be broken
You might have to refresh your content browser to see the changes.
REQUESTS
If you have Requests for functionality to be added to the pack, please let me know in this thread.!
Allows for aligning particles to a given grid. This is ideal for making voxel and tech looking effects.
The module outputs to particles.gridposition by default, so be sure to switch your position binding to this parameter.
If you have motion blur enabled in your project settings, you’ll want to change your velocity binding to Vec3(0,0,0) as well.
MaintainSpriteSizeOverDistance: Keeps your sprite particles the same size independent of distance. Usefull if you want particles to be always small, but still visible from a distance.
Curves
A few useful float curves have been added. You can find them by pressing the Import drop down and searching for NCurve
FadeIn : Linear 0-1 curve
Fadout : Linear 1-0 curve
Flicker : Linear sawtooth curve with slight alteration in height, useful for flickering particles
Sine : You can call sin(Engine.Time) for a correct sine. But this is quite close and is sometimes easer to use. (for the times when it doesn’t really matter)
SmoothInOut : BellCurve, usefull for particles that need to fade in and out without visible transition.
That’s it for now, please check the first post for more information.
I will be renaming the mini tutorial pack to VFExtra.
The purpose of this changes is twofold.
For one, Mini Tutorial Resource Pack doesn’t exactly roll off the mounth, I want something slightly more pronounceable and recognizable.
For two, I have and will in the future add more content that is not related to any tutorial, so I want to avoid confusing people.
That being said, the modules described in the tutorials will still be available inside the pack.
UPDATE: Modules:
Grid constraint : Fixed a bug that caused module error when using the script as a particle spawn module.
Get Curl Noise Float: Added a module to request a curl noise value as a float.
(Warning: Slightly expensive for what it is!)
Tools: Magic Spline:
Magic spline is a blueprint utility actor designed to speed up the spline mesh(Soulercoaster) workflow. You no longer need to open maya/max to make simple meshes.
A small demo of the tool is available in gif form in this thread.
Build a spline, you can add spline points using the right click context menu, or by alt dragging.
You can also rotate, scale and delete spline points to modify the spline.
A few settings are exposed in the details panel: Control edges: Amount of subdivision edges along the spline. If you notice UV tearing, increasing this might help. Invert Flow : Inverts the V channel. You can do this in the material as well, sometimes it is usefull to just have a button. Spline Width: The width (or height) of the spline. Detail Per Spline Point : Amount of subdivision edges along the spline per spline point. Cross : Creates a cross section spline mesh (Usefull for faking thickness) Custom Material : Sets the custom material to be used for the next option. Preview : Select which preview method to use. Scroll Preview, UV Preview, or Custom Preview (Applies custom material)
4.When you are happy with the curve, select the ProceduralMeshComponent in the details panel.
Scroll down to Create StaticMesh, and click it!
Select a good place to save it, and give it a nice recognisable name.
Magic Spline Looping support : Magic spline now supports looping splines. Uvs automatically loop as well.
Magic Spline Spline thicken support : Vertex, Normals and Tangents now generate correctly for use with the spline thicken node.
An extra spline thicken preview mode has been added as well.
A new Tool for baking animation trails to static meshes. This is useful when animations are too fast
for the AnimTrail System to deal with.
-Anim Spline Example Map.
Anim Spline looked interesting, but I think some files are missing. The map has only Text Renders and the BP_AnimeSpline had no parent class assigned. I just unzipped and dragged the files into content folder, is there anything I need to consider?
Weird, it’s working now.
I opened the same project again and magically all links were repaired.
I’m pretty sure I dragged the VFExtra folder in the project content folder while the editor was closed.
I literally have no idea why it failed the first time. Sorry for bothering! <3
Cheers!
