Tech Art Homework #4

 

Intro to Blueprints

 

Dynamic Material Blueprint Actor

 To invent a Dynamic Material Blueprint Actor, I started by creating a blueprint with the SM_machinery_circular mesh from the Harbor Pack and making a duplicate of its material to use as its new dynamic material. Then I changed I created new parameters for a new base color and the amount that new color would affect the overall color of the asset, renamed them, and plugged those nodes into the A and B pipes of multiply node and then plugged the output of that node in the B pipe of a multiple node that already existed in the graph. 

 After that, I went to the Event Graph of my blueprint and set up a "Get Keyboard Control" graph and a graph that would make it so that the pink base color would become brighter when the "G" key was pressed, which I labeled "Dynamic Base Color" in the image below.

 Then I set up timeline for this effect, called Pink Value, so that it would take 3 seconds for the pink color to return to it's original value.

 Once the blueprint was ready to go, I compiled and save it and then played the level to test it out. It did what it was supposed to, the pink color gradually increasing in brightness over the course of 3 seconds and then gradually returning to normal after I let go of the "G" key.

 

Blueprint Activated by a Trigger Event 

 To invent a blueprint which is activated by a trigger event, I created a new material called "M_SimpleBox" to apply to a box asset from the Harbor Pack. In this material, I created two different base color notes and plugged them into a Lerp node with a parameter plugged into the Alpha pipe to control the amount. I also created parameters for both the Metallic and Specular amounts.

I applied this material to a box and then added that box to my blueprint. Then I added a Collision Box in my blueprint and changed the scale to surround the box.

 Once this was done, I went over to the Construction Script section of my blueprint and created a graph to make a Dynamic Material Instance.

 Then I moved on to the Event Graph, where I created a graph that would change the values of the Metallic Amount, the Specular Amount, and the Lerp Amount parameters of my material once the player entered the collision box area and would return to normal once the player was out of that area.

 After compiling and saving my blueprint, I tested it out and it went from purple to a shinier green once the player entered the trigger zone and then return to normal once the player stepped out of that zone.

 

File Directory in Perforce