This week we had an introductory workshop on the unreal engine, and in particular how to create particle effects. The main goal was to create a ‘health’ spawn point. Due to this, the first step was to create a cross within photoshop, that had a black background and a white foreground to mimic an alpha channel.
After this, we created a material that this x channel would be applied to, and from there we applied this material to an NB Particle system, which gave the appearance of ‘floating crosses’. We then manipulated different aspects of these such as the gravity and particle spawn to create a softer more inviting look (To engage potential players that is it safe to approach) and created a ‘glow’ effect in the material colour area to make them stand out.
After this NB system is created, It can be linked to an NB particle emitter within unreal, and placed in the scene where it can be transformed and manipulated and potentially animated.