Unreal Engine Developer Course - Section 3 - Building Escape
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In This Section
1 Intro, Notes & Section 3 Assets
- Welcome to our first Unreal editor section.
- You’ll learn simple level building.
- We’ll be using meshes and materials.
- C++ events accessed from Blueprint.
- Calling C++ code from Blueprint.
- And much more.
2 S03 Game Design Document (GDD)
The Concept, Rules and Requirements of our simple game.
3 Version Control 101
- The what and why of Version Control Systems
- Choosing your Version Control System (VCS)
- What files to include / exclude
- Commit = save a local snapshot
- Reset = roll-back to a previous state
- Branch, Push and Large File Support later.
4 Ignoring Unreal Derived Files
- Derived files can be easily rebuilt
- Other files (code, assets, level layout etc) can’t
- Ignore most derived files for version control
- Which folders to ignore in version control
- Our starting .gitignore file for Unreal.
5 Your First .gitignore for Unreal
- Understand Unreal creates VS projects for us
- How to re-generate VS project files
- Writing our first .gitignore file
- “Committing” our project for the first time.
6 Getting to Know Unreal’s Editor
- Why changes to the starter scene aren’t tracked
- Arranging a simple set of windows
- Moving around in the 3D Viewport
- Setting our start map, and committing
A Pointers Primer
- You’re about to meet pointers for the first time
- The clue is when you see a * next to a type
- Pointers are simply memory addresses
- You have to “follow” the pointer to the object
- Benefit: saves you from moving things in memory
- Disadvantage: you can lose control of data.
7 Unreal’s Class System
- Introducing the idea of inheritance
- Unreal’s scarily powerful class system
- Exploring using the Class Viewer
- Inheritance for “is a” relationships
- Components for “has a” relationships.
7b Cloning and Building Our Code
- Cloning our project.
- Checking out a lectures state.
- How Unreal’s build system works.
- Diagnosing build system issues.
8 Runtime Messages for Feedback
- Using UE_LOG to print to the Output Console
- Printing to the game screen
Useful Links
9 Accessing Object Names
- Use GetOwner() to find the component’s owner
- *AActor is a pointer to an actor, a new concept
- Use -> to access methods through pointers
- Use GetName() to find the object’s name
- Use %s as a format operator for strings
- Use * to “dereference” pointers.
9b Include What You Use For 4.17+
- Converting old projects to IWYU.
- Order of headers with IWYU.
- Removing monolithic headers.
- How to find headers.
10 Getting Transforms in C++
- Introducing FVector
- Mixing . and -> to access methods
- Using multiple format operators
- Finishing our PositionReport component.
11 Moving Objects With C++
- A little more about the editor & temporary actors
- How to eject yourself from the possessed pawn
- Snapping objects to the floor (END key)
- Using the FRotator struct to represent rotation
- Use SetActorRotation() to rotate objects.
12 Laying Out Geometry
- A brief intro of BSP “vs” Static Meshes
- Use Q, W, E keys to translate, rotate, scale
- Make good use of grid snapping and quad view
- Hold ALT + drag translate to duplicate an object
- Hold L and double-click for temporary work Light
- This is fiddly, try letting go of L and trying again.
13 Applying Materials
- A material is comprised of texture(s) and shader(s)
- Textures are image files, shaders are GPU code
- Unreal ships with some impressive examples
- Unreal has powerful material editing tools
- Applying materials to our room interior.
14 Macros Starting with UPROPERTY
- A macro is a programmed cut-and-paste
- This happens before the code is compiled
- Can unlock powerful functionality
- We don’t get code complete as standard
- Can also create really weird build errors
- Expose ATriggerVolume* to the Details window
15 Using Trigger Volumes
- A trigger volume is a very versatile tool
- A 3D volume that detects things entering / leaving
- We’re going to use one as a pressure plate
- How we’re going to specify what can open doors
- Use IsOverlappingActor() on ATriggerVolume
- Polling vs using events.
16 Unreal’s PlayerController
- We’ve used GetOwner() to search “bottom-up”
- Now let’s use GetWorld() to search “top-down”
- Game Mode specifies the Default Pawn Class
- The Default Pawn is your “body”, is transient
- The Player Controller is your “mind”, persist
- PlayerController class has GetPawn()
17 Using Collision Volumes
- Collisions volumes are also known as colliders
- These tell the physics engine what hits what
- A trigger volume just triggers code
- A collider actually has physics simulated
- Exploring how to add collision volumes
- Prevent players from passing through the door!
18 Using GetTimeSeconds()
- Using GetWord()->GetTimeSeconds()
- Making our game highly “play tunable”
- Re-factoring our code for simplicity
- Using a spotlight to provide “affordance”
- Play-testing to ensure the game is annoying!
19 Grabbing System Overview
- We want to be able to lift the chair next
- We’ll add a Grabber.cpp component to the player
- The player is a temporary actor, appears on play
- The Game Mode sets which Default Pawn to use
- Create Default Pawn & Game Mode Blueprints
- Specify our modified Default Pawn.
20 Modifying the Default Pawn Actor
- Why Blueprint is helpful in this case
- How to make a Blueprint from the Default Pawn
- Note this Blueprint class inherits, an “is a” relation
- A Blueprint is like a template
- You make an “instance” in the scene
- Explore “instantiating” from Blueprint & modifying.
21 Inherit Game Mode Blueprint
- “Hard coding” means assets written into code
- The DefaultPawn_BP is an asset
- We want to be able to track changes to its name
- It is convenient to use Blueprint for this purpose
- Extending our C++ Game Mode with Blueprint
- Selecting the new DefaultPawn_BP
22 Getting Player Viewpoint
- Know where the player is looking
- Out-parameters can be confusing
- A way of marking-up out parameters
- Continuously logging player viewpoint.
23 Using DrawDebugLine
- How to add vectors
- Calculating our line trace end point
- Using debug functions for visualisation in Unreal
- Use DrawDebugLine() to visualise the vectors.
24 Line Tracing AKA Ray-Casting
- Line tracing (AKA ray casting) is a very useful tool
- Imagine we shine a virtual laser into the world
- We can use different view modes to visualise
- Simulating physics sets the object channel.
25 LineTraceSingleByObjectType()
- Meet references for the first time
- LineTraceSingle may be deprecated
- Build params inc. FCollisionQueryParams
26 REFERENCES & POINTERS
- How references and pointers compare
- How to perform common operations in both
- What the & and * symbols means in context
- Challenge: Repoint and Rewrite
- When to use references over pointers?
27 Resetting Your Unreal Project
- What to do if your Unreal solution keeps crashing
- How to delete all temporary files
- The order in which to reset things
28 Using FindComponentByClass()
- What FindComponentByClass() does
- How to use it to find attached components
- Introducing angle brackets <> for generics
- Use nullptr to initialise your pointers
- Log a useful error if the component isn’t attached.
29 Introducing Input Binding
- Settings > Project Settings > Engine > Input
- Action mappings are used for on / off actions
- Axis mappings are used for analog values
- You can give players a way or re-mapping
- Many keys can bind to one action
- How to call a function on a key press or release
30 Accessors & Memory Layout
- How the arrow, dot and :: accessors work
- Introducing virtual memory
- Introducing permanent storage, stack & heap
- Heap is also known as free store
- How accessor operators relate to memory
- Bind another input action
31 Reducing Code in “Hot Loops”
- A “hot loop” is code that get called often
- TickComponent is a good example, every frame
- Beware of code that you know will be called a lot
- Make it clear what happens every tick
- Refactor our code for speed...
- ...and make it ready for for the physics handle.
32 Using Physics Handles
- Unreal provides a Physics Handle that’s ideal here
- The Physics Handle component docs are scant*
- Find an example of its use in the engine
- Get the physics handle working.
Useful Links
33 Refactoring Rules
- Using multiple getters for multiple return values
- Less lines of clear code is better (143 at start)
- Naming is really important, take the time
- Comment the “why”, don’t assume it’s obvious
- The “what” should be obvious...
- … but it can be helpful to add clarification
34 Introducing Unreal’s TArray
- A TArray is Unreal’s go-to container class
- Use to contain many elements of same type
- We’ll use to contain all actors on pressure plate
- Give our Default Pawn an eye-height and mass
- Making our pressure-plate based on total mass.
35 Iterating over TArray with for
- Using auto& as an auto reference type
- Automatically iterating over a TArray
- Pattern: for (const auto* Iterator : Array)
- How to find an actor’s mass
- Tweaking and testing our mass values.
36 Debugging Game Issues
- Are you using source control? If not start now
- You can “binary search” commits quite fast
- For example 1024 commits takes max 10 tries!
- Think “what changed” and “possible side-effects”
- Remember you can eject with F8 during play.
37 Managing Texture Tiling
- You may want to re-size objects (e.g. panels)
- Doing so will stretch the texture
- You can re-scale a few ways
- One way is in the material blueprint
- UV mapping because we ran out of letters!
- Using the TexCoord node in the material editor.
38 Pointer Protection Process
- Horrible crashes when we follow a nullptr
- We must always check pointers before use
- When declaring always initialise to nullptr
- Look for * in your .h files to help find pointers
- Also check before every use and handle nullptr
- Sometimes we may chose not to, e.g. Owner.
39 Exposing Events to Blueprint
- Sometimes Blueprint’s the better choice
- For example defining our door swing as a curve
- We can create an event called OnOpenRequest
- Using UPROPERTY (BlueprintAssignable)
40 Using Blueprint Timeline
- The Timeline node in Blueprint has a curve editor
- This is ideal for defining our door movement
- How to use Timeline curves in Blueprint
- Setting rotation from a Timeline.
41 Everything in its Place
- Using Blueprint has superseded some code
- It’s important there’s only 1 place per parameter
- Creating a 2nd event: OnClose
42 Using Variables in Blueprint
- Not all doors have the same absolute rotation
- We want to store the door’s rotation at the start
- … then use this value to make a relative rotation
- We can use Blueprint variables for this
- Making doors that face any direction work.
43 SFX & Audio Clips
- We’re going to trigger a simple sound in Blueprint
- Later in the course we’ll use C++ too
- However we’ll always reference our assets via BP
- How to trigger a 3D sound.
XX Section 3 Wrap-Up
- Congratulations on another complete section
- You’ve learnt so much, look at the lecture titles
- Please carry-on a little on your own and share
- Attached are useful resources
- Start the next section as soon as you’re finished.