Blueprints and UI in Unreal Engine 5

Name: Blueprints and UI in Unreal Engine 5
Author: Ken Geary

Develop and edit blueprints for coding and add UI widgets for score display.

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Course: On-Demand

Hello. In this lesson, we will learn about Blueprint Visual Scripting in Unreal Engine 5. Blueprints are the shortcut name for the Unreal Engine Blueprint Visual Scripting system. Rather than writing lines of code, which can be intimidating for game artists, you can control actors in your scene by creating a Blueprint class and adding visual nodes that you connect together, very similar to what we did when we created materials. Launch Unreal Engine 5 and create a new project. Select Games. This time we want the Third Person. Make sure Starter Content is on. We will name this project Blueprints. Click Create. The best way to learn some basic Blueprint creation is to make one of our own. We will build this in steps. First, open the Content folder. Then create a new folder. We'll name this Blueprints. Open the Blueprints folder. Open the settings. And select Show Engine Content. This will allow us access to a few more sound files that we can use. Now right-click, select Blueprint Class, and we will build the most basic class, which is an Actor. We will name this BP_MagicLight. Double-click to open it in the Blueprint Editor. You should now be in the Viewport tab. If not, just click to the tab. To the left is the Components panel. This is where you will add actor components that make up your Blueprint. Select the DefaultSceneRoot. Click Add. We're going to add a static mesh placeholder component. Type in S-T-A-T and is select Static Mesh. We will name this Lamp. Over to the right, in the Details panel, scroll down to the Static Mesh section. We need to select a mesh into this placeholder. We will select a statue. And we'll select SM_Statue. Let's scale this up to three in x, y, and z in the Scale Transform. We want this to be a good size in the scene. Notice the mesh pivot point is at the bottom. This is perfect. Select the DefaultSceneRoot again. Let's add a light that we can control with some Blueprint code. Click Add. Then search for point, and select PointLight. We will name this ColorLight. Move this light up about midway in the statue. To move, make sure you hit the W key. If you look in the Details panel, there's an intensity value of 5,000. Let's remember that number, and for now, type in zero, which basically turns the light off. We will also give this light a color. Click the color swatch, and in the color wheel, pick whatever color you'd like, and click OK. At this point, it's a good idea to click Compile, then Save. Do this as you work on your Blueprint. Select DefaultSceneRoot once more, click Add, and at this time, we need to add an area around our lamp that, when our third-person character or any actor crosses, will trigger an action. We'll select box and Box Collision. We will name this DetectionZone. Now scale the box outline to cover the entire lamp, as well as scale out so that crossing areas are further away. An easy way to do this is type in the Box Extent section. Type in 40, 40, 30. You could also go in, hit the R key to scale, and scale the box up in the directions you need. W key to move the box up so it's level with the ground. And just visually see that you have enough area coverage to cross over. With the detection box still selected, scroll all the way down in the Details panel. You may have to drag the panel out to the left to see the menus. We wanna select On Component Begin Overlap, and hit the plus. This will immediately and automatically move you over to the Event Graph. This is where we will do all our visual coding. We will just cover the basic steps to get this lamp to light up when the detection zone is crossed. If you recall, we set the light intensity from 5,000 to zero. Click in the Event Graph grid area and press the Tab key. Unreal Engine will list, in its functions, any new components you added. Type in intensity, and you will see listed Set Intensity ColorLight. ColorLight is the light we created. Unreal Engine was nice enough to add the ColorLight node for us. For New Intensity value, let's try 8,000. Notice the large white arrows that are outlined. These are your main control pins. Think of them as an electrical wiring system, where one node will power on another node if connected, and if certain actions have happened, like the game started. Drag a wire from the Begin Overlap node to the Set Intensity node. build in the Event Graph will be this intuitive. You may have to refer to the online documentation. Now compile, save, and exit the Blueprint Editor for now. Drag your new BP_MagicLight into the level, away from the character. Make several copies or instances by pressing the W key to move, hold the Alt key, and click and drag the lamp around different parts of your level. I'll just make several instances. Play the level by pressing Alt and the P key. Now, as we cross each lamp, it lights up, and our Blueprint is working. In the next lesson, we're gonna learn how to create a user interface widget in Unreal Engine 5. Thanks for watching.

Beginner Provider : Ken Geary 5 Lessons · 47m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

In these lessons, you will learn how to create and edit blueprints, the visual scripting system exclusive to Unreal Engine that allows artists with no programming knowledge to start writing code by using nodes that you wire together. You will also see how to add a UI widget to your level to display a score on your screen, update a running score on your screen overlay, as well as create a mini game to get a feel for the game design workflow.

Unreal Engine 5 is first and foremost a game engine. Although you can also produce product simulations, augmented reality, virtual reality, and real-time immersive virtual backgrounds for live video production, the mechanics behind the scenes are the same: you add assets, materials, and lighting, and control those assets using some sort of coding.

What You'll Learn

Create and edit blueprints using Unreal Engine 5's visual scripting system of wired-together nodes
Add a UI widget to your level to display a score on screen
Update a running score on your screen overlay
Add a pickup blueprint within your level
Develop a mini game to experience the game design workflow

Key Takeaways

Blueprints are Unreal Engine's visual scripting system that let artists with no programming knowledge write code by wiring nodes together.
UI widgets can be added to a level to display and update a running score on the screen overlay.
Building a mini game gives a hands-on feel for the game design workflow, including adding a pickup blueprint and keeping score.
Unreal Engine 5 is first and foremost a game engine, but can also produce product simulations, augmented reality, virtual reality, and real-time immersive virtual backgrounds for live video production.
Across these uses the underlying mechanics are the same: you add assets, materials, and lighting and control those assets through some form of coding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need programming knowledge to take this course?

No. Blueprints are Unreal Engine's visual scripting system that allows artists with no programming knowledge to start writing code by wiring nodes together.

What will I build in this course?

You will create and edit blueprints, add a UI widget to display and update a score on your screen overlay, add a pickup blueprint, and develop a mini game to get a feel for the game design workflow.

What topics do the lessons cover?

The lessons cover Blueprint Visual Scripting, User Interfaces, beginning to create a mini game, adding a pickup blueprint, and keeping score and updating the screen.

Is Unreal Engine 5 only used for games?

Unreal Engine 5 is first and foremost a game engine, but it can also produce product simulations, augmented reality, virtual reality, and real-time immersive virtual backgrounds for live video production, using the same underlying mechanics of assets, materials, lighting, and coding.