Advanced VFX and Cinematics for Games with Unreal

Advance in Unreal visual effects and cinematics production by mastering the material editor, cascade, and Photoshop, while building on basic 3D modeling skills.

Learn how the if expression enables conditional material transitions in Unreal, using A and B inputs to drive warp effects, with scalar parameters controlled via Matinee and real-time previews.

Learn to implement a stage 1 if expression in Unreal materials to reveal an edge during character transition, using gradient, hex pattern, texture coordinates, panning, tiling, emissive, and normal map.

Create and control a material transition in Unreal by using a material instance constant with a material instance actor, connected to a matinee track via a scalar parameter.

Animate the fresnel by driving a vector material parameter with red, green, and blue values, using the curve editor to keyframe blue to white and bloom.

Master screen-space distortion with the scene texture expression and screen position, then apply uv distortion and independent panners to create dynamic visual effects like smoke and fire.

Add texture and distortion using the scene texture sample, screen position, and a matinee-driven distortion amount and color controls to reveal refractive and transparent behavior on the character.

Stage 2 reveals the hologram using an inverted hexagon mask, edge glow, and panned texture distortion to transition from stage 1, controlled by new scalar parameters and matinee keyframes.

Refine stage 1 edge bending and implement scanlines to create a holographic projection, using panning texture distortion, gradients, and precise keyframe adjustments.

Reveal a character by warping in the in-game model with a diffuse/specular/normal map material and use lerp to fade emissive into those textures, tuning translucency and sorting.

Create and animate cameras, switch between shots with the director group, and animate lights via matinee; adjust world post-process settings for color direction and prepare Kismet to render.

Create and animate multiple cameras in matinee, lock them to world coordinates with keyframes, adjust field of view, and cut between cameras with the director group for a cinematic experience.

Create and sequence three Unreal camera tracks with a director group. Switch from establishing shot of holographic projector elements to a warp reveal using longer lenses for cinematic in-game cinematics.

Animate scene lighting by adding movable point lights, dialing color, radius, and brightness through keyframes in Matinee and Kismet, to create emissive glow and dynamic light shafts around holographic projectors.

Create dust particle flow toward a center using a point attractor with range and strength, then apply basic post-process tweaks like bloom, motion blur, and shadow tint.

Execute final tweaks to the Unreal VFX setup by enforcing foreground rendering, enabling motion blur on particles, and refining projector lights, radius, and dynamic shadows for polished visuals.

Set up Kismet to trigger a matinee cinematic on level load and enable cinematic mode for all players, then render as a movie or screenshots for after effects.