274 Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology
Font Sampler Parameter: This expression p rovides a way to expose a font-based
parameter in a material instance constant, making it easy to use different fonts
in different instances. The alpha channel of the font will contain the font outline
value. Only valid font pages are allowed to b e specified.
TABLE 5.1: Font Sample Parameter Properties
Parameter Name: Specifies the name used to identify the parameter in
instance of the material and through code.
Group: Provides a way to org a n ize parameter names into groups, or cat-
egories, within a Material Inst ance Constant. All parameters
within a material that have the same Group property name will be
listed underneath that cate gory in the instance.
Font: Holds the default font asset (from the Content Browser) to be held
within the expression.
Font Texture Page: The current font texture page to be used as a part
of the texture.
Scalar Parameter: This param eter expression is equivalent to a Constant expres-
sion in that it stores a single float value and returns this value. However, like all
other parameters in Unreal Engine, it can be referenc ed and its values changed in
an instance of the material at run-time, by level designers, or by the other engine
components such as Cascade and Matinee.
TABLE 5.2: Scalar Parameter Properties
Parameter Name: Specifies the name used to identify the parameter in
instance of the material and through code.
Group: Provides a way to org a n ize parameter names into groups, or cat-
egories, within a Material Inst ance Constant. All parameters
within a material that have the same Group property name will be
listed underneath that cate gory in the instance.
Default Value: Specifies the initial value that the parameter ta kes on.
Vector Parameter: This parameter expression is equivalent to a Constant4Ve ctor
expression in that it stores four values (RGBA) and returns these values. However,
like all other parameters in Unreal Engine, it can be referenced and its values
changed in an instance of the material at run-time, by level designers, or by the
other e ngine components such as Cascade and Matinee.
Advanced Material Concepts in Unreal Engine 275
TABLE 5.3: Vector Parameter Properties
Parameter Name: Specifies the name use d to identify the parameter in
instance of the material and through code.
Group: Provides a way to organize parameter names into grou p s, or cat-
egories, within a M aterial Instance Constant. All parameters
within a material that have the same Group property n a m e will be
listed underneath that category in the instance.
Default Value R: Specifies the in itial value of the first, or red, channel
that the parameter takes on.
Default Value G: Speci fies the initial value of the second, or green, chan-
nel that the parameter takes on.
Default Value B : Specifies the initial value of the third, or blue, channel
that the parameter takes on.
Default Value A: Specifies the initial value of the fourth, or alp h a , chan-
nel that the parameter takes on.
Texture Sample Parameter2D: This param eter expression is equivalent to a Tex-
ture Sample expression in that it stores a texture map and retu rns these values.
However, like all other parameters in Unreal Engine , it can be referenced and its
values changed in an instance of the material at run-time, by level designers, or
by the other engine compon ents such as Cascade and Matinee.
TABLE 5.4: Texture Sample Properties
Parameter Name: Specifies the name use d to identify the parameter in
instance of the material and through code.
Group: Provides a way to organize parameter names into grou p s, or cat-
egories, within a M aterial Instance Constant. All parameters
within a material that have the same Group property n a m e will be
listed underneath that category in the instance.
Blend: Blends together each frame of the SubUV sprite layout, rather
than instantly “popping” from one frame to the next.
Texture: Specifies the texture sampled by the expression.
Sampler Type: The type of data that will be sampled and output from
the node.
Mip Value Mode: Applies a noise value to the texture that affects the
look and performance.
TABLE 5.5: Texture Sample Inputs
UVs: Takes in UV texture coordinates to use for the texture. If n o val-
276 Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology
ues are input to the UVs, the texture coordinates of the mesh the
material is app lied to are used.
TABLE 5.6: Texture Sample Outputs
RGB: Outputs the three-c h a n n e l RGB vector value of the color.
R: Outputs the red channel value of th e color.
G: Outputs the green channel value of the co lor.
B: Outputs the blue channel value of the color.
A: Outputs the alp h a channe l vector value of the color.
Texture Sample Parameter Cube: This parameter expression is equivalent to a
Texture Sample expr ession in that it stores a texture map and returns these val-
ues except that it only accepts cubemaps. Moreover, like all other parameters in
Unreal Engine, it can be reference d and its values changed in an instance of the
material at run-time, by level designers, or by the other engine com ponents such
as Cascade an d Matinee.
TABLE 5.7: Texture Sample Parameter Cube Properties
Parameter Name: Specifies the name used to identify the parameter in
instance of the material and through code.
Group: Provides a way to org a n ize parameter names into groups, or cat-
egories, within a Material Inst ance Constant. All parameters
within a material that have the same Group property name will be
listed underneath that cate gory in the instance.
Blend: Blends together ea c h frame of the SubUV sprite layout, rather
than i n stantly “pop p ing” from one frame to the next.
Texture: Specifies the texture sampled by the expression.
Sampler Type: The type of data that will be sampled and output from
the node.
Mip Value Mode: Applies a noise value to the texture that affects the
look and performance.
TABLE 5.8: Texture Sample Parameter Cube Inputs
UVs: Takes in UV texture coordinates to use for the texture. If no val-
ues are input to the UVs, the texture coordinates of the mesh the
material is app lied to are used.
Advanced Material Concepts in Unreal Engine 277
TABLE 5.9: Texture Sample Parameter Cube Outputs
RGB: Outputs the three-channel RGB vector value of the color.
R: Outputs the red channel value of the color.
G: Outputs the green channel value of the color.
B: Outputs the blue channel value of the color.
A: Outputs the alpha chan n e l vector value of the color.
Texture Sample Parameter Movie: This param eter expression is the equivalent to
a Texture Sam ple expression in that it stores a texture map and retu rns these values
except that it only accepts m ovie textures. The movie textures must be in the Bink
video format. Moreover, like all other parameters in Unreal Engine, it can be ref-
erenced and its values changed in an instance of the material at run-time, by level
designers, or by the other engine components such as Cascade and Matinee.
TABLE 5.10: Texture Sample Parameter Movie Properties
Parameter Name: Specifies the name use d to identify the parameter in
instance of the material and through code.
Group: Provides a way to organize parameter names into grou p s, or cat-
egories, within a M aterial Instance Constant. All parameters
within a material that have the same Group property n a m e will be
listed underneath that category in the instance.
Blend: Blends together each frame of the SubUV sprite layout, rather
than instantly “popping” from one frame to the next.
Texture: Specifies the texture sampled by the expression.
Sampler Type: The type of data that will be sampled and output from
the node.
Mip Value Mode: Applies a noise value to the texture that affects the
look and performance.
TABLE 5.11: Texture Sample Parameter Movie Inputs
UVs: Takes in UV texture coordinates to use for the texture. If n o val-
ues are input to the UVs, the texture coordinates of the mesh the
material is applied to are used.
TABLE 5.12: Texture Sample Parameter Movie Outputs
RGB: Outputs the three-channel RGB vector value of the color.
R: Outputs the red channel value of the color.
G: Outputs the green channel value of the color.
278 Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology
B: Outputs the blue channel value of the color.
A: Outputs the alp h a channe l vector value of the color.
Collection Parameters: This expression is used to act as a refere nce to access a
Parameter Collec tion Asset. These will be a group of assets that may be re-used
by many different assets such a materials, blueprin ts, etc.
You can think of these collections as a generic or bundling of scalar an d vector pa-
rameters th at can be referenced in any material. These collections may be used to
get global data and apply them to many materials at once. Moreover, these collec-
tions are very handy in driving per-level effects via blueprints, such as moisture
amount, damage amount, etc.
Dynamic Parameter: This expression gives you a mechanism to pass up to fou r
values in a material used for a particle system. Cascade particle editor will give
access to this parameter via the Parameter Dynamic module to use these values
in a ny manner in the particle system.
TABLE 5.13: Dynamic Parameter Properties
Param Names: An array of names to be used as parameters. These values
will determine the text on the output of the expression in the Ma te rial
Editor and will be used to interact with the Parameter Dyn amic
module in the Cascade Particle Editor.
TABLE 5.14: Dynamic Parameter Outputs
Param1: Outputs the value of th e first parameter in the Param Names
property. Based on the value in Param Nam es property, the value of
this output can change.
Param2: Outputs the value of the second parameter in the Param Names
property. Based on the value in Param Nam es property, the value of
this output can change.
Param3: Outputs the value of the third parameter in the Param Name s
property. Based on the value in Param Nam es property, the value of
this output can change.
Param4: Outputs the value of the fourth parameter in the Param Name s
property. Based on the value in Param Nam es property, the value of
this output can change.
Texture Sample Parameter SubUV: This parameter expression is the equivalent to
a Particle SubUV expression in that it stores subimages of a texture for application
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