Pighaus Games Docs

Getting started

Turn the plugin on, play a starter three ways from its own panel, then play effects from Blueprint.

1. Turn it on#

Edit > Plugins, search for Blendable FX, tick it and restart the editor. Its starters are in the Content Browser under Plugins > BlendableFX, in three folders: Transitions, Impacts and Overlays. If there's no Plugins folder, open the Content Browser's Settings and tick Show Plugin Content, or pick Starter Effects from the Blendable FX button on the toolbar.

2. Play one in the editor#

Open a starter, Transition_Iris say. The Preview band at the top of its panel has three buttons:

  • Play As A Transition covers the level viewport, holds, and opens again.
  • Play As An Impact strikes once and goes.
  • Show As An Overlay comes in and stays until you press Stop.

No game needs to be running. Change a setting while it plays and the next play shows it.

Transition_Iris as a transition: the iris closes on the player, the shot changes underneath, and it opens on the new one.

3. Play one in the game#

Each node takes the player controller whose view it plays over. In a single player game that's Get Player Controller with index 0.

  • Play Transition.

    Covers the screen and fires Covered: change whatever you're changing there (teleport the player, swap a camera, show a different room) and it reveals the new shot.

  • Set View Target With Transition.

    The same, switching the player's view to the actor you give it underneath the cover, so a camera change needs no other wiring.

  • Open Level With Transition.

    Covers, opens the level, and reveals it once it has loaded.

  • Play Impact.

    Strikes once and goes. Play Impact At and Play Impact On strike at a point in the world or on a moving actor.

  • Show Overlay.

    Comes in and stays. Keep the handle it gives back and pass it to Hide Overlay to take it off, or give it a For time and it goes by itself.

To see every look over your own game before wiring any up, pick Look Browser from the Blendable FX button on the toolbar. The look browser plays each of them over the game as it runs, with all their settings to change.

4. Make your own#

Add > Blendable > Blendable Effect in the Content Browser, or duplicate a starter, which is quicker. Pick a Look, set its timing, and its own settings appear on the Tuning band below. The panel only shows what the chosen look uses. The effect asset goes through it band by band.

Every camera cut#

To put a transition on every cut in the game without calling anything, set Transition Every Camera Cut in Project Settings > Plugins > Blendable FX. Any time the camera cuts and nothing else has played a transition for it, that one plays. A cover reveals the new shot from covered; a blend needs the frame before the cut, so tick Keep The Last Frame too, which keeps a copy of every frame. A player can have their own with Set Transition For Every Camera Cut, or none while a cutscene makes its own cuts.

Where next#

  • Transitions: covers and blends, and the cover-cut-reveal handshake underneath them.
  • Impacts: striking once, on the player or anywhere in the world.
  • Starter effects: all three hundred and twenty-nine.