Geometric deformation materials tutorial

EmAr

Hi, I recorded this video today. It goes over how to create a skew, taper and twist material in UDK material editor. They are not completely useful as this method cannot affect the lighting properly but they can give some ideas to somebody I guess:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSemK8kFtZ4"]UDK geometric deformation materials tutorial - YouTube[/ame]

Thanks for looking, any C&C is appreciated

ImSlightlyBored

Nice stuff, good to see. I cant watch the video yet, but will do - did you transform to local space for these too? It's a constant problem I've had with worldpositionoffset, is that most often, you want it transformed to local on most meshes else your axis is always skewed.

EmAr

Thanks, these deformations are working in world space.

I had one method for working in local space but it was rather limited too. It works for two dimensions only. You export the model after rotating 90 degrees around the Y axis(Edit: this should be X axis). Then you rotate the model back 90 degrees in the editor/level. Thus you can use the object orientation node(which normally gives you the up vector) as the "front" vector. You can use the vectors which are both normal to that one and in the horizontal plane as local right and left vectors.

EmAr

I actually made a video in which I explain the trick I mentioned above

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZZVW1pMC4"]UDK Material Editor Local Transform Tutorial - YouTube[/ame]

I hope it's useful.

imbueFX

Hey Emar,

Thanks for posting these! This actually helps me with a tutorial I'm making, I was doing WPO in a much more complicated setup. Your videos helped me understand it better so I can do a much more simple approach.

If I can offer a couple of tips and feedback about your videos: Work on taking the time to explain some of the expressions you're using. For someone who is very new to UDK, they might get lost in what function everything serves and what role it plays in the big picture because you are working so fast. Also remember to speak clearly, sometimes you begin to mumble something very softly. Even if you mess up, just say "Actually this needs to be connected here at xyz, not yzx, etc..."

Thanks again!

EmAr

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'll need to practice on my communication skills then.

Also, it's good to know the video is helpful

imbueFX

Keep it up, practice makes perfect.

TiGuy

Good job EmAr

I would really like to see how you achieved your smoke trail in this video in a future tutorial

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twg3qN3Ho4Q"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twg3qN3Ho4Q[/ame]

EmAr

Thanks TiGuy, that effect involves modifying z component of vertex positions according to x and y compenents etc. I know this isn't long enough an explanation but I just recorded a video about something else. I am pretty tired

So, here's the new video in which I explain how to animate a spring in UDK. This can actually be applied to bone based rigs by adjusting weights in a way similar to the vertex color method in the video:

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBpNZRgAxVE[/ame]

Thanks for looking

TiGuy

Nice one once again EmAr, still very interested to see how you acheived the smoke trail, especially how you have done that kind of "turbulence" while the emiter doesnt move at all. This effect would be really great for my spaceships and missile trail :P

TiGuy

sorry for double post..