Ribbon VFX (Electricity)

VFX_02_apowell1.mp4

I'm Shocked

This was a cool experiment to see how I could combine the VFX with an actor to amplify its affect. I wanted it to be more of a pulse-type effect where the player could receive the energy from another source.

Table of Contents

Concept Design

During the concept phase, I imagined the intial charge to be a basic lightning-type look and overtime a spark would occur. After the spark, I wanted the remains to fall down towards the ground, as if a circuit had been blown.

Source: https://tenor.com/search/electricity-gifs

Overview

The two main pieces used to make the effect were, as I called them, "surge" and "sparks."

Make A Beam

Besides the basic particle foundations, one key element was the Beam Emitter Setup, and Beam Width. This allowed me to control the thickness of the beam which gave a more realistic effect. For example, by using the FloatCurve graph, I was able to reduce thickness at each end point.

Attach To Actor

One of the more complicated elements of the VFX was getting it to attach to an actor. Here I used a Scratch Dynamic Input which allows me to choose the actor I want to attach it to under the gameplay Details panel. I left the start point at default so I could choose where it should stay in the level.

Add Velocity

I knew for the sparks to be more realistic, I needed to get them to move quickly and outward, as if it was a small explosion. To do this, I added a velocity pin, chose From Point and gave it a Random Range Float value so any emitter instance in the system will spark at random intervals.

Give It Gravity

Most sparks fall, so here I wanted to replicate that as well. I pushed the sparks out a bit further from the light to add an "exploding" effect.

Conclusion

This was really fun to work on and I'm happy I now understand how to make an effect follow an actor around. I hope to use it more in future projects!

VFX_02_apowell1.mp4

Resources

Environment: https://www.fab.com/listings/b9266683-47f1-4905-a8e8-e605188bd50c
Guide: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/how-to-create-a-beam-effect-in-niagara-for-unreal-engine?application_version=5.4

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