Neopixel & UE4 Series: The PoC

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Another one of those weirdo Proof Of Concepts, but hey, someone has to do them. I think I just like breaking boundaries from a pure digital world into the real one. Controlling light always feels very rewarding and I might add that, if a game or entertainment would make use of my environment, e.g. control my room’s lighting based on the game- /visual’s atmosphere, I’d probably dig it.

 

Idea:

Syncing an LED strip’s brightness to a UE4 Point Light intensity. This is the first article of a series covering this idea, using only a Timeline to animate it.

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Remote Building a C++ Project for iOS with a Mac Mini

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IPP ERROR: RPCCommand MakeApp failed with return code Error_RemoteCertificatesNotFound

As a follow up to a previous article in which we launched a Blueprint only project with a Mac Mini, this time it’s about packaging C++ projects as well. It actually just takes one more step, though, breathe easy.

The error code above pretty much tells the truth. I read through some old forum posts and had to make two changes to my original “Just doubleclick it” approach. The certificate apparently has to be located in the System Keychain (not the login one), plus it has its access rights to be removed.

 

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Calling a C++ Function with return value from a Blueprint

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Aye, Sundays! For another PoC I was in need of some custom C++ functionality. To get a grasp of it, I started digging into some articles and videos and decided to narrow everything down to what’s most important: Calling functions and retreiving a return value from there.

 

Idea

Let’s send two floats to a custom C++ function which then returns us the sum as Output Param in a node we can use further in our Blueprint. For now, we’re working with a synchronous call, means, the function we’re calling is also the function we’re getting our sum back from. It’s really that simple.

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Launch an ARKit Project from Windows with a Mac Mini

Marvin 7 Comments

PackagingResults: Error: Deployment failed! Missing UE4Game binary.
You may have to build the UE4 project with your IDE. Alternatively, build using UnrealBuildTool with the commandline:
UE4Game <Platform> <Configuration>

Now, that took me some time to figure, albeit it’s easier than you might think.

 

Idea:

I’ve got a Mac Mini in my local network which I wanted to use to compile iOS Projects from my Windows PC, since – as you know – for certain plugins like ARKit or Location Services being involved you’ll need XCode to do the job of packaging. The reason is quite simple: Windows cannot work with the binaries required to access these features on an iOS device.
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Using your device’s Gyroscope to rotate an Actor

Marvin 3 Comments

 

Snap, does anyone remember these mechanics? I do and I loved them. For those who are not familiar with them, check out the modern way to How To Make a Cardboard Box Marble Labyrinth Game Video. Awesome.

As you can imagine, we’re not cutting cardboards but use this game’s idea in a Blue Print to rotate an Actor (the plane).

Idea

Yeah, you get the idea.
We’re working with the Gyroscope via Unreal Engine’s high-level implementation: Tilt.

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Dynamically changing the intensity of a Point Light

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For quite some time I was off the idea that dynamically changing the brightness / intensity of a Light Actor wouldn’t work on mobiles. This aside, I set up a quick PoC (Proof of Concept) to toggle a light between two intensities, with a little flickering in it to make it.. I don’t know, I just liked the idea of a timeline in this flow.

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Tweening the location of Actors with easing

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Hey folks,

today we’re talking about floating Actors, or – to be precise – about how we can animate an Actor’s location (or rotation, whatever you like to) with a visual representation of the tweening itself. The result of this little Blueprint can be used for hovering Powerups or HUDs which need a little extra to their appearance.

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