Today I wanted to share a couple of great tips that I find useful when working with Unreal Engines material editor.
Although admittedly I still have a lot to learn, I’ve spent a bunch of time in the material editor over the years for both Marauders and in my own solo side projects. Here are a couple of tips and tricks I encountered over that time that I think are worth knowing!
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DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN…
#01 - Name Material Pins
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Why Useful: Naming channels keeps things organised and helps you quickly work out whats going on when you open up a material. It’s great if you’re revisiting an old material or if someone else is picking up a material you initially made. You can only do this if the node has been converted to a parameter. Then simply look under the details panel for the Channel Names rollout. This is a great little tip that I don’t think a lot of people know about. Check out my vid or blog post links to see it in action.
#02 - Material Quick Connections
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Why Useful: This tip is great when you are working on larger more complex materials where you have a bunch of spaghetti and or you are working nowhere near the results node. If you right-click on any node pin and look towards the top of that menu you will see options that mimic the results node pins. Clicking these will hook the pin up directly to the results node. Watch my vid or check out the blogpost for more details.
#03 - Material Editor Shortcuts
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Why Useful: This can save you a bunch of time and allows you to stay in the flow rather than having to search for certain nodes. Here are a few examples of ones that I use regularly:
Hold A + Left-mouse-click = Add Node
Hold D + Left-mouse-click = Divide Node
Hold L + Left-mouse-click = Lerp Node
Hold M + Left-mouse-click = Multiply Node
There are a whole bunch more as well so make sure to check out the video/blog post to see the others. This is by far one of the best tips in this list.
#04 - Custom Asset Shadows
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Why Useful: Using the Shadow Pass Switch node in the material editor you can edit the shadow of a given object. This opens up a whole host of possibilities! Check out the vid/blog post to see it in action!
