Hi guys, I’m Ashif Ali and you’re watching CGHOW. Today, I’ll show you how to create a dissolving effect in Unreal Engine 5.2 Niagara. Let’s dive into the tutorial!
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Creating the Dissolving Effect:
Material Creation:
First, I’ll create a material and add an emissive texture. I will import an image and use a mask.
The cutout of the image will be connected to the emissive part of the material.
Save the material once it’s set up.
Particle Setup:
Now, let’s create a particle for this effect using Niagara.
Set the particle’s size to be uniform with no rotation, and make sure the life span is infinite.
Use Custom Alignment to adjust the facing vector, setting it to mesh orientation. Rotate the vector to make it straight, and then align it with the mesh.
Create a new level and place the background. Adjust the view, giving it a blue tint.
Dissolve Effect:
To make the dissolving effect work, use the Material Parameter Collection (MPC) to create a vector for the sphere location.
Use a sphere mask and connect the material’s world position to the mask. This will let us dissolve the character within a certain radius.
The sphere’s radius and hardness are adjustable, and this will control the dissolve effect.
Save the material and duplicate for other parameters like radius and hardness.
By default, the material should make the character dissolve in a spherical shape.
Blueprint Setup:
Create a blueprint that references the material. You’ll connect the sphere’s radius and location to the material parameters.
Use the actor’s scale to adjust the radius of the sphere dynamically.
Finalizing the Effect:
Now, you’ll see the dissolve effect in action. Adjust the radius and position of the sphere to control where the character dissolves.
You can use a kill volume to limit particle generation to inside the sphere. The particles should appear within the defined radius and dissolve the mesh accordingly.
Adding Particles:
For the particle effect, I’ll use a Niagara emitter. The particles will be spawned within the box, and you can adjust the size, life span, and randomness.
Set up a simple color parameter to match the character’s texture, and use a scrap pad module to sample the texture and apply it to the particles.
The particles will now dissolve in sync with the material’s dissolve.
Fine-Tuning:
Adjust the particle size, add noise to create randomness, and change the particle life span.
You can also adjust the noise to animate the effect and randomize the size and color of the particles.
Testing and Final Touches:
Once everything is set up, you can test the effect by moving the sphere and seeing how the character dissolves.
Adjust the particles and the material to fine-tune the dissolve effect.
Final Result:
With the material and particles now connected, you should have a working dissolve effect. As you move the sphere, the character will gradually disappear, and particles will form where the character was.
I am Ashif Ali, Real-Time VFX Artist, I make Unreal Engine Niagara Tutorial on this channel. I've made it my mission to share my knowledge and expertise with the world through my YouTube channel. So why not join me on this exciting adventure? Follow me on my social links, subscribe to my channel, and support my growth as a creator. Together, we can create amazing things and take our skills to new heights. And who knows, you might even get access to some of my exclusive files for free!