Animate 2D Images with Niagara Water VFX
This tutorial shows how to bring a static 2D image to life with Photoshop flow maps, animated materials and Niagara water particles in Unreal Engine 5, and the project files are available to download.
Use it for mobile UI, animated splash screens and living backgrounds, and see the related posts below for more flow map and water effects.
More flow map and water effects: Flow Map in Photoshop to UE5 · Waterfall Scene · Water, Dust, Leaves & Glow
Download – https://www.patreon.com/posts/84516453
In this Unreal Engine 5 tutorial, we take a static 2D image and turn it into a dynamic, animated visual using Niagara and material effects! Learn step-by-step how to create flow maps in Photoshop, animate flowing water, add glowing particle highlights, build a pulsating border frame, and add subtle rotating details and light rays.
✨ What You’ll Learn in This Video:
🌊 Flow Map Creation: Generating UV coordinates and using Photoshop Liquify to create custom water flow maps.
🎨 Material Animation: Setting up flow map shaders, panning, and masking specific areas in Unreal Engine.
🎆 Niagara System Setup: Aligning sprites to mesh orientations and creating glowing particle emitters.
🖼️ Pulsating Frame Effect: Building procedural masks and dynamic pulsing borders in the material editor.
☀️ Light Rays & Clock Rotation: Adding custom masked rotators and subtle animated light rays.
⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro & Effect Overview
00:44 – Exporting the Image & Flow Map Setup in Photoshop
02:05 – Creating Directional Flow with Liquify
03:52 – Importing Textures & Unreal Material Setup
06:05 – Painting & Applying the Water Mask
09:10 – Setting Up the Niagara Particle System
11:15 – Adding Glowing Corner Highlights
14:05 – Adding Floating Dust & Sparkle Particles
17:00 – Creating the Animated Border / Frame Effect
22:45 – Adding Radial Light Rays
26:10 – Rotating Element & Final Polish
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