Unreal Engine 4 – How to create Materials – Basic Tutorial

Materials are assets applied to meshes, contributing to a scene’s visual aesthetic.

Flat Color Material

1. Run Unreal Engine 4

2. Content Browser> Add New> Material> rename it ‘MyMaterial’, the asterisk means that it is non saved yet.

3. Content Browser> Save All

4. Double Click on ‘MyMaterial’ thumbnail, the Material Editor will be opened
.

NOTICE the Main Material Node for ‘MyMaterial’ in the middle.

The hotkeys are:
– 1,2,3,4: create 1-4 Vector Constant Node
– U: UV Coordinates
– T: Texture Samples Node
– S,V Scalar parameter, Vector Parameter
– A,D,M: Add, Divide, Multiply

– LMB: drag selection box
– RMB: pan
– Mouse Wheel: zoomin/out

5. RIGHT COLUMN> Constants> Constant3Vector (3Vector means RGB, 4Vector means RGBA)

– RMB over Constant3Vector to Delete, Cut, Copy, Duplicate etc…
– DOUBLE LMB to options, set R=255 G=000 B=000

6. Connect Constant3Vector to Base Color

7. TOP TOOLBAR> ‘Apply’ to apply the mod to material inside Content Browser

8. TOP TOOLBAR> ‘Save’ to save the asset, it is the same of Content Browser> Save All

A Rock Material – Diffuse and Normal

Shader Type

1. Click over ‘MyMaterial’ Main Material Node, it will turn to yellow, now it is selected

2. LEFT COLUMN> Material> Shading Model> Subsurface, MyMaterial pins changes

Color

3. RIGHT COLUMN> Texture> Texture Sample, drag and drop it in the working area

4. LMB over Texture Sample, LEFT COLUMN> notice ‘Material Expression Texture Base’

5. Content Browser> DRAG AND DROP a color texture over ‘Material Expression Texture Base’ slot

6. Connect Texture Sample (the diffuse map)> white pin TO MyMaterial> Base Color pin

Normal

7. Repeat from point 3 to 5 for Normal Map

8. Connect Texture Sample (the normal map)> white pin TO MyMaterial> Normal Color pin

Constant Nodes

For italian people; sono semplicemente delle costanti numeriche, ad esempio collego un Constant node con valore 0.5 a Opacity per avere un materiale trasparente al 50%.

1. RIGHT COLUMN> DRAG 3 ‘Constant’ and 1 ‘Constant3Vector’

2. DOUBLE LMB over:
– Constant, LEFT COLUMN set 0
– Constant, LEFT COLUMN set 0.8
– Constant, LEFT COLUMN set 0.95
– Constant3Vector, LEFT COLUMN set RED 255 0 0

3. Make the connections

Constant (0)-> Specular
Constant (0.8)-> Roughness
Constant (0.95)-> Opacity
Constant3Vector (RED) -> Sub Surface Color

Assign a material to a mesh (Actor) in the scene

Content Browser> DRAG AND DROP the Material over the mesh in the 3D Viewport

OR

RIGHT COLUMN> World Outliner> select the mesh> RIGHT COLUMN> Details> Materials> use the dropdown menu to assign material

Ref: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/QuickStart/2/index.html