Creating Real-Time Blast & Shockwave VFX Using Unreal Engine | Level-Up: Episode 8

A Shock To The System 

Welcome to the latest episode of Level-Up, Beyond-FX’s tutorial series where we pass on our knowledge to you. In each lesson, you’ll be in the very capable hands of one of our professional artists. In this episode, you’ll get the full breakdown of how to use Unreal Engine to craft impactful Blast and Shockwave effects. 

Your expert for the week is Jason Johnston, one of our VFX Directors here at Beyond-FX. He’ll be offering an insight into how he approaches these incredible effects. You’ll need a working knowledge of Unreal Engine before beginning this tutorial, to get the most out of the experience. 

This episode of Level-Up was inspired by Project Spooky, our 2023 in-studio VFX Jam where we all came together to make a fun project in a day! . Although this example may have a terrifying twist, there are plenty of imaginative ways to repurpose these effects. 

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The Step-By-Step 

Each episode of Level-Up is designed to be as accessible as possible and therefore, we’ve organized this video into a few key sections. They include: 

• Creating a Blueprint Actor 
• Adding a Custom Event
• Triggering Tiles with Sphere Collision 
• Shockwave Effect

The video is timestamped throughout so that you can negotiate the learning experience in a way that suits you. Don’t worry about going back to areas you’re less sure about. Level-Up is here to aid your growth so that these fantastic effects can be applied to your projects.

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Also, if you’re having trouble getting the effect to work, try these steps:

• Turn off collision on the sphere mesh in the bp
• Turn on 'generate overlap events' on all the cubes in the details panel
• Set the mobility for the cubes to 'moveable' in the details panel

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Keep The Questions Coming 

At Beyond-FX, we’re extremely passionate about helping future artists get to grips with the industry and the skillsets they need to thrive. So if you have a question, query, or concern, it’s so important that you reach out in the comments section below and ask for the support you need. If there’s a topic you wish to see covered in the future, throw some suggestions our way! 

Show us your creations on social media and share your effects with the community. Not only is this a great way to swap tips and tricks, but it’s also a fun opportunity to get feedback on what you have created. We’d love to see how this tutorial helped you level-up your game! 

If you loved this installment of the series and want to watch more, you’re in luck! Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, and Episode 7 are available on our YouTube channel and blog right now. Make sure you look out for our next tutorial. 

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Want to stay in touch with our studio as we craft world-class real-time VFX? Follow Beyond-FX on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, & TikTok!

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