Week 3, Day 3: Kismet, Matinee, and Post Processing

After setting up the level and making it look nice, I finally got to play with some interactive in-game elements.  The first was  creating a chain-link that opens when the player approaches.  This is done with UnrealKismet, UDK's visual scripting system.

UnrealKismet

I wrote a little more this time, so check out the rest after the jump!


Once I got to work with it a bit, it felt fairly intuitive, at least for something as simple as opening and closing a door.  The red hexagon is the trigger, which is an actual object placed within the editor.  When the player enters the trigger's radius, whatever is connected to the "Touched" node of the trigger will happen.  In this case, an UnrealMatinee (UDK's animation system) of the gate sliding open is attached.  Additionally, the sound for the gate beginning to open plays (as shown by the top left grey box).  When the player leaves the trigger area, the trigger is "Untouched."  In this case, the Matinee sequence reverses, and the gate slides shut.  The sound for the gate beginning to close also plays.  The two sound boxes are for the gate slamming open and slamming shut, which occur when the Matinee sequence completes or completes reversing.  I'm looking forward to exploring what else can be done with Kismet and Matinee.

Gate closed.

Gate open!  I would have recorded a video of the actual
animation, but I honestly didn't feel like using a screen recorder
or figuring out how to do it within UDK. Someday.

After messing around with Kismet for a while, I moved on with the tutorials.  Next up was post processing, which works pretty much the same as with video.  UDK can apply filters and modify colors for the player on the fly with a "Post Processing Volume."  This is essentially a 3D area that will modify the player's vision when they step in.  There's quite a bit of flexibility from what I've seen.  The tutorial I've been following shows how to create a colder looking environment, but a combination of depth of field modifications and wacky coloration can cause some humorously hallucinogenic effects.

No post processing.

The back room with post processing.  There's an "interpolation"
setting that allows the effects to fade in over a set duration
so the change isn't jarring.