[Question] Newbie Blueprint Questions

Development Programming & Scripting Blueprint
, , ,
1

Hi all,

I had a couple questions :

  1. I noticed that when I create a new blueprint in the editor I have to specify the class I am creating the blueprint for. Let’s say I have a class StateMachine which, by the way, doesn’t have to inherit anything in particular for my intent so I make it a subclass of UObject. Does that mean I can’t create a blueprint for it ? What are the properties that a class must satisfy so that it shows up in the list of classes I can create a blueprint from ?

  2. I created a blueprint for a subclass of PlayerController (which is called TaskController), but I can’t seem to ‘place’ it in the scene. Any idea why is that ? When does an instance of the class is actually created ? For example, I want my TaskController class object to use a StateMachine object but I am still not sure how that works using blueprints.

One way to solve these problems is to ignore all the blueprinting and just write regular code but I am curious as to how I can leverage this new visual scripting system to enable me develop different behaviours for different instances visually.

Many thanks !

Cheers,
Shailen

2

“What are the properties that a class must satisfy so that it shows up in the list of classes I can create a blueprint from ?”

If you want to make a BP that you can place in world you should derive from AActor :slight_smile:

“I created a blueprint for a subclass of PlayerController (which is called TaskController), but I can’t seem to ‘place’ it in the scene. Any idea why is that ?”

You dont typically place an invisible runtime entity like a controller in the level.

Try blueprinting and placing a StaticMeshActor just to get your bearings :slight_smile:

or try bluprinting ARadialForceActor, something that has a visual (in the actor properties make the editor icon bigger like scale=5

“how I can leverage this new visual scripting system to enable me develop different behaviours for different instances visually.”

Dont confuse the terminology of instances with blueprints, blueprints are not instances, they are classes that you then instance just like the base class.

Think of Blueprints as classes, variations on your base class.

You would use a blueprint if you only wanted to change various properties of a base class

Example:

You could blueprint the Static Mesh Actor and set the physics simulation to be on, and choose a mass scale of 10

you could then call this Blueprint a Heavy Physics Actor

It is still a Static Mesh Actor but it has some specific properties set from the base class.

Rama