How to make a continuous beam weapon?

Hello. So I’m very new to UE4 and can’t seem to find a tutorial for exactly what I’m looking for. I’ve already used a tutorial for a laser sight, however I only want the laser to appear while the trigger is being held down. I’ve tried using InputAction and a Gate to limit it but the laser still exists before I fire and then remains still in space once I let go. I have a picture of what the start of my blueprint looks like. Hopefully this isn’t too complicated. Thanks for the help!

You can look into particle cascade; here is a great entry about making a beam weapon:

Another method that worked for me was a simple spline with 2 points. You’re calculating the points already. Add spline mesh with a dynamic material instance and you’ve got a beam:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/development-discussion/rendering/111880-display-potential-path-to-the-point

You will need to update it on tick if the target or the source is re-positioned.

That’s actually a really cool resource.
Thanks for sharing!

If you ever manage to achieve what you need, please consider marking this issue as resolved. Otherwise, keep the questions coming.

That couldn’t have been less helpful. There’s no BP in any part that shows how it all fits together

I disagree. It’s a blog describing the concept behind it all, including dos and donts, not a tutorial and the entire material setup is in there which is 95% of the setup you need. The rest is a breeze by comparison.

If you do not want to use emitters, particles and cascade, you can achieve a very similar effect with a spline. Have a look at the link below; again, it’s not step-by-step but should have enough details to get you started (look for a section with a blown out mesh image, somewhere in the middle):