Basic Effects - Timeline Node vs Niagara?

Development Rendering
, , ,
1

I am looking to create a basic flickering light (for reference it’s a gas lantern).

The options I can see are to create either a Niagara system, or to use a timeline node and alter the intesity of a light source.

Which would be the better method in terms of resource and performance?

Thanks in advance

1 Like
2

If it’s just a flickering light, you don’t need Niagara.

You can put a light in a blueprint, and control the intensity from there. You can setup a timer on begin play, and change the intensity every .25 seconds, or so…

3

Thanks, I knew it wasn’t a necessity for something easy like this but wanted to check what was the correct approach before I spend alot of time building something.

4

No worries. See how it looks.

Only two reasons you might use Niagara

  1. So the light source itself looks like a flame, also not a very heavy effect ( unless you overdo it ).

  2. So the light coming from the source looks more like gas light. You have to specifically do this ( in the emitter ), and it can be quite a costly effect.

PS: You might also try it with two flickering lights, a good compromise. Different radius and slightly different colors. Different timings etc.