Beam effects colliding with nearby surfaces

I’m trying to create an effect of beams colliding with surfaces around an emitter that uses a particle as a target/source.

I tried creating a parent emitter that fires colliding particles that on collision births a child beam emitter(collision event) that uses “emitter” source child and target “emitter” parent. Didn’t work for me… Any other ways of doing this?

thanks!

Hey CGRonin -

I believe I know what you are looking for, but could you give me a quick sketch of the ultimate effect you are going for, or how you would like it to operate?

Thank You

Eric Ketchum

I’m trying to create a moving orb that arcs to nearby surfaces. This can occur in many environment situations, so I do not know the exact distance of the environment surfaces from the orb. Thx!

Hey CGRonin -

You will need to setup a Blueprint line trace event which can feed into you beam emitter. Here is the blueprint setup, I am using only 4 emitters with 4 different cardinal directions but you can use as many as you want. I also am using the direct tangent method and you might want to look into adjusting the tangents to give it a more “alive” “electric” feel depending on your ultimate effect. I am using a Custom Event off of a looping Timer which is set at Event Begin Play to update ever .1 or .2 seconds so not quite on Tick but close enough to allow the look of a constantly moving lightening bolt.

Thank You

Eric Ketchum