While in-editor documentation is amazing for blueprint. its lackluster/non-existent for materials.
Yes, the basics such as texturing a model is easy. Frankly you don’t need to innovate or think outside the box.
Because once you have learned from one example, you can repeat the same process to the rest of your models.
For complex materials, the requirement is stiff. It requires you to truly understand the fundamentals of the function you are using.
It sorta like advanced programming.
But Material Functions lack documentation for what type of data they output most of the time.
You are almost in the blind with what you can connect to it. You should be able to highlight a function like AbsoluteWorldPosition and get a tool tip of what type of data input it receives and outputs, not just a description of what it does.
The same way you would if you were using Visual Studio.
For example if a function outputs a string or a char it should say so.
knowing this, i can create a string or char variable to save the output of the function.
In addition by knowing what type of data is being outputted by a function.
I know exactly what how i am going to manipulate, convert, or debug the data to my needs.
**
AbsoluteWorldPosition**
“The WorldPosition expression outputs the position of the current pixel in world space. To visualize, simply plug the output into Emissive:”
What does position mean? What type of data are we talking about?
This is what infuriates me. There is no definition of the type of data a function is outputting.
** Absolute World Position**
- No information on what AbsoluteWorldPosition outputs.
- Therefore I don’t know what to do with it.
- I can’t convert it because i have no clue what data it is.
- I can’t manipulate it because i have no clue what data it is.
as you see from that AWP example. why am i dividing by 64?
why am i masking it? why am i multiplying, adding it by a weird arbitrary number? why?
i don’t even know the original data. i want to know the raw data of the “position of the current pixel in world space”.
so i can figure out what i can do with it. by my own self.
sign. I don’t want to be tortured anymore.