So I just shelled out the money for the third person starter pack on the UE4 markteplace. I figured it would jump start my effort for creating my main character blue print. Up until now I had a placeholder character with some basic functionality (walk, look, jump). When I opened up the character blueprint to see all that is at work I was just like holy **** this is intense. I don’t even know where to begin, I’m an artist not a programmer (yeah I know BP is as easy as it gets). Any advice on how to start? is it really as complicated as the hundreds of nods and wires makes it seem?
Hi DarkInigma,
I have not seen the BP’s from the TP Starter Pack but all I can suggest is that you spend some time familiarising yourself with the BP and really try to understand what is in there at the moment.
Also, if thisis the pack you bought, there is meant to be a demo level ‘explaining everything about the blueprint’?
Hi.
Blueprints are not much difficult. I learned good enough blueprints in 2 months… if you want to be very familiar with blueprints, do , it will learn you everything about blueprints (may take 100-200 hrs to complete)
I think it’s easier to try and learn from scratch, through trial and error - rather than buying a complete package and trying to understand why and how things are set up. Yes, it will take more time - but you’ll be familiar with your own setup as you were the one setting it up.
Start small, and go from there. There aren’t really any shortcuts :rolleyes:
Yeah agreed . The trouble with buying packs and understanding the code is you have to understand the mind of the developer that made them . Why did they use this node here , why did he call this variable this , why does this function have this input etc . This is a skill that unfortunately you build up over time .
The best way is to start small and work you’re way up . Break everything down into small steps and think out questions to the problem . Eg ok I have a character I need to make him move . Hmm how do I do that? Google how to make character move , read everything you can , try it out experiment .
Also read up.on the documentation . Find out about the various classes , engine framework etc
and finally don’t be afraid to ask for help I have been doing this over 4 years and I still feel like a noob and still learning new things each day and you pick up a lot of usefull stuff from getting other people’s views or opinions on things or just seeing how other devs would tackle the same problems and luckily the community here is pretty decent.
Try to apply you’re art to programming . Think about when you were starting out in art yit was probably overwhelming toi. And you wouldn’t just try to draw something complex straight away you would start with basic sketches first , work out the shapes , learn the anatomy . You wouldn’t just start modelling a 3d character but instead start with a basic prop or still life , learn the tools what does extruding do, how do i rotate a model, what is a polygon etc . The same thing applies with programing you need to learn the basic fundamental principles and then the rest gets easier with practice
The blueprint docs are the best place to start; then you follow tutorials and template projects later as you go.
Main characters are one of most complex things on any game, need to learn all the basics that composes a controllable character first.
Hi DarkInigma,
I agree with the other posters - the best way to learn is to start from scratch yourself to get the basics down. However, if you want to jump start your game (I understand), then I would suggest dissecting the Character BP from the pack one functionality at a time. Look at how he makes the character crouch for example. Start by looking at the Input events (when you press a key, what happens?) and follow it through all the way in the Blueprint.
The thing about code / Blueprints is that there are usually more than 1 way of doing things, so the coder’s mindset will affect the final result. What I find works best is to first get a base understanding yourself and THEN look at someone else’s code / BP to learn HOW they accomplished something.
Hope this helps!
The blue prints you got in sure are helpful on seeing the implementation of a function but to truly be able to get things going I’d recommend as well you take a normal starter content and build out some functions on your own through some tutorials.
Through errors you remember better what needs to be done 
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Animation/index.html
Why isn’t this your bible? lol.
Read on how to use UE4 animation system.
Read especially Anim montages, anim blueprint, blendspaces(very good for creating idle/walk/run cycles)
Have fun