How create fake spot light volumetric cone starting from basic Spotlight? DMX

[danielmanea98]

Hi, premise: in the image on the left there is a classic actor_Spot light base of Unreal engine 5.1 with the volumetric cone effect given by the Exponential volumetric fog activated in the scene. On the right instead there is the volumetric light cone of the Mobile_head base of the DMX plugin already included in Unreal engine.
The main difference is that the light on the left needs the exponential fog to become volumetric, while the one on the right doesn’t need it because it is simulating the same effect using a Static mesh with the material MI_Beam, MI_Light.

The problem is that I can’t figure out how I can recreate the same simulated cone effect with a mesh starting from a basic Spot light actor (inside a new blueprint) instead of using a DMX plugin blueprint with “Inherted” and non-deletable Spot light actors.

It’s probably relatively simple, but there are no tutorials and the available documentation is generic. Some niche stuff is occasionally addressed in long videos in the official Unreal engine Youtube channel, but this specific basic issue has not been addressed.

Does anyone know how to recreate the light result on the right without using a pre-existing Light fixture blueprint from the Unreal engine DMX plugin?

A thousand thanks.
I await reply,
Daniel.

[ClockworkOcean]

So you have the mesh concept, and the material. You can put them in a blueprint with a spotlight. What’s stopping you? ( I’m missing the crucial point ).

[danielmanea98]

The main problem is that meshes and materials are certainly related, but putting them together is not enough. I mean… unfortunately for now I’m not a programmer and I’m trying to understand how to create conceptually basic things in the Unreal Engine DMX plugin environment.

The MI_light material, like the MI_beam one, has many very deep, relatively complex and articulated internal programming functions/structures. I’m trying to figure out how to manage all this material but as there are no tutorials about it or clues aimed at this context and for these specific purposes, the result is a strong sense of bewilderment.

The official DMX plugin of Unreal Engine already gives me ready fixtures such as the mobile_head, rgb led par, and other devices of the show… in the documentation they explain the structures and logics and bases… but they don’t explain everything. I came to the conclusion that everything is understandable only to those who already master the basic technical notions of programming applicable to any context (outside the “dmx show”). When I look for a tutorial to do a very specific thing it is because in a short time I need to obtain a specific result without having to learn many more things … precisely because my interest goes towards a specific use of the program or 3D set design, light show design and various interactions.

Right now I managed to solve many puzzles about this sector … but one of the puzzles I could not solve is precisely that of this place or use the already existing assets of the DMX UE5 plugin to match to recreate that fake volumetric light cone that with its internal functions it reads DMX component parameters such as color, gobos, shutter and more.

I wanted to ask if anyone would be willing to help me solve this puzzle. A video that deals step-by-step with the creation of this result would be of immense help to me, but certainly also to many other beginner enthusiasts who are just approaching this specific use of the Unreal engine.

I attach below a video in which I generally frame the context of the test … also comparing the blueprint of the mobile head with the blueprint just created.

How create fake spot light volumetric cone starting from basic Spotlight? pt.1

A thousand thanks.
I await reply,
Daniel.

[ClockworkOcean]

Thanks for the info. But what I’m missing, is what you’re attempting to actually do.

In the first instance, it sounded like you wanted to hijack the DMX spotlight internals for your own use ( which I don’t think will work ). But now it sounds like you do want to use the DMX system.

What is it?

[danielmanea98]

Thanks for your fast reply.

My goal is to create a blueprint with a spot light actor inside which uses the DMX plugin system (fake volumetric cone light) as a volumetric light cone. I’m trying to do this because the DMX plugin system is much more convenient than using the exponential fog both in terms of performance and aesthetics.

It’s just that I don’t know how to implement the fake volumetric cone of the DMX plugin and connect it to the spot light inside the new blueprint.

Mainly I don’t use existing blueprints because the objects are “inherted” and create problems for me (I can’t delete them, in some cases not even modify or adapt them to my specific needs).

[ClockworkOcean]

I don’t know anything about DMX, I’m afraid. I did install the plugin and have a quick look, but the spotlight just seems to be a single object.

I suspect, the internals are not reusable.

I don’t think you can make a blueprint which is controlled by DMX ( but don’t actually know ).

[danielmanea98]

Okay.

So far I’ve managed to control new spotlight actors by adding them into existing DMX plugin blueprints.

The problem always remains the same. That is, if I don’t use the original spotlight (inherted actor) of a pre-existing DMX plugin blueprint it becomes very difficult to understand how to get that DMX fake volumetric cone mesh correctly.

The problem occurs when trying to create the blueprint from 0 (as in the case just discussed). Okay. I will await replies. If I can solve it, I will reply immediately below.

Thanks for your time.

[danielmanea98]

I found the solution to create the fake volumetric beam
(Its a light volumetric beam created without using the “Exponential height fog” component).

I would also like to point out that personally it was initially difficult for me to understand the solution because the material used in the “Static mesh” component of the ready-made DMX fixtures blueprints is the default “WorldGridMaterial”, when in reality, once the fixture has been initialised, the material that is used is the “MI_Beam” but this change is not visible and furthermore this dynamic is not even reported even in the very general instructions on the DMX plugin on the Unreal engine website.

A big thank you to the Youtube channel “Caleb Hoernschemeyer” who thanks to his video (link below) has emerged the method to solve this problem.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVfC1yF2S0&t=2846s

Let me start by saying that I am giving this very brief and quick answer because I have very little time. In the future I will publish an exhaustive video tutorial. For this reason too, don’t pay attention to the disorder in the arrangement of the nodes in the blueprint. When I can get some time, I’ll post a clean, accurate version of this.

Premise: attention, for all the components and materials that will be used it is advisable to create an instance and not use the original component to avoid creating problems with the original DMX plugin files.

In short, to create a fake volumetric beam, just insert the “Static mesh” component into your blueprint and select the “SM_Beam_RM” component located in the /Lightfixture/Meshes folder of the DMX plugin as the mesh.

p.s If you can’t find the DMX plugin folder, just open the “Content Drawer” > go to the top right of the content drawer and click on “Settings” and then on “Show plugin content”.

Another step to do is to set the “MI_Beam” component located inside the /Lightfixtures/DMX_materials folder as material for “Element 0”.
To control the properties of the bundle you need to insert nodes such as “Set vector parameter value on materials” or other similar nodes that modify the values ​​of parameters within a material into the blueprint. Attention, the list of various parameters is present inside the “MI_Beam” component (I attach a screenshot to the post).
There are parameters such as: DMX_Dimmer, DMX_Color (with “subparameters” R, G, B, A), DMX_Zoom etc.

Therefore, if you want the characteristics of the static mesh light beam to coincide with the light from the Spotlight, simply use the same values/nodes that are being used for the “Set vector parameter value on materials” node for the “Set light color” (R, G, B) node (R, G, B)(This is just one of the many examples that could be given).

In the end the solution was something relatively trivial. But it took me a long time to achieve this goal for the simple reason that there are no tutorials about it and to know these things either you have a complete knowledge of Unreal engine applicable to multiple areas or you go through attempts, taking a lot of time if the solution has not already been published on the internet.

In conclusion, I love the world of scenography and stage lighting. I hope that in the future the team of Unreal engine developers will continue to work to implement tools and instructions of the DMX Unreal engine field and that the niche community of this field will grow more and more because this type of sector is a wonderful thing.

Thanks and see you soon.