(Ignore version tag, I’m using 5.0 preview 2)
I’m trying to create a simple torch environment asset.
I have a flipbook material slotted into a Niagara particle emitter & system.
I have attached it to a blueprint actor with the mesh.
How can I get it to render on top so it isn’t clipping through the mesh?
There are three ways of achieving “the flames envelop the mesh.”
The best option, by far, is to make the spawner push the spawned particles outwards, such that the particle volume has real volume. This requires thousands to tens of thousands of particles, which is no problem at all for Niagara running on Unreal target hardware. When using this method, flipbooks become less useful, and things like 3D vector field textures used for particle simulation become more useful.
The second option, is to push the center of the particle system out towards the viewer. You’ll want a blueprint that detects the camera (or the player) and updates the rotation of the node that contains the particle system appropriately, to always point the displacement in the direction of the player. If you have to port in a bunch of old assets, this may work OK.
The third option, is to turn off depth testing for the particles. This is a hack, and particles that might rise up through whatever is above the torch would mysteriously glow in front of those items, too. I don’t recommend it.
If the message you’re getting from this response is that “Niagara and Unreal have outgrown the old-school technique of flipbooks for most cases, and we now need to push the GPU a bit harder in our particle simulations,” then that’s probably not inaccurate 
1 Like
Ah, thanks for your response.
I will try a few of these things.
I used Embergen to simulate the flipbook. I can probably export some useful data to help with the first option.
The second option sounds like a pain to set up, but would probably work.
Could you elaborate a little more on the third option? It sounds like something I’d like to try. The only thing above the torch is going to be the ceiling, but I’m not sure what challenge this may present.
Warning: This object will be seen through walls if you do. I don’t recommend it.
2 Likes
Couldn’t you use WPO to offset the particles away from the mesh and toward the camera?
This worked great for me! For anyone wondering why they can’t find this in the Niagara editor, it’s not there, it’s in the material editor in the output node details panel.
you can also try Camera Offset
2 Likes
In Actor Details, under rendering, try increasing “Bounds Scale”
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.