I’ve created a default project, added a plane, added a WidgetComponent to it and assigned a Widget Blueprint to it (pink in the picture). I’d imagine a Widget to be visually coplanar with the plane/WidgetComponent, but it is orthogonal to it?
Yes, thanks for wording it in a correct manner. I guess in the editor it’s the other way around (WidgetComponent’s quad faces
the Z and plane X/Y? Screenshot attached)
Anyawy, I’m just wondering why is it default and if I can rely on the fact that it’d always be a case that a WidgetComponent’s quad facing the axis it’s facing?
Have a look at the hierarchy. The plane might be rotated, the component might be attached to the plane. The entire actor may be rotated.
Oh I see what you mean. The widget components’ quads face X, the default plane faces Z. This becomes important when you export static meshes from a 3d suite.
This is somewhat inconsistent even though it feels natural to me.
Not sure how you’re doing this - as in why it’s in reverse for you. The default behaviour on my end looks like this:
And a widget component:
How things face is decided by how they were created. It’s generally up to you to make that choice (this includes placement of the pivot). One will generally rarely rely on the geometry included in the engine anyway - as placeholders perhaps.
At some point someone decided that this plane will not face X and will sit flat instead, but the quad for the widget (since we’re supposed to look at it via the camera) will be facing X.
I’d like to think that was the reasoning here but who knows.
Btw - I have always found it a tad strange that the widget component faces X, it should be -X. Every time you create one, you need to rotate it 180 so it actually faces the camera, rather than away from it. Beats me ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Perhaps the idea here was that you’d often approach objects that are facing you. Not a biggie anyway for as long you it is the case in UE4
Not sure how you’re doing this - as in why it’s in reverse for you. The default behaviour on my end looks like this:
Oh, in my example it’s rotated around Z axis, but the principle is the same – WidgetComponent’s mesh lies in XY plane.
At some point someone decided that this plane will not face X and will sit flat instead, but the quad for the widget (since we’re supposed to look at it via the camera) will be facing X.
I think you’re right. Since a plane lies in XY plane by default (that is, when you drag&drop it from the palette) it kind of makes sense.
Anyway, thanks a lot for your help!