UE4 Niagara Tutorial - Bullet Tracer Effect - Intro to Niagara UE4/Unreal Engine 4

[@DevEnabled]

In this video, we create a ribbon particle effect with a dynamic end point. This could be used for things like bullets and projectile tracers or laser beams.

[@sheikhsadab]

For UE 5.2 users: Seems like in UE5.2, you will have to create (and bind) the user exposed variables from the Niagara System instead of the Emitter. Other than that, everything is exactly the same. (Faced the same issue, so thought it might help someone else out) @DevEnabled , Thanks for these great videos, brother!

[@becomeplayer1]

I had to check the 'Absolute Beam End' Boolean to true too

[@ty_teynium]

Please do more Niagara tutorials! Your pacing and breakdown is really nice and easygoing.

[@simpleepic]

Also notice that even if you setup BeamEnd properly it may cause to rotate in weird directions when firing. So make sure to tick AbsoluteBeamEnd at the respective niagara system.

[@daviderocconi_sounds]

Thanks! You definitely saved me a good headache :D

[@rifz42]

Thanks! I hope you're going to make a lot more Niagara videos. : ) I didn't even want to make a beam, but I learned useful stuff.

[@DevEnabled]

Haha, beams aren't the most interesting, but a nice way to show off user values and dynamic points.

[@glebe5039]

This is gold for newbies like me

[@kiseli666]

Hi, nice tutorial, but iw hit the wall. I dont have + sign beside User exposed in Niagra System. Using UE 5.2, what to do?

[@IsaacCode95]

did you manage to solve this ?

[@UnrealThinking]

@@IsaacCode95 use N_Projectiles_System and user parametres

[@sheikhsadab]

Seems like in UE5.2, you will have to create the user exposed variables from the Niagara System (can not create these in the Emitters). Apart from that, everything is exactly the same.

[@naymalord9832]

Oh thank you very much for this! Good Niagara tutorials are really not a common thing at the youtube for now

[@yaserbahzad2591]

thanks a lot for the tutorial and hope to see more in the future, there are not much videos explaining the same as you do, please keep the good work up and coming

[@DevEnabled]

Definitely, they seem really popular so I'm excited to cover some more.

[@DigitalGenki]

When i increased my emissive strength to 30 like you did at around 6:05 , i didn't get a glowing / bloom effect like you did, why am i missing?

[@SurvivalRino]

Place a Post Process in your lvl and use the Bloom settings

[@yunochoi8747]

Go to Project Settings -> Rendering -> Default Settings -> Turn on Bloom. For me it solved the issue.

[@hillstudios1]

Keep engine scaability to high

[@oo_atlas_oo]

Really nice video! Keep up the good work :D

[@Krecik1218]

I've go problem with this. I set location to my muzzle flash socket in my gun and beam end to HitPoint from LineTrace. It's not working properly, projectiles are spawning in wrong direction. Only when my character is at world origin (0,0) they are spawn in correct way. I tried changing beam to local space but without result.

[@TheHarsh1310]

Hey.. I don't know if you solved your problem or not but I was facing a similar issue where the tracers would spawn in the wrong direction. I fixed it by going to the Niagara System created in the tutorial, selecting the emitter node, selecting 'Beam Emitter Setup' and finally setting 'Absolute Beam End' to true. Try this. Maybe it will work for you.

[@Krecik1218]

@@TheHarsh1310 Yeah I solved it earlier in the same way. Thanks.

[@sanketvaria9734]

I have a problem. I have a projectile that curves, so a beam wouldn't work so I tried to make the ribbon a trail. now it works but when the first projectile bp actor spawns the particle does not show up but takes time hence it looks as if bullet is fired from a feet away from the gun nozzle, So I tried to increased the spawn rate of particles in niagara and that reduced the gap, but eventually the problem returned. increasing the spawn rate isn't helping anymore.

[@paipai762]

My auto turret now hits nearby enemies with deadly beams! sweet ty

[@DevEnabled]

Sounds good, happy to help.

[@diliupg]

When I add the Blue print to the game and move it about using the arrow component, the beam end does not update though I can edit it manually. I am on UE4.27.2/ Why is that? Can you help so many years later?

[@chuanzhou6103]

When I shoot continuously with beam, the trajectory is in series. Is it ribbon ID? How to distinguish ribbonid for the same emitter?

[@AngelsNeverFade]

you should have so many more subscribers :)

[@DevEnabled]

One day.... :D

[@rifz42]

@@DevEnabled Ya you could ask for some of that MegaGrant money, these are awesome!

[@dineshkumarm289]

Its possible to apply on car brake lights?

[@PolyStylized]

For some reason, my Niagara Emitter keeps on crashing my project. I'm using version 4.25, so if anyone has any advice it'd help a lot? I really appreciate the tutorial :)

[@omarutchiha8248]

Stop using user parameter on Niagara emitter use on Niagara system

[@Robert_B_445]

How do I add this to a weapon? Got a bit stuck...

[@Tahakhan-rg6tp]

have u got the idea how to add that

[@Robert_B_445]

@@Tahakhan-rg6tp I did do this eventually, not sure if I used this exact method in the end. Still have the project file saved so I might do some digging later

[@garageman2236]

I suspect I set up my material wrong, when I set it to additive, I can see it in unlit but not in lit mode... thanks for the otherwise great tutorial and sharing niagara!

[@TimberWulfIsHere]

whenever i use the material instance, it just comes out as white, instead of the selected colour

[@charlotteribbon5059]

Thank you for this! Just wondering, if I wanted to make it arc in the middle would there be a way of doing that?

[@DevEnabled]

It's been a while since I've looked at this or Niagara so the interface and exact options are a probably a little off. But in the location/position details, there's probably some way to add a curve or something which would allow an offset partway through travelling to the destination. OR, Niagara systems are much more flexible to control things in blueprints now so you could apply some offsets in from the blueprint class that is spawning the effect. Definitely, a way to do it but not a single precise answer I can think of.

[@charlotteribbon5059]

@@DevEnabled Cool thank you very much! I'll have a play around in the location/position settings in both Niagara and the blueprints then :)

[@TorQueMoD]

This doesn't work properly for me. When I spawn the tracer particle, it always ends in the same place, which is not the impact point of my line trace, and it's always facing the same world rotation, so when I turn around, the tracer is shooting backwards or sideways. Would be nice if you actually set it up with a line trace to show how to handle that.

[@BertrandBarraud]

To solve your issue, try to Select the emitter node > Select Beam Emitter Setup > Set Absolute Beam End to true.

[@DangerSideburns]

@@BertrandBarraud That worked! Thanks so much!

[@b0ss294]

Thank you sir!

[@richardtoth7240]

I love your channel :)

[@andrewtafuri465]

Hello, this tutorial has some issues with it. I can't get the beam to appear at all. I think there's something wrong with the way you demonstrated your blueprint.

[@DevEnabled]

Not sure there's a problem with the way I'm demonstrating it as it's displaying in the recording.

[@leonmisoulis7953]

I Seem to only have access to "Static beam" is there any way to enable the dynamic beam option ?

[@heavybaguette]

me too... have you find a solution ?

[@sarjanxwildchild8195]

hello, I try to create a laser beam using this, I attach it to gun laser point & create a dynamic endpoint using line trace, but it's not working, laser is passing through all the objects, can you please make a small tutorial, thank you

[@lospe85]

the beam end point should be dynamically set. So, make a Line Trace by Channel and if hits, then use the "location" from the "Break Hit Result" as the Beam End Point

[@DeeJayShawnC]

@@lospe85 I've done this, and my beam just disappears when I hit "Absolute Beam End". Any tips?

[@lospe85]

@@DeeJayShawnC do you mean what is happening at 7:29? the beam dissapears from your preview window, but will be visible ni game when using it.

[@UnrealEngineTutorials]

How’s the income on Pluralsight over Udemy? Just curious if I chose the right platform lol

[@DevEnabled]

Both very different creatures so it's hard to say. Which one have you gone for?

[@UnrealEngineTutorials]

Dev Enabled I have a couple courses on Udemy but their commission sucks. I’m not sure how pluralsight is though

[@Martynyuu]

Does this work with VR?

[@BRUXXUS]

Awesome video! I've always been a sucker for creative use of particle effects. Not sure if this is possible/practical with current technology, but I do have a question. Is there a way you know of to allow these beams to cast actual dynamic light rather than just be emissive? I'm sure there's a way to sort of "fake" it with enough time and experimentation, but I haven't dug into UE4 in a while. Hoping there may be some new updates in Niagara that may make this possible. Thanks!

[@DevEnabled]

Thank you. It should definitely be possible. Perhaps not on a per-particle basis but you can add a light component under the Renders section. To my understanding, this is similar to using a point light in the editor. I'm not sure if you could light the entire beam with it, perhaps moving it along the beam over the lifetime or something, but that's something I'd need to test and play around with. As for the emissive values, I've shown they're purely for the particle itself.

[@BRUXXUS]

Dev Enabled Thanks for the reply! I’ve had a game idea running in my imagination for a few years, but the whole concept relies on all lights being dynamic, which has always been either impossible or way too expensive. Holding out hope someday I can make it work. 😁

[@Mireneye]

@@DevEnabled How about since you now have rectangular lights, you can apply that and it's stretching to a billboard component that only rotates it around it's long axis. the hardest part is stretching the size of the light between two vector points.

[@bluethumbbuttoneek9465]

Ouh my tracer is a paper2d flip book haha. But then again my game is a 2.5d game so it's ok

[@jasic1970]

how do you have this this different look in ue4?

[@DevEnabled]

github.com/Sythenz/UE4Minimal

[@jasic1970]

@@DevEnabled thanks a lot, your vids are very good imo. Short, compact and still intetesting😊

[@chidebenosiri4662]

Is this UE4.25.3?

[@DevEnabled]

No

[@chidebenosiri4662]

@@DevEnabled Okay, then how did you get that kind of UI

[@DevEnabled]

@@chidebenosiri4662 The video was released before 4.25.3 but. I've installed the minimal UI plugin from this git repository: github.com/Sythenz/UE4Minimal

[@chidebenosiri4662]

@@DevEnabled Oh okay, thank you

[@feld3d]

This is just a simple point to point beam. Having this little simple beam attached to a moving projectile is easy.. but most shooters use instant line traces for weapons. Now take this small beam and have it actually travel through space and not just spawn from point a to point b. I want my 12 minutes back. :)

[@lospe85]

if you use instant line trace this is a great way to do a "bullet trace" . you need to make the loop and lifetime shorter (for example 0.05 seconds). Any other particle or projectile component that "travels" won't match the "hit effect" you trigger when your line trace hits something. Using Projectile Component for bullets is not efficient or accurate (not only that, if you want to use real muzzle velocities, like 910 meters/second for a Colt M4, then your projectile/particle will travel so fast you won't even see it rendered). this method (spawning a point to point beam) ensures the player see the "bullet" impacting at the same time you trigger on "hit" by a line trace. For bullets, maybe the original material is better than a "beam" (as this looks more like a laser).