UE4: Stealth Invisibility Effect (With Distortion)

Make a character invisible in Unreal Engine 4, with a stealth-game distortion effect in the silhouette.
Get project files: techartaid.com...
Custom depth in post-process is used for high performance, eliminating the need for any translucent material.
Nodes screenshot: imgur.com/a/YY4Fk

[@banderzwierz]

Isn't this a little overkill? I mean using postprocess for a one character effect? As I understand this, postprocess in UE4 is basically a single quad that's redrawing the full screen. Just like the tranparent materials except that transparent material is only calculated where it's needed. Basically using transparent material would recalculate much less of a screen. I assume that's the reason why transparent materials are possible on mobiles and custom postprocesses are not. The only situation I find that using a postprocess for such an effect is a good idea is when you have A LOT of objects with this effect on a screen with lots of overdraw.

[@TechArtAid]

EDIT: Back then I didn't realize you can do exactly the same thing on translucent materials, without refraction. So here's a version for a translucent material: imgur.com/a/gGt1J +PanDenat Postpro gives you control over how this transparency looks like. True, simple distortion is possible with UE's translucency refraction. It's likely, though, that you'll run into problems with polygon sorting (the final silhouette is the thing to be half-transparent, not separate triangles). And what about making randomized stripes or a hex pattern? This redraw thing is interesting, though :)

[@scheisseamdampfen]

If youre a mobile developer i would agree but it also depens on what visual and accurate quality you wish for you pc/console games. I wouldnt use this technique, because im not a fan of postprocess because of the performance cost. But we all know that games are like buckets, you cant put everything in it and still expect to weigh nothing, you need to chose wisely, we still dont have quantum gaming pcs.

[@NilsonFeLima]

the way you explain things is awesome!

[@TechArtAid]

nice! especially that this video was the most improvised one so far ;]

[@TorQueMoD]

Absolutely fantastic tutorial. Well thought out and you actually teach us WHY to do things rather than just saying "Do This". Liked and Subscribed.

[@amigoface]

Man this is fantastic ! i loved this one , very easy to follow and to understand

[@TechArtAid]

+Issam Boughanmi Nice ;) I hope you'll enjoy the other tutorials too

[@ChathuraJayalath]

Very nice tutorial, well explained the critical information about each node. Thank you.

[@TechArtAid]

+Chathura Jayalath Thanks Chathura, I'm glad that's helpful

[@BartomiejWok]

Very well made tutorial and with project files! Thanks a lot!

[@rafaelsanson462]

If anyone has problems with newer versions of UE4, make sure you disable both [Render in Main Pass] and [Render in Depth Pass] to make it work properly!

[@XboxRocker706]

Where do I disable these?

[@TechArtAid]

In static mesh component's properties. I just updated the example files on techartaid.com/products Thanks Rafael for pointing this out!

[@BdyPhrk]

Amazing tutorial thanks man!

[@TechArtAid]

+B100dyPhr34k Thanks for watching :)

[@DevGods]

I know this is pretty old. I seen some comments about using a material for this instead of post processing but I’m struggling on understanding how to get it to work at runtime. With this method I just change the cloaked players custom stencil and he’s invisible. With a material I’d have to what? Create a dynamic material then apply it to all objects then when I want to uncloak him set the materials back to the original. Is all that really worth the performance loss of the post process material?

[@TechArtAid]

So what the commenters meant is to use the Scene Color node within the mannequin's material. Very similar node setup to the one in the video, but on the character itself, not post process. We can talk on Discord if you want discord.gg/J8P6mpaJ

[@Merlock1010]

So i read in the comments that you also need to disable Render in Depth Pass, im on UE 4.26 and I was wondering if I could toggle this from blueprint? I can toggle the render in main pass fine but I cant seem to find the node to toggle the depth pass

[@TechArtAid]

Today I'll approach the topic differently. Skip the post process, just make a Translucent material for the character with Refraction enabled. You can use the 2D refraction mode (in material's Details) as that's easier to control than IOR. In that case, simply attach the NormalMap * Strength to the refraction output.

[@jimbo5528]

Thanks for the tutorial. Maybe you can do a video on a stylised post process render?

[@TechArtAid]

Can you please post a screenshot of what you'd like to see? I'm creating an environment in Mario Kart 8 / new Zelda style and I will make tutorials based on it. It will take me some time, though. Please check this in the meantime - kzbin.info/www/bejne/mneoq56Dr9GHbKM ;)

[@acxsasx]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@TechArtAid]

+acxsasx Thanks for watching ;)

[@KamskiStudio]

Nawet nie wiedziałem że są, przyzwyczajony jestem do tutoriali po angielsku :)

[@Dylan-go5iv]

This was very informative and helpful, but I feel like the length of the video could have been reduced by at least 1/3 just by removing awkward pauses. That would not only make the video more enjoyable to watch, it would also most likely get a lot more views.

[@TechArtAid]

Thank you for the feedback. That's what I try to do now - I spend hours on editing so viewers only spend time on actual learning. The episode about dynamic texture coordinates holds the title of my fastest-paced one, I think :)

[@j03m4r13]

For goodness sake, this technique the guy is freely giving is already a treasure and worth a $$ from some a*hole. Stop whining and instead be grateful for his generosity to share the tip.. Anyways, the tutorial is great and it's very clear and straightforward @Tech Art Aid.. I really appreciate it.

[@Dylan-go5iv]

GunplaJoe It was constructive feedback that was clearly understood by the creator. No need to get your panties in a bunch.

[@j03m4r13]

Nah, you're just lucky that the creator is a nice guy.. Just stop being a whiner - that's all

[@Dylan-go5iv]

Doesn't change my luck 1 bit. I honestly don't care if it's received as I intended it or not. I stated something that I thought would be a positive change to his channel after already telling him that I found it to be very informative and helpful. Just because that can't be understood by easily offended people doesn't mean that I ever did anything wrong. I'm not going to give feedback and lie by saying it's perfect in every way when it's not. Nothing is.

[@clanwars9618]

Any ideas how to use this concept to create a 'fog of war' effect?

[@TechArtAid]

You'd need a render target. Search for this term. I plan to upload tutorials about them in a few weeks

[@MagimanD]

Hey man, great video this is so close to what I needed, I made it a normal translucent material and I'm using this as an overlay Material on my character and it looks great from far but if you get very close you can kind of see the mesh underneath and the textures is there anyway that I can hide those without having to duplicate the mesh?

[@TechArtAid]

Yes, translucent will be better! I wish I could edit the vid ;) Do you need the mesh underneath? If not, I'd do Set Material (in BP) rather than using the Overlay slot

[@MagimanD]

I do need the mesh I'm trying to do a active camo like in the halo games when active it fades you to invisible with some normal distortion @@TechArtAid

[@TechArtAid]

Ah I get what you mean. I wonder what would happen if you make the mesh Translucent as well? In theory it should become invisible to SceneColor. Or what you could do is to fade it out (synchronously) via Masked Opacity. See my oldest video in the channel, about dithered opacity

[@MagimanD]

@TechArtAid my only issue with this is that if have a 2nd player like a local co op and we have the same weapon is going to fade his as well not so worried about the character cause I have different meshes for p1 and p2

[@Dovah762]

Will enemies be able to detect/see you when in a cloaking state like this and attack or will they just act as if nothing's there?

[@TechArtAid]

They will. it's just an effect

[@Dovah762]

@@TechArtAid Do you have recommendations on how to get that setup so they won't attack, or is there a video you or others made? Perhaps if I join your discord too I could ask around or find someone to help me make it (I'm new to building bps and all).

[@evanerichards]

When I build this in unreal 5.2 it gives me this error when I connect the constant and the scene texture to the multiply node: [SM6] (Node Multiply) Invalid input types: float4, float3

[@TechArtAid]

Put Component Mask: [R,G,B] in between. Or Append (with Constant scalar of 1.0)

[@evanerichards]

@@TechArtAid I didn't get a change to try those things, but I fixed it by replacing my constant3vector with a constant4vector. That seemed to work. Thanks so much for the tutorial. Very helpful!!

[@TechArtAid]

Awesome, glad you enjoyed it!

[@youtubesucks5131]

when I disable "render in main pass", my post process effect is not displayed anymore. any idea why this could be?

[@KamskiStudio]

Dzięki, super tutorial :)

[@TechArtAid]

+Bartosz Kamiński Miło słyszeć! (przy okazji: czy polskie subtitles się przydały czy niepotrzebne?)

[@TechArtAid]

+Bartosz Kamiński ...ach, nie ten film. Polskie są w Detailed Texturing

[@madben]

uhm, when i am close my cube is fully black

[@mutluardaerdogmus]

hello how can i use this effect while our character is behind specific objects which are also translucent?

[@TechArtAid]

Then you can skip the post process and custom depth approach. Instead, make a translucent materiał for the character and enable Refraction (IOR > 1)

[@mutluardaerdogmus]

@@TechArtAid the thing is actually i have a scope and im trying to mask its inner parts via using another cylindric plane on top of its glass part. i tried custom stencils but only thing i got is pure black zones

[@mutluardaerdogmus]

@@TechArtAid thanks for fast reply btw

[@mutluardaerdogmus]

@@TechArtAid i just need to mask out the parts of scope which are behind my translucent mesh

[@TechArtAid]

Ahh, got it. But sorry, I'm not that well versed in stencils / custom depth

[@darikostov9583]

I want the material to dissolve to my invisible mask can somebody help me

[@victorhenrique2446]

Hello, how are you? How can I make a system that the distortion appears in smooth effect? Like I press a button and it creates distortion (this I already did) I just want to know how to make a smooth transition system

[@TechArtAid]

Add a scalar parameter (ideally in a Material Param Collection) that you will use to control the normal map's strength. FlattenNormal node. Set this value in Blueprint

[@TechArtAid]

Send me an email to support (a) techartaid.com. I'll try to send back a material and BP for you tomorrow

[@repogamesstudio2366]

awesome ;)

[@TechArtAid]

Thanks 🔥

[@naviseven5697]

Is there a way to make the distortion effect only distort where the player mesh is looking instead of the camera?

[@TechArtAid]

+Navi Seven Do you have an example or a sketch?

[@naviseven5697]

What i actually wanted is to make the post process behave like a material with 0 opacity and high refraction (around 2.4). It's almost the same as what you did, but what the character "reflects" (if we can put it in that way) affects much less the character. I guess creating the refracted material is easier to look what i'm talking about, i don't think i'm putting the right words here.

[@naviseven5697]

Also, i have another Post Process for outlining some stuff when i need'em, but this effect seems to be "consuming" the outline. How can i have bot woring?

[@TechArtAid]

+Navi Seven So you're looking for an effect which is closer to the shape of the character, not just random distortion, right? Probably refraction will be the easiest way. But to emulate it, I would use the Scene Color node in the material, distorting it by world-space normal transformed to camera space. So a material for the character instead of doing it in postprocess (actually, most postprocess effects can be created in a translucent material as well :) that's little known, but possible, because Scene Color works there too). As for the outline effect - you'll need edge detection, which can be done by sampling neighbouring custom depth values (UV minus 1 px, UV plus 1 px etc.). It's explained in Stylized Environment docs and Tom Looman's article on custom depth.

[@naviseven5697]

I don't think you got my idea, maybe because i'm not native english speaker and cant express myself well, and maybe i don't understood well what you said well aswell. I actually think is much better the shape of your effect, however, i think the reflection in it is not very good. I took a screenshot to show you what i mean. ibb.co/kcxd0k I don't even know what to say to explain. The way you do is good, but how can i achieve the reflection to be closer to what the "better" part ?

[@Christian-qx1zw]

what is that node he put after the multiply?

[@TechArtAid]

Here's a full screen shot: imgur.com/a/YY4Fk

[@3sgamestudio]

How to make it work in multiplayer?

[@TechArtAid]

+Venomek1985 I don't know ;) Won't it just work to toggle custom depth for certain characters?

[@raanic767]

is the skeletial mesh still have collision?

[@TechArtAid]

Yes, why not

[@raanic767]

@@TechArtAid thankyou so much for the video... really appreciate it. 👍👍👍

[@TechArtAid]

I'm glad it was useful for you! :)

[@jack0wack0]

does this work with mobile(iOS & Android)?

[@TechArtAid]

+jack khor OK, now I know. It's not possible on mobile in 4.12 (no custom postpro - only grading, bloom and other built-ins). UE 4.13 introduces custom postprocessing to mobile but only on a subset of devices (it makes sense). Personally I'd not limit the number of potential players of my game. Mobile market is already hard enough ;) General advice: you should avoid doing heavy postprocessing on mobile. The amount of pixels to process on HiDPI displays is insane. If you really need some postpro: Use 'STAT unit' console command to show how many miliseconds it takes to render a frame (16.67 is 60 FPS). Disable Unbound in the postprocessing volume to see its effect only when you enter its box. That way you'll be able to compare performance. answers.unrealengine.com/questions/16654/how-to-show-fps-ingame.html

[@Christian-qx1zw]

How do you switch this effect on and off in game?

[@TechArtAid]

One way is to make a global Parameter Collection and change a value in it through Blueprint

[@32zim32]

Does this works if character is behind some object? Ii think this could be better made using ordinary material, using SceneColor and Emissive Color.

[@TechArtAid]

A transparent object? It should, because transparency doesn't write to the Z buffer. Open my example files and try :)

[@daryllespanola8740]

Thank you! I've been looking for this. Same as the technique used by Paragon devs for creating character abilities effects.

[@TechArtAid]

+Daryll Española Oh. Is there some material to read/watch about that? :)

[@MrPangahas]

Is it possible to have multiple post processes working one on top of the other?Say I have a post process volume that blurs everything or an outline post process,I want to have the distortion effect on top of it.

[@TechArtAid]

+Marvin Cruz Yes. Add more blendables to the blendable list in the camera or postprocess volume

[@hui2975]

Amazing ! it will make a rain scene

[@nagybalint1474]

wow, the process is kinda the same in 4.25.4 right xd?

[@TechArtAid]

Should work? But honestly, I'd do it in a material instead of a postprocess. Like one of the commenters suggested

[@nagybalint1474]

@@TechArtAid how i cant find a good effect like this anywhere with materials

[@TechArtAid]

Set the material's type Unlit. Use a Scene Color(?) node to read the content of the screen *behind* the current actor. UVs in this case will need to be Screen UVs. Distort them in the same way as in this video.

[@nagybalint1474]

@@TechArtAid can i please get the moss texture i don't have any normal maps :c

[@TechArtAid]

Ah, sure, they're in the project files. This entire material is there as well. Get them for free at techartaid.com

[@sam_music555]

Just a stupid notice, when invisible it shouldn't cast shadows :)

[@TechArtAid]

+samuele Haha, that's an interesting problem, with the idea in general. It depends on how the technology works. For example capturing the image and displaying it on the other side of cloth ;)

[@glencelow]

HI, great video ^^ but i was wondering if its possible to have no reflection for this as im trying to create a barrier shape like a dome and the dome having the distortion effect the only problem is when my character is inside there is a reflection behind my character(3rd person),

[@TechArtAid]

Can you share a screenshot? I suppose it's the character not reflecting, but rather being smeared around by the distortion. I'd recommend doing what I did here, but not with a postprocess effect. Instead, recreate the node setup in the dome's material. SceneColor node will give you what's behind the object. Does it make sense?

[@glencelow]

imgur.com/a/Pf7bV this is what is happen, so instead of postprocess for the material domain do i use surface with translucent for it instead?

[@glencelow]

Huge tks, it looks a lot better now tks a lot and also for the fast reply ^_^.

[@FedePortillo]

Im on 4.19.2 and Blendables menu has changed to Post Process Materials or thats where the search bar is redirecting me when i searched for the Blendables menu.

[@TechArtAid]

That's right

[@FedePortillo]

Thanks for the tutorial. How rude i was.

[@TechArtAid]

No, why :) It's exactly like that. That's the main issue I have with video tutorials - no way to edit.

[@element10studios8]

Awesome tutorial! Thanks for sharing! :D

[@TechArtAid]

Thanks for watching :) Cheers

[@jan050375]

your usage of shortcuts without telling us what shortcut it is makes it really difficult for inexperienced people, you know, the kind of people who are looking for tutorials

[@TechArtAid]

+jan409 Sorry for that. What actions would you like to know?

[@jan050375]

the blueprint nodes like multiply or constant. i have already looked them up, but thats one extra step that makes the learning experience less pleasant.

[@TechArtAid]

+jan409 Thanks for your feedback. I should have run KeyCastOW :) So for the others watching this vid: Hold 1, 2 or 3 and click to create nodes of constant numbers (scalar, vector2, vector3). Hold M and click for multiplication, A for addition.

[@BdyPhrk]

Having to look things up is what learning is about.

[@TorQueMoD]

Though I can understand your frustration, you really shouldn't be trying to tackle Post Process materials without first having a basic understanding of material editing and if you don't know the shortcuts for Multiply (M) or constant (1) or the fact that you can just right click and type in the name manually, then you really need to come back to this tutorial later. Tutorials aren't only for beginners. Sometimes it's nice to have an advanced tutorial that just gets straight to the point which this video does perfectly.

[@ScoutOW2]

Half the stuff is off the screen, i cant see what you are doing

[@supercooldude987Official]

is there anyway that you can make this so that if you press a button it will change between transparent and opaque?

[@TechArtAid]

I can see 2 potential solutions: 1) make a mesh with a Masked material (kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5aroYd9lLVrh5I) and a 'shell' with the effect shown here (or imgur.com/a/gGt1J ) 2) use a Translucent material and standard refraction, normal map, without this effect at all In both solutions animate opacity in the material. Untested, so I'm just guessing.

[@supercooldude987Official]

Tech Art Aid okay I'll give it a try and if I have any problems I'll come back to you with them!

[@supercooldude987Official]

Tech Art Aid also that first link isn't working

[@TechArtAid]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5aroYd9lLVrh5I