A blog about VFX, scripting, van renovation, and some other gubbins.

@henloco

2023

20th October

This set of easy-to-use material functions provides texture bombing with the addition of PBR support, corrected normal textures and a triplanar option.

13th September

Triplanar material functions often overlook normal maps because they require correction in order to appear accurate.

2021

17th August

Advanced MatCap for Unreal Engine 4 improves on classic MatCap by making it play nicely with free camera movement and rotation.

2020

8th October

Timelines are expensive, so in this guide I will demonstrate how to trigger a simple animation on a material using blueprint events.

17th February

I didn't think this day would come so soon, and I still can't believe it's real.

23rd January

This is useful for, for example, triggering different weather conditions. In this example I'll add different types of snow.

15th January

Block access to your WordPress site's dashboard and login page.

2019

9th November

Packaging up your Python script into a standalone executable is really useful for portability and distributing your tools for others to use.

11th February

This VFX project was an exploration into creating realistic fire which would burn from ignition, through initial burn to a roaring flame and then eventually dying.

7th February

Flipbook tool for Unreal Engine - easily make an animated flipbook texture without Adobe After Effects

5th February

The only good way to do this seems to be via the command line. In this circumstance I have about 5000 frames stored as png image files which are named sequentially xxxxx_0000.

29th January

As an example, say you want to spawn a blueprint actor called BP_FIRE_LOG and give it a unique ID number so that it can be referenced in the level.

28th January

// Select the vertices you want a locator at and run this MEL script. . string $vertices[] = `ls -sl -fl`; for($v in $vertices){ float $pos[] = `xform -q -ws -t $v`; string $newLoc[] = `s...

2018

21st October

The level will feature a variety of re-usable and some one-off assets. I will be using my experience of modelling in 3D Studio Max combined with recent skills learned in the classroom with Maya to pro...

11th October

My first assignment is to design an area for a level in a game, to be run on a mobile device.

6th September

I'm currently sat on a little sofa next to Laurel, in our van, which is parked on the island of Mosterøy, Norway.

24th March

Behold, racking transforms into a kitchen before your very eyes.

17th March

I bought an old stable door without measuring the gap first. Foolish.

13th March

Started building the back wall.

12th March

Trudge on.

10th March

I've wired in a car radiator fan to provide ventilation at the front of the van.

7th March

To keep power usage down, USB sockets will provide power for lighting.

27th February

The next job is to install the leisure battery and mains hookup so we have power in the back for lighting and charging.

22nd February

I'm no carpenter, so rather than putting together some wobbly wooden structures, I took the easy option and used some lightweight racking.

1st February

It took all of 5 minutes to lay down the 3m x 2m wood effect vinyl sheet.

22nd January

Having finished the ceiling insulation, I decided to do the floor next before I start the walls, the reason being it makes more sense for the wall insulation and cladding to rest on top of the ply lin...

15th January

With the Luton box insulation finished, I continued working along the ceiling, cutting 50mm polystyrene rectangles to slot in between the batten wood I fixed in place previously.

12th January

I finally got around to starting the insulation - only 2 months behind schedule!

2017

16th December

Out with the rotten ply floor boards, in with the decking timber.

14th November

They said it wouldn't rain. It rained.

5th November

Today I started work on the van... How exciting! Even though it commenced with one of the least glamorous of jobs - cleaning the roof - it was still great.

11th October

I can't do anything without modelling up a plan in 3D first.

9th October

And so it begins... This is the van we'll be doing up an hopefully living in for a while next year.