Unreal Engine Basics

The Outliner panel lists all actors currently placed in the level, organized hierarchically, and allows selection, searching, grouping, and visibility toggling of actors directly from a docked or floating window in the editor.

Double-click the Blueprint asset in the Content Browser (or right-click and choose Edit), which opens the Blueprint editor containing Event Graph, Functions, Variables, Components, and a viewport preview of the actor.

The Construction Script runs when an actor is placed or moved in the editor, and again whenever a property changes. It is commonly used for procedural setup such as spawning meshes, adjusting transforms, or generating editor-only logic.

The Event BeginPlay node fires once on each actor when play starts, after construction and initialization, making it the standard place to set up gameplay logic like spawning actors, starting timers, or initializing variables.

Custom Event nodes (created via right-click → Add Custom Event or Add Event) create named event-like entry points that other actors or Blueprints can call, connecting execution from one graph to another.

Event Tick fires every frame on each tickable actor or component, receiving a Delta Seconds float. Use it for per-frame logic such as movement, input, or interpolation, but minimize work because it runs continuously.

A Static Mesh component renders non-deforming geometry and is optimized for rigid props. A Skeletal Mesh component renders geometry bound to a skeleton for skeletal animation, supports animation blueprints, and is used for characters and creatures.

In the Content Browser, right-click and choose Material (or right-click a texture and Create Material). Double-clicking it opens the Material Editor where you can add nodes, connect them, and assign the material to a mesh.

The Base Color input defines the diffuse color (albedo) of the surface as an RGB vector or texture sample. It accepts a Vector3 value and is multiplied by light to produce the material's primary visible color.

Roughness controls how sharply a surface reflects light: 0 produces a mirror-like reflection, while 1 scatters reflections widely, producing matte or diffuse appearance. It accepts a scalar value or texture such as a grayscale roughness map.

Metallic controls whether the surface behaves like a metal. At 1, Base Color becomes the reflection tint with no diffuse; at 0, the material is dielectric with diffuse and small specular reflections. Most non-metals should keep Metallic at 0.

The Texture Sample node, when given a texture object, samples a 2D texture at a UV coordinate. You can place many Texture Sample nodes and connect them to Base Color, Roughness, Normal, and other inputs for complex materials.