Node Usage Examples

The following are some examples of common ways to use the Carbon DMX blueprint nodes to build out functionality. These examples, and more, are available within the Carbon library helpers section.

DMX Single Shot Trigger

Single shot triggers are useful for actions that need to happen only once when a trigger happens. For example a particle system aerial pyro hit. Combine the Get DMX as Boolean (trigger) node with a Branch and Do Once node, to build a single shot trigger that can trigger a particle system only once whenever the DMX value reaches 127 or above, for effects that should only happen once ever during play mode disconnect the False to Reset line so the trigger doesn’t reset when the DMX value drops below 127.

 

DMX as a Rotation Value

Using the Get DMX as Float, and a custom min and max value, building rotation functionality to rotate an object in a scene is simple. Rotation, translation, and other transformation type flows are great for building custom automation pieces and controlling them with DMX. Place the Get DMX as Float node and use the bottom arrow to expand the advanced settings of the node. Set the min and max to the desired rotation angle limits (in this example negative 60 degrees and positive 60 degrees), connect the patch, and use the output to control the relative rotation of an Actor. The actor will rotate between negative and positive 60 degrees from its initial placement as the DMX fader moves from 0 to full. TIP: For smoother transformations, enable Sixteen Bit, and control with a coarse and fine channel.

 

DMX Color Mix

There are many ways to set up a custom color mix with Carbon DMX blueprint nodes. Here is one possible example using Get DMX as Scaled Linear Color. Place three Get DMX as Scaled Linear Color nodes, and set the colors to Red, Green, and Blue. Connect the patch, and increment the Offset value so the Green node has offset 1 and Blue node has offset 2, this will place the G and B channels automatically after the Red value (offset 0 is the address of the Patch). Add the output values of the three nodes and use the sum to drive a color material parameter of an actor.

 

More Examples (BP Snippets)

Carbon has pre-made node snippets for commonly used DMX flows in the DMX “BP Snippets” Blueprint which can be found in the Carbon Library under helpers.

Open the Event Graph to view the snippets, by right clicking the BP Snippets in the library and selecting “Edit BP”. Node examples can be freely copied to user made blueprints to help build functionality in Carbon projects.