The objective was to integrate diverse assets from multiple sources into a cohesive environment supporting real-time weather, seasonal variations, and time of day.
A Material Parameter Collection serves as the backbone for all materials in the scene. With just a few scalar value changes, the collection can affect everything from the appearance and hue of foliage to the accumulation of snow on surfaces. Additionally, it can dictate the behavior of particles used for precipitation and other effects. For dynamic modifications of meshes and other assets during runtime, data layers come into play. For example, the running river can be replaced with solid ice or ambient audio cues can be altered on the fly.
Instead of dithering, models are seamlessly blended with the landscape through the use of Runtime Virtual Textures (RVTs). This is achieved by sampling the RVT and applying it based on the surface normal of the model where it intersects with the landscape, resulting in a natural and cohesive visual effect.
Material instance parameters for RVT blending.
Click image to view on BlueprintUE
