UE3 - UDK Changing the Texture of StaticMesh

[Shadow_knight]

Hi!

Recently I switched from UT2004 to UDK. Currently, I am struggling with static meshes. In UT2004 it was no problem to change the texture of StaticMesh. In UDK there is this new material system and I am a little bit confused. I have this code (that works):

class PathMarker extends StaticMeshActor
	placeable;

var MaterialExpressionTextureSample myMaterial;

DefaultProperties
{
	//Good old UT2004 way: :/
	//DrawType=DT_StaticMesh
	//StaticMesh=StaticMesh'UN_SimpleMeshes.TexPropCube_Dup'
	//Skins(0)=Texture'EngineResources.WhiteSquareTexture'

	Begin Object Class=StaticMeshComponent Name=PathMarkerComponent
		bUsePrecomputedShadows=true
		bAcceptsStaticDecals=false
		bAcceptsDynamicDecals=false
		StaticMesh=StaticMesh'UN_SimpleMeshes.TexPropCube_Dup'
		WireframeColor=(R=255,G=0,B=0,A=255) 
		bDisableAllRigidBody=true
		CastShadow=false
		RBChannel=RBCC_Nothing
		bCastDynamicShadow=false
		bSelfShadowOnly=true
		bAcceptsLights=true
		bAcceptsDynamicLights=false
		bAcceptsDynamicDominantLightShadows=true
	End Object
	StaticMeshComponent=PathMarkerComponent
	Components.Remove(StaticMeshComponent0)
	Components.Add(PathMarkerComponent)

	CollisionComponent=None
	bCollideActors=false
	bCollideWorld=false
	
	DrawScale=0.03
	bStatic=false
}

Now I would like to change the Texture of StaticMesh'UN_SimpleMeshes.TexPropCube_Dup' to something else (and I would like to leave the original mesh file intact). Either in DefaultProperties or dynamically in the code. Is there somewhere a tutorial or an example how to do it? So far I've found nothing.

Thanks,
sk

 

[Bi()ha2arD]

Place Mesh in map, open properties, go to static mesh tab, go to overwrite materials section, add a new slot, put in new material, done.

 

[Shadow_knight]

I need to change it in .uc class that represents the mesh, because I will spawn the mesh dynamically at runtime (imagine each character in the game will have a cube spawned above his head, that will change shape and color).

sk

 

[Bi()ha2arD]

Ah, ok. Can't really help you with that other than that the material slot is just a default property of the static mesh class i think.

 

[inferyes]

Not 100% sure if this is right, but you could just make a function and call it.

function changetexture()
{
StaticMesh=StaticMesh'newtexturelols';
loginternal("texture changed");
}

 

[Shadow_knight]

Ok.. Some updates. I wasn't able to solve the problem and by looking on a code of few UDK projects - my desired approach was never used in them.

On UDN I've found somewhat related topics to this:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/InstancedMaterials.html

and

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/ScriptedTextures.html

Since I wasn't able to solve it (although it may be possible through material changing I suspect), I used different way for my visualization. I simply used the emitter - it gets replicated easily + you can customize it pretty well. If someone would be interested in the code, I can post it here.

Best,
sk

 

[Shadow_knight]

Heh. I gave up, start looking to another things and BAM - there it was... DynamicSMActor is the class I was looking for - you can set up a static mesh with this class. Now to change its texture, you need to change ReplicatedMaterial variable to your MaterialInstanceConstant with your desired texture set. That is all. I wonder - really no-one on this forum knew about DynamicSMActor class? (the naming is a little bit confusing, because you won't find it when searching "Mesh" in UDK src...)

sk