Security Camera, Alarm, and Door

The security camera Blueprints seen throughout the level are designed to interact with the player when in Play mode. During play, they will pan back and forth in a search pattern. When the green search cone overlaps a pawn, the light turns red and the camera begins to track player movement. It continues to track the player until the player moves out of range. Then, after a few seconds, it returns to searching.

This Blueprint is also responsible for handling a scene capture, which is used later in the security screen Blueprint.

Of particular importance in this Blueprint is the use of a Blueprint Interface. A Blueprint Interface works like a conduit, allowing functionality to be shared across multiple other Blueprints. Any Blueprint that implements a given Interface automatically inherits all of the functionality that is a part of that Interface. In this way, you can create sophisticated networks of Blueprints that can all work together toward a given goal.

In this example, the Security Alarm Interface acts as a data conduit, allowing us to share functionality with both the Alarm Beacon and the Door Blueprints, specifically, whether the alarm is on or off.

Camera Blueprint

The Camera Blueprint serves as the heart of the alarm system, for it is this Blueprint that interacts with the player and causes the alarm to sound. Along with implementing an Interface for Blueprint communication, the Camera also makes use of a Timeline node. This is a special node built to handle animation.

A Timeline can contain any number of animated tracks, whose data can then be sent out as an output, used to drive any number of effects. In this case, the Timeline is used to drive the scanning rotation of the camera as it pans back and forth.

Blueprint Setup

The Components List, Construction Script, and Event Graph for this Blueprint perform the following tasks:

Editable Variables

The camera has the following exposed properties:

Alarm Blueprint

The Alarm Blueprint serves as a visual cue that the player has tripped the alarm by stepping in front of the security camera. When activated, it seems to change from green to red, and a beacon light begins spinning. It continues to do this until the alarm deactivates.

The alarm is turned on and off by receiving messages from the Security Alarm Blueprint Interface, which is implemented by the camera, the door, and the alarm.

Blueprint Setup

The Components List, Construction Script, and Event Graph for this Blueprint perform the following tasks:

Editable Variables

The alarm has the following exposed properties:

Door Blueprint

The Door is set up such that it remains open so long as the alarm is not engaged. The moment the alarm is triggered, however, the doors are animated such that they slam shut and will not reopen until the alarm ends. It is important to note that Timelines are used to animate the doors. In fact, there are 2 separate Timelines - one to open the doors and another to close them. This allows the doors to open at one speed and close at another.

The door motion is actually triggered by receiving a signal from the Security Alarm Blueprint Interface, which is implemented by the camera, the door, and the alarm.

Also interesting about the door setup is that the door Timelines do not animate the doors directly. Instead, the Timelines each output a single float value, which is then used to interpolate between two vector locations - an "open" location and a "closed" location.

Blueprint Setup

The Components List, Construction Script, and Event Graph for this Blueprint perform the following tasks:

Editable Variables

The door has the following exposed properties: