Hey everyone, Today we’re pulling back the curtain on an essential element of game development: creating captivating 3D menus in Unreal Engine. Whether you’re a budding game developer or an experienced 3D artist looking to expand your skillset, mastering UI/UX in Unreal Engine 5 is crucial for delivering a truly immersive gaming experience.

We’re going to break down the process of building a dynamic 3D menu in Unreal Engine with interactive hover effects and seamless transitions, setting the stage for your next big title. Get ready to dive into the world of real-time rendering, game mechanics, and interactive design!

1. Setting the Stage: From Character Spawn to Camera Focus

Before we jump into the exciting part of designing our menu, the first step is to redefine our level’s purpose. Typically, when you start a new project in Unreal Engine, you might spawn as a third-person character. But for a menu, we need a fixed camera view.

• Create a New Folder: Organize your project by creating a dedicated folder, e.g., [3D_Menu].
• Game Mode Base: Within this folder, create a Game Mode Base blueprint (e.g., MainMenuGameMode). This tells Unreal Engine to spawn a camera instead of a character.
• World Settings Override: In your World Settings, set the Game Mode Override to your newly created MainMenuGameMode.
• Initial Playtest: Play the level to confirm that you now spawn as a camera, not a character. This foundational step is key for any virtual production or interactive application.

2. The Blueprint of Interaction: BP_Menu3D

Our 3D menu needs a central control point. This is where our BP_Menu3D blueprint comes in.

• Create BP_Menu3D: Inside your [3D_Menu] folder, create a new Blueprint Class and name it BP_Menu3D.
• Adding Components:
  • Add a Camera Component to BP_Menu3D (not a Cine Camera). Position it backward from the default scene root.
  • Add a Widget Component to the default scene root. This will serve as the canvas for our UI.
• Compile and Save: Always remember to compile and save your blueprints frequently to apply changes.

3. The Building Blocks: Widgets for Your Menu

Widgets are the visual elements of our menu. We’ll create three essential widgets to bring our menu to life.

• Widgets Folder: Create a new folder [Widgets] to store your UI assets.
• User Widget – Menu3D_Widget:
  • Right-click in the [Widgets] folder, go to User Interface, and select Widget Blueprint. Name it Menu3D_Widget.
  • In the Graph section of Menu3D_Widget, go to Class Settings and check Generate Abstract Class.
  • Add an Event Dispatcher named TransitionToLinkedMenu. This is crucial for handling menu transitions, an important aspect of user experience (UX).
• User Widget – MainMenu_Widget:
  • Create another Widget Blueprint named MainMenu_Widget.
  • In its Graph section, under Class Settings, set its Parent Class to Menu3D_Widget. This creates a hierarchy for our menus.
• User Widget – Button_Widget:
  • Create a final Widget Blueprint named Button_Widget.
  • Add Button and Text: Drag a Common Button and Text widget into its Designer tab.
  • Text as Variable: Select the text, check Is Variable, and rename it ButtonText.
  • Styling:
    • Set the Text Color to a grayish shade.
    • Make the Button‘s background color is fully transparent. This allows us to control the hover effects independently.
  • Dynamic Text: In the Graph section, create a Text variable (type: Text), make it Instance Editable, Blueprint Read Only, and Private. Connect a Set Text (Text) node from ButtonText to this variable, ensuring the button displays dynamic content. This is a key aspect of UI development.

4. Interactive Elements: Hover and Click Functionality

Making our menu interactive is where the magic happens. We’ll add hover effects and click actions to our Button_Widget.

• Hover Events:
  • Select the Button in Button_Widget‘s designer.
  • Under Events, add On Hovered and On Unhovered events.
  • Set Background Color: From the Button reference, drag out, and search for Set Background Color.
  • Hover Color Variable: Promote the Color input of the Set Background Color node to a variable named HoverColor. Set this variable to Instance Editable, Blueprint Read Only, and Private. Choose a brownish color for the HoverColor.
  • For On Unhovered, set the background color to fully transparent.
• Click Event:
  • Select the Button and add an On Clicked event.
  • Add an Event Dispatcher named OnClick and call it in this event.
• Compile and Save: Crucial for applying all these interactive elements.

5. Designing Your Main Menu Layout

Now, let’s assemble our MainMenu_Widget using the Button_Widget We just created.

• Designer Tab of MainMenu_Widget:
  • Add a Border and set its Size to Custom (e.g., 200×250).
  • Add a Vertical Box inside the Border.
  • Add Button Widgets: Drag three Button_Widget instances into the Vertical Box.
    • Rename them to PlayButton, OptionsButton, and QuitButton.
    • Set their Button Text to “PLAY”, “OPTIONS”, and “QUIT” respectively.
  • Spacers: Add Spacer widgets between the buttons and set their Y Value to 25 for visual separation.
  • Padding: Adjust the Vertical Box‘s Padding (e.g., 30 at the top) for a better layout.
• Transparency: In the MainMenu_Widget‘s Designer tab, select the Border and set its Color and Opacity (alpha) to transparent. This ensures your background environment is visible.

6. Integrating the Menu into Your Level

Bringing the BP_Menu3D into your scene is the next step to visualize your menu.

• Drag BP_Menu3D into Scene: Drag your BP_Menu3D blueprint from the [3D_Menu] folder into your level.
• Position and Rotate: Position and rotate the BP_Menu3D actor in your scene to your desired location and orientation. Consider where your player character will eventually be.
• Widget Component Settings: With BP_Menu3D selected in the Details panel, find the Widget section.
  • Set the Width to 200 and Height to 250 (matching your border size).
  • Set the Widget Class to MainMenu_Widget.
• Flipped Menu Fix: If your menu appears flipped, open BP_Menu3D, select the Widget component, and rotate it by -180 or 180 degrees.
• Player Start: Ensure you have a Player Start actor in your scene to define where the camera initially spawns.

7. Enhancing the User Experience: Input, Transitions, and Sound

Now, let’s refine the interaction, add camera transitions, and include satisfying audio feedback.

• Level Blueprint – Input Mode and Mouse Cursor:
  • Open your Level Blueprint.
  • On Event Begin Play, get the Player Controller.
  • Set Input Mode Game And UI to enable both game input and UI interaction.
  • Set Show Mouse Cursor to True.
• Level Blueprint – BP_Menu3D Reference:
  • In the Level Blueprint, right-click in an empty space and create a Reference to BP_Menu3D.
  • From this reference, call the TransitionTo Custom Event we’ll create next.
• BP_Menu3D – TransitionTo Custom Event:
  • Open BP_Menu3D. Delete default events.
  • Add a Custom Event named TransitionTo.
  • Add Set Actor Enable Collision nodes (one checked for true, one unchecked for false) and connect them based on a NewMenu input (BP_Menu3D object reference).
  • Get Player Controller and use Set View Target with Blend. Connect the BP_Menu3D reference to New View Target. Set Blend Time and Blend Exponent (e.g., 2 seconds each) for a smooth cinematic transition.
• BP_Menu3D – Receive Hardware Input:
  • Select your BP_Menu3D in the scene. In the Details panel, under Interactions, check Receive Hardware Input.
• Main Menu Widget – Cursor Icon:
  • Open your MainMenu_Widget. For each Button_Widget within it, go to Behavior -> Advanced -> Cursor and set it to Hand. This improves game usability.
• Button_Widget – Hover Sound:
  • Create a new folder [Sounds] in your [3D_Menu] directory and import your desired hover sound (e.g., Hovexp).
  • Open your Button_Widget. After the On Hovered event and Set Background Color node, add a Play Sound 2D node and select your Hovexp sound. This adds crucial audio feedback.

Wrapping Up: Functionality and Beyond

Finally, let’s connect our menu buttons to actual game actions.

• MainMenu_Widget – Button Actions:
  • Open MainMenu_Widget and go to its Graph tab.
  • For the PlayButton, add an On Clicked event. From this, drag out and search for Open Level by Name. Paste the name of your desired game level (e.g., “ThirdPersonMap”). This is your entry point into core gameplay.
  • For the QuitButton, add an On Clicked event. From this, drag out and search for Quit Game. Get the Player Controller and connect it to the Specific Player input.
• Compile and Save All: Test your menu: hover effects, sounds, and button functionality.

This robust 3D menu is just the beginning! If you’re passionate about game development, virtual reality (VR), or creating incredible interactive experiences with Unreal Engine, then you’ll want to dive deeper. Our comprehensive course on knowledge.vorldbox.com goes beyond the basics, covering advanced menu creation, intricate game mechanics, and the full game development pipeline in Unreal Engine 5.

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