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Curve Atlases store a combination of

assets that enables you to access Curve Linear Color data through your Materials. The Curve Atlas stores any number of Curves in a texture that can be used with Materials . When creating Material Instances and changing Material Instance Dynamics (MIDs) through Blueprint, you are able to set a curve as an override, enabling you to quickly iterate and change RGBA curve values without changing your base Material.

Curve Linear Color Asset

A Curve Linear Color asset is used to store the interpolated RGBA points that are evaluated over a given range producing a color gradient that can be used with Materials.

Use the Content Browser to create your Curve asset by selecting Add New > Miscellaneous > Curve .

Then select CurveLinearColor from the Pick Curve Class window.

A new Curve Linear Color asset is added to the Content Browser displaying a preview of its current gradient. When you open the Curve Asset Editor, you can add, adjust, and subtract keys to the individual RGBA curves in the graph.

When you open the Curve in its Asset Editor, you'll be able to set the individual RGBA curves, adjust color values for the Curve, and preview the Curve Gradient Result.

Curve Atlas Asset

A Curve Atlas asset is used to store and access multiple Curve assets enabling management of gradient lookup tables (LUT). The Curve Atlas Asset Editor is similar to the Texture Editor, enabling you to make adjustments for Brightness, Vibrance, Hue, and more.

The curves assigned to the Curve Atlas as Gradient Curves make up the atlas. The Material Graph uses the texture created to perform the lookup for Materials applied to Actors.

Use the Content Browser to create your Curve Atlas asset by selecting Add New > Miscellaneous > Curve Atlas .

When you open the Curve Atlas in its Asset Editor, you'll be able to set the number of curves it can store, assign your curves, and adjust color values for all assigned curves - similar to the functionality of the Texture Editor.

1. The main viewport displays the Curve Atlas LUT that displays all assigned Gradient Curves for the Texture Size that is applied.

2. The Curves panel is where you sets the Texture Size for the number of Gradient Curves you need. The default is 256.

3. The Adjustments panel makes texture adjustments to all Gradient Curves assigned to the Curve Atlas.

To add a new Gradient Curve to the Curve Atlas, click the Plus ( + ) icon to add array elements, and the Trash Can icon to remove elements.

Using Curve Atlas with Materials

After creating your Curves and applying them to a Curve Atlas, you can create a Material that references the Curve Atlas and a Curve assigned to the atlas.

To sample the curve from an atlas, create a new Material and in the graph, right-click and add a Curve Atlas Row Parameter node.

When you select the node, in the Details panel, you can assign the Atlas and a default Curve from that atlas to use with this Material.

The Curve Atlas bakes down when it is compiled, which means there is currently no runtime support for changing what is in the atlas or the curve data that is stored in the atlas at runtime. However, you can store a large amount of data in a single Curve Atlas, and use Blueprint to override the curve being sampled from a Material Instance.

As an example, here is a "Rock" Material that is using multiple Curves assigned to a Curve Atlas.

Then when you create any Material Instances , you can change the Scalar Parameter to select the Curve asset referenced by your Curve Atlas that is applied to your mesh.

Accessing Curve Atlases through Blueprint

In Blueprint, you can set the scalar parameter value on a Dynamic Material Instance using the Get Curve Position node. Get Curve Position takes the Curve Atlas as an input, passes the scalar value to the Set Scalar Parameter Value , and returns a Boolean indicating whether the curve was found in the atlas.