Making a holographic effect using Bump Offset

Bump Offset provides us with a way of doing a stacked effect within a Material so that the Material doesn't appear completely flat. It projects content based on a height value to simulate displacement. It is really good for enhancing bumpy surfaces like courtyard cobble stones. Still, on top of this, we can offset different elements in a Material so they float, or appear to, which can form the basis for a convincing holographic image.

Getting ready

The artwork for the texture is already provided. It is worth looking at the construction of it in Photoshop first. Open up MaskRGBA_DEMO.PSD and got to the menu Window | Channels.

Each channel includes a distinct image in black and white. UDK can access the channels of a texture individually, and this is really handy for mask usage, since masks are usually a single channel. The image also includes an Alpha, which is really just an additional channel. The 512x512 image has to be saved as a .TGA in 32bit...