What are Blueprints?

So, what on earth is a Blueprint? If that’s what you’re thinking, I wouldn’t blame you.

Blueprints are effectively a visual representation of templates written in the C++ programming language. Epic Games could have easily just created a console within Unreal to let users write C++ code but because not everyone is familiar with the C++ programming language, they created an easy way for artists to edit the relevant code. In addition, for those familiar with C++, Blueprints are a very handy way of creating tools that are relatively easy for artists to use.

The good news is that you don’t really need to spend a huge amount of time using them when working on a MetaHuman character and animating it, but they are an integral part of the process and are being used by the engine in the background. It would be good practice for artists to get to grips with the fundamentals of Blueprints, as they are a fantastic way of reducing repetitive...