Interaction Highlight Tutorial

This tutorial teaches you how to add “highlight functionality” to your block, outlining a certain part of the model in yellow when you target a conveyor, terminal, screen etc. It further explains how to edit existing highlight empties and how to troubleshoot any issues that might appear.


I. Setup Model & Spawn Empty

First of all, your blend file must of course contain the SEUT standard collections, specifically the Main-collection, and your model must be placed within it.

Next, you will have to ensure that all separate parts of your model are parented to a single object or empty. As you can see in the following picture, all individual parts of my example model are parented to the empty named “Model”.

In order to highlight an area of your block when the player interacts with it, you first need to define an interactable area. This is done by placing a specific empty though the  Add / Context Menu by first selecting the object you wish to be highlighted and then going to Add --> Create Empty --> Add Highlight Empty.

A menu will appear in the bottom left of your 3D Viewport. Select the type of interaction you would like to be accessible through this surface. In my case, I want to add a highlight for the conveyor port so I choose Conveyor. The index (the number at the end of the emptie’s name) is needed to differentiate multiple empties of the same type and you’ll need to ensure that you don’t have two empties of the same type with the same index number. Note that the object you selected initially will also get renamed in order to facilitate the connection between the empty and the object it highlights.

All listed highlight empties have hover-texts assigned to them containing more information. Simply move your cursor over the item in the list.

Resize your empty to comfortably encompass the surface you would like to be highlighted. The empty defines the area where the crosshairs must be placed in order for the outline to appear.


II. Edit Existing Empties & Test Functionality


III. Troubleshooting

Highlight looks like a yellow square

 

Learnings

How to add highlight functionality to interactible elements of a model

 

Overview

 

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