Blueprint Essentials

Using Blueprints has multiple advantages, such as learning, ease of use, and visual clarity. However, implementing features without knowing some essential nodes and shortcuts can make it more cumbersome than it needs to be.

Some of this information may seem common knowledge but with different naming schemes and obscured controls, it's easy to miss and assume there's no option.

Here is a growing list of must-know information that can serve as a quick overview and reference.

Nodes

Name	Image	Description
Sequence		Executes a series of pins in order from top to bottom. This enables multiple flows to handle various situations and organize cleaner code.
Branch		If the Condition is True, the flow goes to True; otherwise, it goes to False. Blueprint's version of the If/Else Statement.
Switch		Selects an output flow that matches the input value. This can be used on multiple types, such as Enums and Integers.
Boolean		Returns the result of the logical operation depending on the node type. (AND / NAND / OR / NOR / XOR / NOT)
Select		Return the option at Index, (first option is indexed at 0).
Break		Breaks apart a pin type into individual outputs. Similar to splitting a pin but with the benefit of positioning it into a new node.
Parent		Accesses a function from the parent class. If the parent class has an implementation of a function and the child class implements its own, the parent node must be used, or only the child function will run.
Cast		References the object as if it were the casted class. This is mainly used when downcasting to a user-created class to access data or functions that only exist there.

Context Sensitive
On some occasions, a sought-after node will not appear.
This is usually caused by the situation's context being inferred incorrectly. Temporarily unchecking "Context Sensitive" will list all possible nodes.

Pins

Splitting / Recombining
Most pins with underlying data types can be split and recombined to separate input and outputs.

Functions

Overriding
Parent Functions and events can be overridden in a child Blueprint.

Category
Functions and Variables can be assigned a custom Category.
This will sort them into a drop-down to keep things manageable.

Organization

Reroute Nodes
Double-clicking the any flow line will add a Reroute Node at that location.
This node can be positioned to control the curve of the line to keep things tidy.

Comments
Pressing "C" will add a Comment Block to the grid.
This can be positioned over portions of nodes for documentation.
When the block is moved, any contained nodes will reposition with it.

Bookmarks
Bookmarks can be displayed by going to Window -> Bookmarks.
A Bookmark will save your current view in the Blueprint Graph.
You can quickly return by double-clicking the respective Bookmark or Comment.

Straighten Connections
Pressing "Q" will perform "Straighten Connections" and align nodes based on their connected pins.
This can be handy when the pins of two nodes are not aligned to the grid the same.

Shortcuts

Collapsing
Collapsing will move selected nodes to a linked graph, new function, or macro.
This is quicker than manual operations and can keep your graph tidy.