Poster Layouts

Poster Layouts

Overview

Poster layout mods are used in the Automation poster creator as pre-made designs for users to make car posters.

Automation poster screen

To make a poster layout for Automation you need 2 parts:

• Poster user widget
• Made in Unreal engine.
• Preview file
• Made in Unreal engine.

Recommended Knowledge

• Making blueprints in Unreal

Creating your poster layout

The poster layout is a CarStatLayout widget. The widget contains PosterSlots which are used by the player to adjust settings.

An example poster layout can be found in the ExampleCarPoster folder.

Make a new blueprint

1. Right-click in the content browser select Blueprint Class.
2. In the search field enter CarStatLayout and select it from the list.
3. Click the Select button to create a new blueprint.

Create the layout

The poster layout is built using widgets from the Palette panel. The layout is designed hierarchically by placing poster widgets inside panel widgets. You can use the pre-made widgets in your poster layout or create your own widget blueprints to customize your layout further.

Poster designer

To make your widgets accessible to be edited in Automation you need to assign them a slot:

• In the Details panel navigate to the Poster Slot section.
• Click the button > Generate to generate a Slot UID.
• In the Name field enter a name for the poster slot.

Pre-made widgets

The Automation SDK features several pre-made widgets for you to use in your poster layout:

• PS Car Image UW

 * Displays an image of the car. You can adjust the default parameters in the Photo Info section.

• PS Background UW

 * Allows the player to display their own image from a jpg or png file. The default is the Automation background image.

• PS Creator Name UW

 * Displays in the format “Creator: [input]”. The input can be set in by the user in the poster widget.

• PS Car Stat Socials UW

 * Displays the car statistics.

• Poster Custom Car Name Stacked UW

 * Displays the car name in the format “Model - Trim”.

• Poster Engine Name UW

 * Displays the engine name in the format “Engine – Trim”.

• Poster Engine Power Torque Graph UW

 * Displays the power-torque graph of the engine.

• Poster Engine Stats UW

 * Displays the engine statistics.

• Poster Engine Thumbnail UW

 * Displays a picture of engine.

• Poster Slot Car Performance UW

 * Displays the car performance statistics.

• Poster Company Car Name UW

 * Displays the car name in the format “Model - Trim”.

Creating a custom poster stat widget

You can create your own poster stat widget to customize what car data is displayed.

To make a poster stat widget:

1. Right-click in the content browser select Blueprint Class.
2. In the search field enter PS_Data_UW and select it from the list.
3. Click the Select button to create a new blueprint.
4. In the My Blueprints panel create a new function. This function will be used to access car data from Automation and create the custom slots on the poster layout.

 * Note: See the PS_ExamplePoster_Stats widget for examples of how to script the functions. You can use multiple functions in your widget.

1. In the My Blueprints panel create an override and select the LoadCustomStats function.
2. Open the Override_LoadCustomStats function.
3. Wire your functions.

• On the Event Graph add the Pre Construction event if it isn’t already present.
• Add the Clear Children function. Set the target to Stats Panel.
• Add the Override_LoadCustomStats function.

Create the preview file

1. Right-click in the Content Browser select Camso > Car Stat Layout.
2. Enter the name for your trim widget.
3. Open the preview file.
4. In the Poster section select your user widget from the Widget layout dropdown menu.
5. In the UID section:

 * Click the button > Generate to generate a GUID.
 * Click the button > Generate to generate a Family GUID. 
 * In the Name field enter the name for your poster layout.

1. Save the preview file.

Cook the mod

Your mod needs to be cooked before it can be used in Automation. To cook your mod follow these steps:

1. In the menu bar select Mods > Share Mod.
2. Select your mod from the list.
3. Select or create an empty folder for the project. The folder directory path must not have any spaces.

 * Warning: Any files in the selected folder will be deleted when the mod is cooked.

Test the mod

You can test your cooked mod without uploading it to the Steam Workshop:

1. Copy the <MOD_NAME> folder from <SDK_FOLDER>\<MOD_PATH_FOLDER>\WindowsNoEditor\AutomationGame\Mods\ to <STEAM_INSTALL_FOLDER>\steamapps\common\Automation\UE427\AutomationGame\Mods\. If the Mods folder doesn’t exist create it.
2. Start Automation. Your trim widget should be available in-game.

Upload the mod to the Steam Workshop

1. Open the Automation Steam Workshop Publishing Tool.
2. Select New item.
3. Content Path is the directory where your mod is. To choose your content path click Pick Path. In the file window that appears select the folder with your cooked mod.
4. In the Content Title field enter the name for your mod.
5. In the Content Description field enter a description for your mod.

 * Note: The content title and description will be used on the Steam Workshop. These can be edited on the Steam Workshop page for the mod.

1. To choose a preview image click Pick Path. In the file window that appears select the image you want to use.
2. In the Mod Type box select Poster.
3. In the Visibility dropdown select the privacy setting for your mod on the Steam Workshop.
4. Click Submit. Your mod will upload to the Steam Workshop and a browser window will open to its Steam Workshop page.