Tutorial: Creating a Charged Energy Beam in Unreal Engine
The Gnomon Workshop has released Creating a Charged Energy Beam in Unreal Engine, a guide to VFX for game cinematics, recorded by real-time VFX artist Raúl Ruiz.
The intermediate-level workshop provides two hours of video training in Unreal Engine, with some additional work in animation software Cascadeur, with After Effects for final adjustments.
Create energy effects suitable for a games cinematic in Unreal Engine
In the workshop, Ruiz sets out production workflows for creating a particle beam effect suitable for use in a games cinematic, focusing on UE5’s Niagara VFX system and Sequencer editor.
He begins with ideation and shot planning, using references, a quick storyboard, and anchor frames to define timing beats and visual intent.
From there, he creates a short support animation in Cascadeur, imports it into Unreal, and establishes the shot context in Sequencer through camera, composition, and lighting decisions, demonstrating how to use simple timing proxies to lock scale, spacing, and rhythm.
In the core of the workshop, Ruiz builds the effect in Niagara in three practical phases: charge-up, beam launch, and blast/dispersal.
He also demonstrates how to create supporting materials and textures, reveals useful controls, and explains the math behind masks, falloffs, breakup, and noise shaping.
The final lesson covers how to render from Sequencer and apply a subtle polish pass in After Effects to enhance the presentation without hiding the real-time work.
Viewers of the workshop can download supporting files including the Unreal Engine project, Niagara systems and materials, animation assets, EmberGen flipbooks, and textures.
About the artist
Raúl Ruiz is a real-time VFX artist specializing in Unreal Engine, Niagara, and shader-driven effects for games.
His background spans both game development and film-oriented workflows, where he has contributed to large-scale projects including THQ Nordic’s Gothic Remake.
Price and availability
Creating a Charged Energy Beam in Unreal Engine is available via a subscription to The Gnomon Workshop, which provides access to over 300 tutorials.
Subscriptions cost $57/month or $499/year. Free trials are available.
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