UE5 / Recipe / Stylized Sci-Fi

Hologram Material for UE5

A practical hologram material built from scanlines, view-angle glow, opacity breakup, and controlled color. The goal is a readable projection, not a noisy blue ghost.

Recipe baseline

Keep it legible

Holograms are tempting to over-layer. Start with the silhouette and opacity first. Scanlines and glitch should support the object, not hide it.

01

Visual Target

Stylized Sci-Fi Translucent View Response
What we are building: a projected material with a readable object silhouette, subtle horizontal scanlines, a brighter rim, and enough breakup to feel digital without becoming visual noise.
Hologram material visual anchor.

The target is a readable projection first: stable silhouette, cyan rim, fine scanlines, and gentle opacity falloff.

02

Use Cases

CharacterHologram NPCGood for mission briefings, remote characters, or projection-only avatars.
PropProjected item previewUse on weapons, pickups, or interactable objects when the real mesh should feel virtual.
EnvironmentSci-fi signageWorks for diegetic displays, map projections, and world-space UI panels.
GameplayTarget previewUse when players need to read a placement ghost or build preview before confirming an action.

03

Mental Model

Projection is mostly opacity design

The color can be simple. The expensive part, visually, is how opacity changes across the object: rim stronger, face softer, scanlines thin, breakup occasional.

Use noise as damage, not fabric

Breakup should look like signal loss. If the entire surface is equally noisy, the material reads as dirty glass instead of a hologram.

04

Graph Steps

Base opacity Fresnel rim Scanlines Breakup mask Color + glow Optional glitch

1. Establish base opacity

Start with a low but visible opacity. The object should be recognizable even before scanlines or glitch are added.

2. Add a view-angle rim

Use Fresnel or a dot product between view direction and normal. This protects the silhouette and gives the projection its readable shell.

3. Build scanlines in world or object space

Horizontal lines can come from world position, object position, or UVs. World-space lines feel like a projector passing through the object. UV lines stick to the mesh. Pick intentionally.

4. Add breakup sparingly

Use a noise mask to remove small pieces from the projection. Keep the amount low by default and expose it as Signal Breakup.

5. Optional glitch offset

For hero moments, offset a thin band of screen position or UVs for a frame-like glitch. Keep this optional because it can be distracting in gameplay.

05

Artist Controls

OpacityBase OpacitySets how present the hologram feels before rim and scanline details are added.
RimRim Width / Rim IntensityControls silhouette readability. Usually the most important control for gameplay cameras.
LinesScanline DensityMore lines feel technical; fewer lines feel like a clean projection.
MotionScanline SpeedSlow drift feels stable. Fast motion reads as interference.
DamageSignal BreakupControls how much of the projection drops out.
ColorProjection Color / EmissionKeep hue and brightness separate so level lighting can be balanced safely.

06

HLSL Sketch

float fresnel = pow(1.0 - saturate(dot(normalWS, viewDirWS)), rimPower);

float lineCoord = worldPos.z * scanlineDensity + time * scanlineSpeed;
float scanline = smoothstep(0.48, 0.52, frac(lineCoord));

float breakup = step(breakupAmount, noiseMask);
float opacity = saturate(baseOpacity + fresnel * rimIntensity + scanline * lineOpacity);
opacity *= breakup;

float3 color = projectionColor * (emissionBase + fresnel * rimEmission);
return float4(color, opacity);

07

Senior Notes

Translucency sorting can become the real problem

A hologram may look perfect alone and break when placed inside glass, particles, or other translucent effects. Test it in the scene stack where it will actually ship.

World-space scanlines are useful but not universal

World-space lines unify multiple mesh parts, but can slide across animated characters. For skeletal meshes, compare object, world, and UV-based approaches before locking the recipe.

Do not let bloom do all the work

The hologram should read with bloom disabled. Bloom can polish the look, but if it is required for readability, the opacity and rim structure are probably weak.

08

Common Mistakes

  • Making scanlines too thick, which turns the object into a striped texture instead of a projection.
  • Using full-strength noise everywhere instead of small signal dropouts.
  • Forgetting to test over bright backgrounds where cyan glow can disappear.
  • Using one material for both large world holograms and tiny UI projections without scale controls.