Actors

If a Level is a movie set, then Actors are the props, people, lights, and cameras on that set. Every object you place in a HELIX world is an Actor. That chair? Actor. That streetlight? Actor. That invisible trigger zone that opens a door? Also an Actor.

AActor is the base class for everything that exists in a Level.

Common Actor Types

Type	What it does
Static Mesh Actor	A 3D model that doesn't move (walls, rocks, furniture)
Character	A movable, controllable entity (players, NPCs)
Light	Point lights, spotlights, directional lights
Camera	Viewpoints for players or cutscenes
Trigger Volume	Invisible boxes that fire events when something enters them
Player Start	Where players spawn into the world

Spawning an Actor

You can place Actors in HELIX Studio by dragging them into the viewport, but you can also spawn them at runtime through code:

Blueprint

Blueprint— Spawn Actor at Runtime

Lua

-- Spawn an actor at a specific location
local MyClass = LoadClass("/Game/Blueprints/MyActor.MyActor_C")

local spawn_transform = Transform()
spawn_transform.Translation = Vector(100, 200, 50)
spawn_transform.Rotation = Rotator(0, 0, 0):ToQuat()
spawn_transform.Scale3D = Vector(1, 1, 1)

local new_actor = HWorld:SpawnActor(
    MyClass,
    spawn_transform,
    ESpawnActorCollisionHandlingMethod.AlwaysSpawn
)

JavaScript

// Spawn an actor at a specific location
// Note: Actor spawning in JavaScript follows similar patterns to Lua.
// Use the HWorld global and SpawnActor method:
const MyClass = LoadClass("/Game/Blueprints/MyActor.MyActor_C");

let spawnTransform = new Transform();
spawnTransform.Translation = new Vector(100, 200, 50);
spawnTransform.Rotation = new Rotator(0, 0, 0).ToQuat();
spawnTransform.Scale3D = new Vector(1, 1, 1);

let newActor = HWorld.SpawnActor(
    MyClass,
    spawnTransform,
    ESpawnActorCollisionHandlingMethod.AlwaysSpawn
);

Destroying Actors

When you're done with an Actor (a projectile that hit something, a pickup that was collected), destroy it to free up memory:

Blueprint

Blueprint— Destroy Actor

Lua

actor_to_destroy:K2_DestroyActor()

JavaScript

actorToDestroy.K2_DestroyActor();

Finding Actors

Need to grab a reference to an Actor already in the world? You can find them by class, by tag, or by name using GetAllActorsOfClass, GetAllActorsWithTag, or by storing a reference in a variable.

tip

Avoid searching for actors every frame. Grab your references once in BeginPlay and store them in variables.