WindowCast
Live desktop windows as Unreal textures

Overview

WindowCast streams the contents of a desktop window into Unreal Engine 4.27 and 5.8 as a regular Texture2D. Capture runs on a background thread through the Windows Graphics Capture API, so the window keeps updating while it is partly covered by other windows. You choose the window by its title, set a frame rate, call Start and receive the texture through the Change Texture event.

• Capture of any top-level desktop window into a BGRA8 texture.
• Five title matching modes, from exact match to regular expressions (case-insensitive).
• Capture rate from 1 to 120 frames per second.
• A new texture is created and broadcast whenever the captured window changes size.
• Actor and UMG widget base classes, plus a capture object for custom setups.
• Sample plane actor and UMG widget with materials.

Requirements

Installation

1. Install WindowCast from Fab into your engine, or copy the WindowCast folder into your project's Plugins folder.
2. For a C++ project, regenerate project files and build the editor target.
3. Open the project, enable WindowCast in Edit > Plugins and restart the editor.
4. C++ only: the module exists only on Win64, so add it for that platform: if (Target.Platform == UnrealTargetPlatform.Win64) { PrivateDependencyModuleNames.Add("WindowCast"); } and wrap your calls in #if PLATFORM_WINDOWS.

Quick start

On a mesh in the level

1. Open the window you want to show (for example a text editor) and note its title.
2. Drag PlaneActor/WindowCastPlane into the level.
3. In the Details panel, expand Properties, set Capture Target Title (for example Notepad) and choose Title Matching Window Search = Partial Match.
4. Press Play. The sample calls Start on Begin Play and writes every texture from Change Texture into the Texture parameter of its material.

In a UMG widget

1. Create Widget/WindowCastUMG (or your own widget whose parent class is UWindowCastWidget) with Create Widget and add it to the viewport.
2. Set its Properties; the widget graph calls Start and applies the texture from Change Texture to its image.

C++

// Build.cs: if (Target.Platform == UnrealTargetPlatform.Win64) { PrivateDependencyModuleNames.Add("WindowCast"); }
// MyScreen.h:  UPROPERTY() UWindowCastMachine* Capture = nullptr;
//              UFUNCTION() void HandleNewTexture(UTexture2D* NewTexture);
#include "WindowCastMachine.h"

void AMyScreen::BeginPlay()
{
    Super::BeginPlay();
    Capture = NewObject<UWindowCastMachine>(this);
    Capture->Properties.CaptureTargetTitle = TEXT("Notepad");
    Capture->Properties.TitleMatchingWindowSearch = EWindowCastTitleMatch::PartialMatch;
    Capture->Properties.FrameRate = 30;
    Capture->ChangeTexture.AddDynamic(this, &AMyScreen::HandleNewTexture);
    Capture->Start();
}

void AMyScreen::EndPlay(const EEndPlayReason::Type EndPlayReason)
{
    if (Capture)
    {
        Capture->Dispose();
        Capture = nullptr;
    }
    Super::EndPlay(EndPlayReason);
}

Actor & widget

Both classes own a capture object while they run. Start is a protected node: call it from the graph of a Blueprint that derives from the class (as the samples do).

Capture object

Capture properties

All comparisons except Regular Expression ignore letter case. The first window that matches is captured.

Content

Troubleshooting

Credits

© 2026 Alpha XP — alphaxp.net · Support: support@alphaxp.net. Built and verified for Unreal Engine 4.27 and 5.8.