NVIDIA GameWorks Integration

[Mike.Skolones]

Hey mike, do you have any idea when the APEX/HairWorks DCC tools for Maya/Max 2016 will be released? Thanks!

APEX plugin for Max/Maya2016 should be coming up on developer.NVidia.com this week, not sure if HairWorks support is in there yet.

[Mike.Skolones]

Hey quick question about flex. I was using it with the 3rd person blueprint starter, and the collision around the character seems to just be a box. That's fine, but recently I've been using flex for rain (which is fantastic btw) so the rain gathers above the player. Would it be posible to make the flex collision have a pyramid on top of the box or change it to a cone or some other shape that would better fit what I'm doing..

It sounds possible to me, the easiest thing might be to add a kinematic shape that follows the player, instead of changing the box itself.

Also, Flex fluid makes great rain collision on surfaces (other than the player of course) but it could look better when it's falling. The function to make particles stretch with motion doesn't affect the fluid surface, and I'm not sure how to change the fluid color, so of someone could explain that it would be helpful.

I'll pass that along.

[AlhpaWolfDale]

is anyone else getting an error from gethub when they try download?

[WinterLanternPro]

HairWorks and VXGI are both implemented in DX11, hence they are 'vendor agnostic'; yet I don't think they will find their way into mainline UE4 anytime soon.

Can anyone with a high end AMD card (290?) post their framerate with VXGI?

[The_Distiller]

APEX plugin for Max/Maya2016 should be coming up on developer.NVidia.com this week, not sure if HairWorks support is in there yet.

That's good news, thanks for the heads up!

[sarfios]

So we can use HairWorks now without downloading the branch? Just the SDK like Apex?

[Zero-Night]

Are all these results fullscreen? viewport (what size)? built and run standalone (with editor closed) or play in viewport (and maybe fullscreen)?
I want to post my 970 and my 970M results but I just want to get it right.

For me at least, the average framerate doesn't actually change all that much if it's standalone or in-editor. The only difference is that in-editor it stays at a solid framerate (40 for example) where with standalone it gets between 35-45 depending on where it is in the animation, and averages out to about the same anyway. There are no changes between the project as it is by default and how it's being tested, outside of the VXGI having diffuse/specular disabled for the relevant tests.

For convenience, I did the same as GalaxyMan, the standalone windowed, with the editor open but minimized. 1080p display, and if it makes any difference I'm on the 3GB 780, not the 6GB one. The window was running at 1280x720, as is the default.

[Mike.Skolones]

So we can use HairWorks now without downloading the branch? Just the SDK like Apex?

Yes, HairWorks is available as a stand-alone SDK, with Viewer application and DCC plugins, as well as an integrated feature branch in the NvPhysX/UnrealEngine.git fork.

[Gandosh]

ooohohoohohooo! goodbye the corner of shame! xD... funny i just created one plane and duplicated then created curves, assigned hairworks and just exported. Then its just worked! but... but why? its supposed to not work xD in viewer i clicked play button and increased value of winds then hairs showed up. Well then...

[Gandosh]

by the way. Is VXGI multibounce affects subsurface material?

[AlhpaWolfDale]

were can i download the plugin?? githum gives me an error 404

[AlhpaWolfDale]

nevermind got it downloaded but im a newb with this sort of thing? is there a tutorial somewhere on installing it?

[Mike.Skolones]

nevermind got it downloaded but im a newb with this sort of thing? is there a tutorial somewhere on installing it?

Do you mean, how to build a branch on the NvPhysX/UnrealEngine.git fork? There are some instructions in the README for each branch. For example:

https://github.com/NvPhysX/UnrealEngine/tree/HairWorks


Welcome to the HairWorks branch of the NvPhysX fork of Unreal Engine source code!

HairWorks implements physical hair simulation using DirectX Compute.

To build the HairWorks branch, using a git shell:

git clone https://github.com/NvPhysX/UnrealEngine.git

{wait until it's done}

cd UnrealEngine

git branch -t HairWorks origin/HairWorks

git checkout HairWorks

.\Setup.bat

.\GenerateProjectFiles.bat

.\UE4.sln

{Build UnrealEngine solution}

{Run the editor.}

Editor Usage:

A new component called Hair Component is added to hook up hair assets into Blueprints. To use a hair asset to a Blueprint, please follow these steps:

• Import hair assets into Content Browser.

o Right click in the Content Browser, use Import to option to select one or more hair asset files, which are usually .apx or .apb exported from 3ds Max or Maya using HairWorks plugin.

• Open or create a Blueprint. In the Blueprint editor, create a Hair Component. Usually the hair component is attached under a skeletal mesh component.

• Assign an imported hair asset to the Asset/Hair property.
...

[Mike.Skolones]

by the way. Is VXGI multibounce affects subsurface material?

I'm not sure, I'll pass it along.

[lagdog]

are there plans for a different method for grooming and creating curves other than shave and a haircut in maya for hairworks? that program is pretty outdated and clunky.
if hair works just wants curves, a way to arrange those curves on the mesh with any plugin or program and for hairworks to accept it would be the best.
for example being able to use zbrushes hair system to groom then create curves from it in maya, then importing that into hair works.