VICODynamics: a particle based Soft-Body physics Plugin

[Flesh Forge]

Hi, in preparation for using your dynamics plugin for cloth, where can I find a procedure for getting a UE character to use the rigged physics asset rather than simple capsule collision? I know your UI is not ready at this time but I want to be ready to start using it when you do release it. Is there any chance this step (implementing collision against the character physics asset) will be part of your UI? Thanks!

[VICOGameStudio]

Hi, in preparation for using your dynamics plugin for cloth, where can I find a procedure for getting a UE character to use the rigged physics asset rather than simple capsule collision? I know your UI is not ready at this time but I want to be ready to start using it when you do release it. Is there any chance this step (implementing collision against the character physics asset) will be part of your UI? Thanks!

Currently, if your character has a Physics Asset setup correctly for ragdolling you should be good to go. There won't be anything different/special to using the cloth component with a character, at least nothing I have planned.

[Flesh Forge]

That's all that's necessary? That's great, I had been looking into getting IK bone chain dynamics to collide against the physics asset and it seemed to be a pain in the *** to set up, glad to hear you built it in. Thanks for the reply!

[VICOGameStudio]

Decided to do a test of the tension rope with the vehicle sample:

Note: Collision with the vehicles was off in that video and tension was only affecting the car being towed.

[VICOGameStudio]

Making steady progress with the Cloth Component, next up is using a StaticMesh as a base for conversion!

[VICOGameStudio]

Oops, I guess it was a wee bit too heavy

[n00854180t]

I can't wait to use this on characters.

[FlyingPanda]

if i bought the plugin early on do i still get a marketplace version or do i need to buy it all over again ?

[VICOGameStudio]

if i bought the plugin early on do i still get a marketplace version or do i need to buy it all over again ?

Epic has told me that it can give access to licensees, I asked them this a while ago and there should not be a problem. Send me your purchase confirmation to vdue4@vicogamestudio.com and I'll assist you from there.

[FlyingPanda]

I Sent the email. Hope to hear back soon

[Flesh Forge]

Are there some offline docs anywhere, I'd like to read up on how to prepare meshes for use with your plugin/how to configure particle setups for custom meshes in UE. Thanks!

[VICOGameStudio]

I Sent the email. Hope to hear back soon

Received it, thank you. I'll be forwarding it to Epic by the end of the week.

[VICOGameStudio]

Are there some offline docs anywhere, I'd like to read up on how to prepare meshes for use with your plugin/how to configure particle setups for custom meshes in UE. Thanks!

The only offline docs are the Examples in the ExamplesProject. There are docs here as well: https://www.vicogamestudio.com/docum...-documentation
As for preparing meshes, are you looking to have a non-cable/rope mesh? If so, this is not yet supported out-of-the-box but I can certainly add that support by allowing you to supply a skinned mesh. It will need to be skinned in a specific way but should work great for such a scenario.

[Flesh Forge]

Yes, I'm very interested in using your physics sim for things like ponytail hairs. If they need to be boned a certain way that's no problem, just need to know how that has to be done. Are your particles in a rope setup allowed to rotate on the long axis? It seems like they wouldn't be, and that'd be preferable, but I should ask now I guess. Do meshes have to be welded/watertight, is it ok if you have a braided structure? We got a couple of pieces set up with UE's native IK bone dynamics but the problem was getting collision against the physics asset rather than the capsule, using this method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0pB2Um_pA

Thanks!

[VICOGameStudio]

Yes, I'm very interested in using your physics sim for things like ponytail hairs. If they need to be boned a certain way that's no problem, just need to know how that has to be done. Are your particles in a rope setup allowed to rotate on the long axis? It seems like they wouldn't be, and that'd be preferable, but I should ask now I guess. Do meshes have to be welded/watertight, is it ok if you have a braided structure? We got a couple of pieces set up with UE's native IK bone dynamics but the problem was getting collision against the physics asset rather than the capsule, using this method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0pB2Um_pA

Thanks!

I still need to refine and properly test this setup, but the way you'll need to setup the bones is as follows:
1. Create a chain of bones for your mesh, name the bones sequentially like so: ChainBone_0, ChainBone_1, ChainBone_2, etc...
2. Skin any mesh you desire to that bone chain, the only thing to account for is that the collision will be per-particle! So take the desired particle radius into account for the spacing between the bones as well as the mesh thickness.

That should be all you need.

The particles have no rotation themselfs, bone rotation will need to be derived from the positioning of the particles in the chain therefore rotation along the axis will not be present.

Hope that helps, I'll have a proper example once everything is setup and tested.