VICODynamics: a particle based Soft-Body physics Plugin

[VICOGameStudio]

VICOGameStudio have you seen the BLAST plugin documentation or code? https://gameworksdocs.nvidia.com/Bla...uickStart.html
It is better destructible than the the new chaos "geometry collection" as it can create multi object support structure in-game and not only in specific collection in editor.
You're a physx wizzard - I wonder if you could make it usable in 4.22
What is super cool is that until something breaks and fractures it doesn't render all the chunks. the chunks are being made dynamically like in procedural mesh component, and until they are needed to store information like the suport or damage - there is just a general collision shape based support map of an object but it doesn't eat up polygon count.
Blast is in editor basic plugins, but in some old version.. and doesn't allow to create destructible with it in blueprint project.

I'm pretty sure it's doable, especially since it'll mainly be an upgrade effort. Will need to look into it more to see how much effort it'll be.
Wonder why effort was dropped by Nvidia, seems like really cool tech!

[xermao]

I have send you a email about my github username in about 12 hours ago,can you check your email mybe it go into Spam folder?

[VICOGameStudio]

I have send you a email about my github username in about 12 hours ago,can you check your email mybe it go into Spam folder?

You're all set, just emailed you.
Was a busy day yesterday

[AngeIV]

I'm pretty sure it's doable, especially since it'll mainly be an upgrade effort. Will need to look into it more to see how much effort it'll be.
Wonder why effort was dropped by Nvidia, seems like really cool tech!

well.. nvidia is doing this:
they make some tech based on the direct drivers interactions.
then they do an adk/api suport so any language could use it... noone does
Then they make a plugin or build integration to show that it DOES WORK like a charm and here is an example of how to...
However they wont run full support, updates, continous integration on something, that is community based on github and noone contributes, as well when epic games is going "screw physx! heres chaos" - I don't get it why epic thinks they need to redo the wheel. again and again :/
Vico-dynamics is best performance wise library for physx on ue4 and its not provided by epic nor nvidia. it amazing clothing solution from static meshes. grapling hooks, ropes to walk on, rope bridges - they are undoable with cable components physx constraits etc. I mean... they are - but extremely unpredictible, not replicable, nor working as designed.
BLAST seems like perfect solution for dynamic build and destroyed buildings at runtime with complex support system, damage reisstance, and dynamic fracturing. I would love to see it developed further.

[FrankWilliam]

Hi!

I have a VDSplineRope acting as a cable, and I want this cable to be inside a protective plastic sleeve. I have a mesh of the plastic sleeve and have added it as a VDMeshCloth. Two collision spheres are at each end of the rope and sleeve.

The issue I'm having is that as soon as I begin simulating, the VDMeshCloth just droops down, even after increasing the Bend and Stretch Stiffness to 1 and setting Mass at 0.01.
The part VDSplineRope that the VDMeshCloth is covering is always just going to be completely straight, so what I basically want is for the VDMeshCloth to just stretch between the two collision spheres placed at both ends. It doesn't need to bend at all or even interact with anything else.

I tried to set "Attach to Particles" to true because I assumed the VDMeshCloth would then be attached to the VDSplineRope and just follow along, but when I have that checked the engine crashes as soon as I begin simulating.

Any tips on what I could do?

[VICOGameStudio]

Hi!

I have a VDSplineRope acting as a cable, and I want this cable to be inside a protective plastic sleeve. I have a mesh of the plastic sleeve and have added it as a VDMeshCloth. Two collision spheres are at each end of the rope and sleeve.

The issue I'm having is that as soon as I begin simulating, the VDMeshCloth just droops down, even after increasing the Bend and Stretch Stiffness to 1 and setting Mass at 0.01.
The part VDSplineRope that the VDMeshCloth is covering is always just going to be completely straight, so what I basically want is for the VDMeshCloth to just stretch between the two collision spheres placed at both ends. It doesn't need to bend at all or even interact with anything else.

I tried to set "Attach to Particles" to true because I assumed the VDMeshCloth would then be attached to the VDSplineRope and just follow along, but when I have that checked the engine crashes as soon as I begin simulating.

Any tips on what I could do?

That's an interesting setup... hmm, never tried that. Could you email me a screenshot or a video of this or even a test project? ujen@vicogamestudio.com
Shouldn't be crashing, so definitely would like to fix that.

[NewRunDMC]

If this is too confusing/difficult to answer as a question I apologize ahead of time. Am I correct in assuming that the Soft-Body Dynamics (water-tight volume) is done on a per-vertex basis? Let's say I am using this plugin on a Kirby-like character (sphere topology/shape), and the soft-body effect is cosmetic only (I think that will allow multi-core?), and I am targeting Xbox One etc. (assume 8-core, fairly modern speed); realistically, what could I have as the vertex count on this sphere-like character (ballpark numbers are fine). I am going to end up purchasing your plugin either way, but I am trying to gauge how many vertices (so how tessellated/smooth the sphere is) I could afford to simulate (cosmetic, so some accuracy can be dropped), is this in the range of 10-100, 100-500, or 500-1000 without making performance abysmal? Thanks!

[VICOGameStudio]

If this is too confusing/difficult to answer as a question I apologize ahead of time. Am I correct in assuming that the Soft-Body Dynamics (water-tight volume) is done on a per-vertex basis? Let's say I am using this plugin on a Kirby-like character (sphere topology/shape), and the soft-body effect is cosmetic only (I think that will allow multi-core?), and I am targeting Xbox One etc. (assume 8-core, fairly modern speed); realistically, what could I have as the vertex count on this sphere-like character (ballpark numbers are fine). I am going to end up purchasing your plugin either way, but I am trying to gauge how many vertices (so how tessellated/smooth the sphere is) I could afford to simulate (cosmetic, so some accuracy can be dropped), is this in the range of 10-100, 100-500, or 500-1000 without making performance abysmal? Thanks!

Volume-preserving soft-bodies, which is what you'd use in your case, are nearly ready to be used. I need to get the rendering and component bits put in on the plugins side.

All VD components support multi-threaded simulation. This is a tough one to answer without running a test, but I'd ballpark it at 500-1000 depending on how you want collision done and how many simulation sub-steps are done each frame. I'll try to get a sphere test setup and get you more accurate numbers, but as a general rule particle count doesn't affect performance as much as collision checks and constraint solver iteration counts.

[LenaAlthammer]

Hi!
So I got the following error:

[2019.10.29-10.52.09:807][974]LogVICODynamics: VeryVerbose: VICODynamics Stats - Particle count: 961, Constraint count: 1895
[2019.10.29-10.52.38:186][850]LogVICODynamics: Display: Rebuilding Rope NODE_AddVDDynamicRopeComponent-1 with 121 Segments and 120.50 Length
[2019.10.29-10.52.38:187][850]PIE: Error: NODE_AddVDDynamicRopeComponent-1 : Calling CreateParticle on VDSimObject but failed to create Particle, make sure you are not creating more Partcles than memory reserved for in Project Setting->VICODynamics->Reserve Particle Budget! Increase that setting if needed.

The thing is, I had already increased the Particle Budget to 10000 in the Project Settings. The only thing that works is changing the value directly in the VICODynamics.h. Is this a bug?

Cheers, Lena

Edit: The log is from a Development Build, in Editor everything seems fine, a Shipping Build will crash

[VICOGameStudio]

Hi!
So I got the following error:



The thing is, I had already increased the Particle Budget to 10000 in the Project Settings. The only thing that works is changing the value directly in the VICODynamics.h. Is this a bug?

Cheers, Lena

Edit: The log is from a Development Build, in Editor everything seems fine, a Shipping Build will crash

After changing the value in Project Settings, did you press "Set as Default" towards the top? If not, UE4 will not apply the change to a packaged build and will keep it Editor only.

[AngeIV]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atcKO15YVD8

You might enjoy that

[VICOGameStudio]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atcKO15YVD8

You might enjoy that

Very interesting!! thank you. It seems to essentially be a sort of procedural and kinematic animation, if you will. Fantastic for simple visuals and non-critical physics "accessories." The performance gains are more than worth the drawbacks.

[LenaAlthammer]

After changing the value in Project Settings, did you press "Set as Default" towards the top? If not, UE4 will not apply the change to a packaged build and will keep it Editor only.

That solved the problem, thank you!

[Rainoxer]

Thank you. A grappling hook implementation is actually on our Trello TODO list.

Hello, is it implemented now? This is exactly the thing I would use this plugin for!

[VICOGameStudio]

Hello, is it implemented now? This is exactly the thing I would use this plugin for!

I've not yet implemented this as a prefab, but I'd be happy to help answer any questions about getting a grappling hook implemented.
I've not focused on it since it is a gameplay feature that can be implemented in a myriad of ways based on what the game needs. No one solution.