[Community Project] FREE Ocean Water Shader

[script526]

Hi Nilson Lima!



Quick question about the Ocean. I'm trying to remove water from the inside of my ship and I found on forums a few possible ways to do it.

First way is by using a DepthFade node:

https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Visual...ing_Depth_Fade

Second is by using stencil:

https://answers.unrealengine.com/que...-logic-pu.html
https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/575373/hiding-water-surface-inside-a-boat.html

The third is by using DistanceToNearestSurface node:

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/461081/mask-different-meshes-with-custom-stencil-logic-pu.html

So, for now I tried using only DepthFade but it doesn't work for some reason. Basically the ocean material I am using (M_Ocean_Ultra) is pretty complex and I am not sure if I understand how to add some kind of new opacity rules without breaking the whole material.

Therefore, just wanted to ask if you maybe have encountered this issue by any chance or you have some piece of advise how to find better and the simplest way to remove water from the ship?

Any help would be appreciated.

Best,
Alexander Alikin

[NilsonLima]

script526

Depth Fade would do the trick, but won't work on all scenarios, meaning different tweaks for one material (ocean material) which you would need to activate depending where you are in the scene.

DistanceToNearestSurface works fine for postprocess and underwater (since you can stack material instances at the postprocess with different objects to mask). For the ocean material, simple things like a boat when moving the camera far from it, will generate tiny numbers and the water will fill the interior again. It would work for an interior the the length of flooded area is not too big, otherwise you will see water appearing as artifact. Distance Fields by default is low resolution and you would need to setup each mesh with a better one for tweaking, meaning a lot of work.

The best possible solution is with stencil, it would give less work in general and the result is the expected elsewhere, it is more difficult to set, so I will work on some changes in the project, and make a video showing how to use this solution. I think it is in the best interest for people how the solution is done, instead of giving it done in the code already, so people have the chance to learn in the process. I will do the same approach as the foam wakes, showing the issue and where to change in a step-by-step.

[NilsonLima]

New year, new goals, to simplify and not having fixes dispersed into several videos (I will still make them, so people learn how to fix stuff) I will update this project into an specific branch which I will have full control, so start copying from it: https://github.com/UE4-OceanProject/...jectNilsonLima

[script526]

@NilsonLima Learning is much better than using someone's solution without understanding how it works. So I look forward to check out your video. And by the way the video about setting up foam behind the moving boat is absolutely great. I like the way you consciously run into problems in order to show how to fix them.

[NilsonLima]

@NilsonLima Learning is much better than using someone's solution without understanding how it works. So I look forward to check out your video. And by the way the video about setting up foam behind the moving boat is absolutely great. I like the way you consciously run into problems in order to show how to fix them.

This is how I do to train my collaborators in projects. Explain the project, show the issues/flaws, show the related code, dig into the fix = best way of learning.

[Trevelin]

New year, new goals, to simplify and not having fixes dispersed into several videos (I will still make them, so people learn how to fix stuff) I will update this project into an specific branch which I will have full control, so start copying from it: https://github.com/UE4-OceanProject/...jectNilsonLima

Tank´s Nilson Lima, precisava muito !!!!

[Trevelin]

This is how I do to train my collaborators in projects. Explain the project, show the issues/flaws, show the related code, dig into the fix = best way of learning.

Nilson Lima, entrei no seu perfil, imaginando sua nacionalidade Brasileira, mas de Santo André, muita coincidência, Tambem Sou, Rs

[script526]

Hey Nilson!

I've checked out your last video about masking water out of the objects.

Thank you very much for your help. I'll try two methods you explained and give you a feedback.

[NilsonLima]

Hey Nilson!

I've checked out your last video about masking water out of the objects.

Thank you very much for your help. I'll try two methods you explained and give you a feedback.

I didn't have the changes on the Community Ocean done yet, because the material are more complex and also there is the underwater material to deal aswel. I want also to see if I will prepare a boat mesh specific for having this into the project or if I will modify the current boats/ships in order to have them all working. It just takes more time.

[PerseusSmith]

The Ocean Project is great, but there is an issue with the

- Ecliptic Longitude: The longitude location of the moon on the celestial sphere.
- Ecliptic Latitude: The latitude location of the moon on the celestial sphere.

We just need tighter approximations for it to actually result in an eclipse, which would be cool.

[NilsonLima]

The Ocean Project is great, but there is an issue with the

- Ecliptic Longitude: The longitude location of the moon on the celestial sphere.
- Ecliptic Latitude: The latitude location of the moon on the celestial sphere.

We just need tighter approximations for it to actually result in an eclipse, which would be cool.

The code is found at the source code file: FRotator ATimeManager::CalculateMoonAngle() and FRotator ATimeManager::CalculateSunAngle() at TimeManager.cpp at the following folder "Plugins\OceanPlugin\Source\OceanPlugin\Private\Sky", so you can check those algorithms and if you have better ones which you can contribute to the project I will make the necessary adjustments to the source code.

The Sky was a contribution to the project made long ago (2014 to be precise, I was not even using Unreal at that time), since the project is really intended to be a Ocean Project. Everything else, boats, buoys, ships, fishes are all contributions.

[NilsonLima]

There is a plan for my branch on this project and bellow is what it is going to happen over the next months:

- separate Ocean project into single plugin
- everything else in a secondary plugin (ie: Sky, fishflock, etc)
- plugin will be modified to allow it to be exposed to blueprint and instructions to compile it as if it was a Marketplace plugin will be added, along with Youtube video.
- sample project will be added with the plugin outside package to show how it works (see previous item)
- landscape modulation will check if texture is set correctly and try to change its attributes while in Editor once it is changed
- landscape modulation will work for World Composition
- masking water inside objects (with example meshes). You add that mesh(actor) into a list of meshes to mask
- masking underwater inside objects. You add that mesh(actor) into a list of meshes to mask
- masking objects underwater (with example meshes). You add that mesh(actor) into a list of meshes to mask
- several changes into caustics, since currently you can't remove caustics from inside objects like ships and boats
- improvement on underwater effects to better reflect vision from camera point of view against deep water and when looking up at sky direction.
- infinite ocean system will be remade with quadtree

The repository will receive updates per new feature added, so keep an eye in this post and Discord server for news.

[Larraz]

Hi i want to package the project using this great plugin but i get this error when starts,

Error: System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Cant find.....
'C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Plugins\Runtime\OceanPlugin\Intermediate\Build\Win64\UE4\Shipping\OceanPlugin\OceanPlugin.precompiled'

is there any way to fix it?

[NilsonLima]

Hi i want to package the project using this great plugin but i get this error when starts,

Error: System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Cant find.....
'C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Plugins\Runtime\OceanPlugin\Intermediate\Build\Win64\UE4\Shipping\OceanPlugin\OceanPlugin.precompiled'

is there any way to fix it?

I just packaged it successfully in 4.21. Which is the release version you are trying to package? Which branch at GitHub you picked? If you didn't pick this one https://github.com/UE4-OceanProject/...jectNilsonLima please do.

[Larraz]

I just packaged it successfully in 4.21. Which is the release version you are trying to package? Which branch at GitHub you picked? If you didn't pick this one https://github.com/UE4-OceanProject/...jectNilsonLima please do.

Ohhh, i just try to compile myself using Visual Studio or UAT but i couldnt do it, thanks