[Community Project] WIP Weather & Ocean Water Shader

[bzinventor]

Komodoman, thanks for posting this.

I'm glad you posted it here, since updates are not frequent on this thread. I think it's the correct place.

[DotCam]

Ok guys, I just pushed a new release to the master branch (and just now merged it to 1.0, both are up to date) on GitHub, the plugin has been fixed and has a couple new features added. There is also a demo object showing how to use the BuoyancyMovementComponent, and I will be adding some documentation to the Wiki in a few minutes.

Please test it and see if this fixes it for you! Thanks and sorry for the delay.

Download here - https://github.com/UE4-OceanProject/...ct/tree/master
Wiki is here - https://github.com/UE4-OceanProject/OceanProject/wiki

@DIFTOW - That is how they are meant to work, you do not even need collision on your mesh in order to use the buoyancy. Have a look at the example buoy to see the setup, all that you need to do for the static mesh is enable physics, the rest is handled by the BuoyancyMovementComponent.

More info will be up on the wiki shortly.

[DIFTOW]

Ah, so the physics drives how the object pitches and rolls, and how much it bobs (gravity). This is starting to make more sense now =3
So good to have those debugging spheres!

[DotCam]

Ah, so the physics drives how the object pitches and rolls, and how much it bobs (gravity). This is starting to make more sense now =3
So good to have those debugging spheres!

Yeah they make it so much simpler to do, but they are really glitchy in the blueprint editor viewport, they are created by construction script and last for 10 seconds. So as you are adjusting the location of a test point you will get a whole bunch of spheres in the direction you are adding on x/y/z. Still need to find a better way for the BP editor, but in-game you can turn them on and off using the "Debug Mode" checkbox for the blueprint.

I am going to push another update shortly with a "Template blueprint" that can be used as a base for buoyant objects, it will have the node scripts built in so you don't need to copy the script into each new buoyant object you make. Al you will need to do is set the mesh and test points, and object Mass (make sure the Mass of the object is at a realistic weight, the buoy weighed 1 and 1/2 ton's bye default... changed that to 300kg. So make sure it is within a valid range, otherwise buoyancy will have a really hard time trying to keep the thing afloat.

As a test I am working on a fairly large fishing boat as well, once I have it finished I will upload it as a demo object too!

The wiki will be updated over the coming days, but please ask if you have any questions on how to use it here! I will be online more often now, was busy tracking down bugs, so feel free to ask away.

p.s. I will be replying to a whole bunch of posts I wasn't able to get to over the past few days, sorry for that guys, will post soon!

[DIFTOW]

Assuming mass is the same as earth weight, cause I cannot remember, the galleon's earth weight would be VERY heavy. But that makes it pretty unresponsive to the waves. The galleon doesn't tilt with the waves unless its mass is set to something like 2000kg or less. That seems really low lol, and if I drop it on land it bounces around a little like a ball. What should be done here?

EDIT: I have to use something like 50 KG if the waves are big, and 2000 KG if they are small. The physics don't seem to work very well with something complex like a ship.

[DotCam]

Assuming mass is the same as earth weight, cause I cannot remember, the galleon's earth weight would be VERY heavy. But that makes it pretty unresponsive to the waves. The galleon doesn't tilt with the waves unless its mass is set to something like 2000kg or less. That seems really low lol, and if I drop it on land it bounces around a little like a ball. What should be done here?

Also make sure you are increasing the test point Volume Radius(keep the ships mass around 50,000 and the volume radius increase will counteract it), for a ship like that try 1000 or higher for each point, I would recommend using 6 test point total. Give that a try!

[Nsomnia]

Trying out the plugin. Appreciate your work. Not negative in anyway but a small changelog would be nice Ie Mar 16 - plugin version pushed to github, feature x added, feature x had this part changed a little.

[DIFTOW]

Also make sure you are increasing the test point Volume Radius(keep the ships mass around 50,000 and the volume radius increase will counteract it), for a ship like that try 1000 or higher for each point, I would recommend using 6 test point total. Give that a try!

1000 volume radius doesn't seem to do enough, but I didn't add 2 more buoyancy points so I'll try that first.

This is making me ask the question though of whether this is overkill for a large object that players will be walking on and other objects in general will be colliding on.
Should it actually be real physics, or would it be better to fake physics?
What did they do in Assassin's Creed?
Real physics, besides being CPU intensive, could also glitch out right or have undesirable effects. Like my ship capsizing when it shouldn't or when I do not want it to. You lose some control the more realistic it becomes.

Do you have any plans to do a cheap alternative to UE4 physics so all the effects, like bobbing are faked instead?

[Nsomnia]

Im using it on a 5 mile long submarine with no problems just 4 test points... Fake bobbing? Make a timeline that changes the location releetive to the ocean plane in a looping random sequence maybe make two or three and lerp or rand between them.

anyways plugin works fine! Thanks dot!

[Avolanty]

Dotcam you are amazing Yes victory with your script will be easier now! muhahaha! sorry excited thanks so much

[DIFTOW]

For the ship's collision, how do I use per-poly with players, and the simple convex collision for physics?
I can't do a one size fits all collision. The amount of convex geometry I would need to make it work for players would be as expensive or more expensive than per-poly, and too much convex collision than what physics needs.

Also DotCam, would you be interested in testing with my galleon? :P

[Nsomnia]

So now that the buoyancy is a struct that we can put in our own structs, any one know how to set the values of everything withing a struct? For example if I have a structure containing 10 testpoint structs how could I change the buyoancy value of all of them at once to -1 or +1?

[Avolanty]

So now that the buoyancy is a struct that we can put in our own structs, any one know how to set the values of everything withing a struct? For example if I have a structure containing 10 testpoint structs how could I change the buyoancy value of all of them at once to -1 or +1?

I am showing him how to make it work. But if you have a better way please show.

[unit23]

If you temper with the weather please offer a way to communicate the current state, to offer a way to code the player physical effects too. Basically i need for visual environmental effects an option to translate them into player physics. i.e. if the sea is ruff, the player swim tempo is reduced.

[Nsomnia]

If you temper with the weather please offer a way to communicate the current state, to offer a way to code the player physical effects too. Basically i need for visual environmental effects an option to translate them into player physics. i.e. if the sea is ruff, the player swim tempo is reduced.

Im not UE API expert yet but you should be able to do a basic check and either tick it or include it in a timeline somewhere.

//pseudo-code 
if(beaufort_scale == 12_ { swim_speed -= 10.5f } or if(wave_scale == 1.23f && wave_amplitude = 35.0f) { swim_speed -= 10.4f; }