My name is Tim Hobson and I work with Epic’s Engine Support Team. I’ve decided to start doing some training/support type streams when I have some free time. I don’t have a set schedule of how often I would do these, but if there is enough interest I could see doing these on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Note: This stream is not directly associated with Epic Games.
So, for the first stream my idea is to do a similarly structured stream to the Support Training streams that Epic does every Tuesday. This is a good format and offers the opportunity to run through some explanations and examples before taking the time to answer some questions.
For each stream I will create a Google Doc that anyone can edit and add questions to.
Feel free to add any questions here. Please keep in mind that I do not guarantee I will answer every question here, I may not know the answer to all questions asked, and I will not answer anything not related to the topic of this stream.
destructibles on mobile games, will that be enabled soon? or at least, is there a way to use the fractured meshes in a scaled down manner? I’ve heard people say shatter them in [program x] and import it and do the same. It sure would be nice If I could just use the same system in Unreal Engine.
I know it’s on the trello board, but I do not believe there are any immediate plans to implement APEX Cloth or Destruction for mobile. I would imagine the biggest issue is that phone CPUs just wouldn’t be able to handle it very well. All of APEX Destruction and Cloth is handled on the CPU on desktops. So I wouldn’t plan on seeing this implemented in the near future.
For the stream, I’m setting up a(n) very basic example(s) using the method of creating a single static mesh in Max > Fracture that mesh not using anything from PhysX > Import the chunks as separate meshes and then use simple BP code to do something.
With a setup like that it would simply come down to how much BP logic do you want to work out to get it to look absolutely right, so the intent with this is to more or less get people jump started with a base setup and move forward from there.
Looking forward to this - I’ve already played with DMs a little bit, but would like to know more in depth how to get good settings.
@Tim - It would be awesome if you could do an example of a physics hinged door that’s also a destructible mesh that has higher break force needed towards the edges, so that the player can do stuff like break a hole in the center and/or further break it apart completely (while still allowing the whole thing to swing). I think I had some issues the last time I tried it, but I may have been doing something weird as that was back in a much earlier version. An idea of the settings you need for such a setup, even, would be awesome, if you can’t actually demo it.
Hey, I went ahead and put your question in the GoogleDoc above. I’ll answer that on the stream, b/c there is a way to setup and have something similar to that, but there is also some limitations with that method with destructible meshes. So, with that in mind, I’ll show how to setup the inner part of the door blowing apart and the outer edges being stronger, or taking damage after the others really, but ideally the method I’ll cover regarding pre-fractured meshes and using Blueprints to replace parts and spawn in chunks would probably be better for something on hinges.
Feel free to open that doc and put more questions in if you have them, or post here and I’ll add them for you.
In the event something comes up and I can’t demo any of the questions asked, I’ll be sure to answer them here to the best of my knowledge or find some other way to get a demonstration together for anyone interested.
Cant wait! Can I make a request? I understand if you are not a DJ …haha. but I’m wondering how can I use destruction on body parts for dismemberment? For example I’m using scale/hide bone when the collision mesh on that body part is hit, then spawning a new mesh with a force. It looks nice but would look way nicer if the new spawned mesh was fractured/destroyed with physics, Have no idea how to do that part though
That’s something that actually falls more towards setting up a character and that’s really not something I’m as familiar with. I certainly don’t mind looking into it for a future stream or answer, but skeletal Meshes, Animations, and character type setups is really something I’ve setup or used as much.
I’ll add the question to list though, because ultimately anyone else that may watch this will likely be curious. I’ve seen this question come up a number of times before.
I’m not sure when I’ll have an answer, but I’ll see if some of the other guys on the Support team that are more familiar with SkelMeshes have some ideas.
Is this anything in regards to what Doublep90 and I and others are tring to do? The Community Project? If so sweet. Cause it looks alot like it and with streaming,lol.
I would like to request 2 things:
1- Sounds: all destruction tutorials/videos are always muted, I would like to see an example setup of destruction with sound when the main piece breaks and chunks break and touch the floor.
2- How to prevent things like this jump when you interact with the chunks:
I wasn’t really aware of this, but I’m sure there could be some things you could take away and use.
Thanks!
Thanks, ikifenix! I’ve added your questions to the list. I think a lot of times sounds are just disabled for the videos because it can be repetitive or explodey quickly. I even disabled sound on the project I’ll have up on the stream just because hearing the gun shoot or explosions constantly is not always pleasant. I’ll do a quick test with the ones ont he DM and see if I can round up something small to show off and see what I can demo.
I do have a solution for your second question that can be set in the character player. so we’ll get you squared away on that one.
Just watched the first half and will watch the rest tomorrow. What a wonderful addition to the learning resources Tim. Thank you for putting it together.
Timothy, I am hoping you can help me. I was trying to replicate the hole in the wall part of the video where you can set it up to only fracture part of the wall…all of that worked great. but something strange popped up for me only the first projectile would do damage and its like the reaction stops right after the damage, it wouldnt let me cause any more fractures and the fractures i had just floated in the air…i happen to do that pxvis collision trick you did and the bounding boxes i guess you could call them were prob 10 times bigger than the piece it was surrounding…with that on i realized thats why my projectile couldnt hit it again…Any idea what the heck is wrong with my mesh?
Thanks Tim!
