I have a rigged crow and seagull for your bird flocking if you’d like to own yourself some. Used it back on Unity.
Must check out latest version so!!
Kudos to whoever is working on , I am using it on 4.7.3 for a personal project and it is really good. I had to switch to a less FPS hungry shader however but my revert later on.
One question I have … because of the day/night cycle I would like to have flying birds particle FX only show up during the daytime so I am trying to use “sunheight” into a BP but I cannot for the life of me get to the Variable! I tried casting to SkyDome but no go … any help would be greatly appreaciated!
That would be amazing!
I’ll try to remember later today when I take a break from our project. Set dressing our tutorial level currently.
First of all, I would like to thank those who have contributed so freely of their time to bring community project to life. Something that I noticed in 's tutorial video, he used temporary sphere components to create a visual representation for each of the values in the TestPoints array and I thought, “****, that’s clever!” (Kind of wish I had thought of it though). At the end of the tutorial, however, he deletes the spheres and I was thinking that it might be useful to keep them to facilitate tweaking or further upgrades. I also wanted a way to automate the visualization process so that the buoyancy spheres that appear onscreen are the same size specified in the Buoyancy Movement Component. I have an implementation that contains both C++ code, and a blueprint macro, to do and want to share it in case anyone else can make use of it. The problem is, I don’t know how I should do . I had trouble with Project v1.0 so I downloaded the Demo that provided a link for. Therefore, I am not working from the plugin project as I don’t know how to integrate new code into a plugin (not a problem with the 4.7 Project that I am using).
So, with the disclaimers out of the way, here’s what I did. Hopefully the pictures are clear enough to read (and follow). In short, I created a C++ class that is derived from USphereComponent, so it is essentially the same as what used, except that I change certain parameters from their defaults so that the end-user doesn’t have to change the values in every buoyancy sphere. The values set are:
- Visible in Editor
- Hidden in Game (can be changed in the BP macro to change all buoyancy spheres at once)
- No Physics, No Collision, No Mass so that the buoyancy spheres do not physically change the model.
The user can use Add Component to create these buoyancy spheres as components in his/her blueprint. The code for these buoyancy spheres is as follows:
.h file
.cpp file
The blueprint macro:
The end-user Construction Script:
If anyone finds useful, you’re welcome to it.
The following two pictures show the harbor buoy with the buoyancy spheres. The first is with the Test Point Volume Radius set to 25, and the second is with it set to 50. The point being that one has a visual representation of the Buoyancy Movement Component’s parameters, and one does not have to actually set values in the Test Points Array, the BP macro handles the population of array.
Radius = 25
Radius = 50
Hey Dijon,
Thank you very much for looking into ! I created a basic setup that drew a DebugSphere using the radius and location, but it is rather glitchy since a DebugSphere from blueprint requires a Duration. From a construction script a duration is problematic, set it to a few seconds and move the sphere’s location causes a thick line of spheres to be drawn in that direction, or if you set it really low it disappears too quickly. To turn them on/off I just created a simple boolean for Debug mode, and also added in a Struct to the plugin to represent a testpoint (Location, Radius, and Buoyancy Multiplier) to make it a bit more standardized. Both of these recent additions will be ideal for integrating your solution above.
is extremely helpful as I had been planning on recreating the spheres in code (due to the issues noted above), so you couldn’t have posted at a better time! I will integrate it into the project asap, it looks like a great solution to the problem. Thank you very much for putting together, I will add you to the contributors list as well. 
Right now we are adding in new additions to the branch on , the 1.0 branch has already fallen behind. So if you want to test out the latest features (I will add your code in today) you can Download as Zip or fork the repo from here:
Thanks again for sharing !
Hi ,
No problem. I’m not very good with Blueprints and I was REALLY tempted to just do in code with BlueprintCallable methods. Given that there may be those who only work in Blueprints, however, the code wouldn’t be of much use to them (they can even reproduce the Buoyancy Sphere code with Blueprint).
If there is anything that I can do to facilitate the integration, please let me know. My implementation is mostly aimed at newcomers, given that most of the people here are already comfortable with the existing workflow. I’m not sure how one shares a Blueprint macro, or how to recompile the plugin code with new code. If you could point me in the right direction, then I could fork the repo, update and then send you a pull request. I’ve had a little trouble with the repo since the updates to v1.0. When I try to sync when there are new changes, for Windows tells me that there are problems with the repo. I’ve tried deleting my local copy and cloning yours but as soon as I try to sync again, the error pops up. I haven’t tried with SourceTree, but I’m not sure that would be better. Do you know if anyone else is having trouble?
BTW, I’m also from Canada (Kingston, Ontario)
- Dean
The way I place the “spheres” visually is by having a vector array set to display 3d widget (which then you can drag and place wherever you want) then I simply copy that array and paste it to the test point array when I’m done placing them.
Also the sphere radius is not always best set visually, sometimes you might need a much larger radius than what you would normally set it so I would say it’s better set after a bit of trial and error, and you can draw debug spheres in play mode easily.
I’m not saying that way (with the sphere component) is bad, it just seem a bit unnecessary 
Copy-and-Paste of the values is what used as well, and if you know your way around the Buoyancy Movement Component (you are one of the people that I referred to in my earlier post about being comfortable with the current arrangement), then I can see what you mean. What I presented is something that I use myself for faster iteration. As you say, it’s probably not for . That said, even if integrates it, you don’t have to use it; it’s just a helper.
We’ve been discussing a couple ideas, but I think your solution would be ideal now that we have the TestPoint Struct in place. The buoyancy system is currently not very user friendly, so would be a big help for setting it all up and making adjustments.
For that reason I will be implementing your solution, just looking over the code trying to figure out the best place to add into the plugin. Thanks again for your help on , if I run into any issues I will get in touch!
Need to remeber to get that crow and seagull!
I’ve got a basic time tracking system (minutes hours days months) for fake time compression. Working on using the slowmotion stuff in the API to try to do 8000x time compression where the physics and logic and everything keeps getting called but no draw calls. If anyones interested in the time ticking BP I can post it, its pretty simple though, take a look in the BP_Skydome and adjust it to your needs.
Performance
Hey ,
In your testing, you state: " I have a GTX 980, and it runs at 110fps in editor with OBS recording, and 120fps PIE with multiple buoyant"
I just built an i7 6-core, 980 GTX, 16 ddr4 and a 500 gig SSD. However, when I test from the branch, I get ~73 fps in the editor and ~30 fps when I play in the editor. I’ve checked my world settings, tried on/off smooth frames under General, but nothing changes. I even left default Nvidia settings and don’t see anything wrong there either. Any idea as to how you’re getting significantly higher framerates?
Thanks
I might know! I forgot to push a change in which mackerel’s seperation multiplier is 7 instead of 3. You can change that easily in editor. That might give you like 10 frames. Also I believe he posted that framerate for an older build
Thanks . I’ll change the Mackerel’s multiplier, but I still thought with rig I’d get much higher framerates. Pretty disappointing.
Yes is a known bug that will be fixed shortly on the branch. For now you can minimize the effect by making sure the 's Tessellation setting is at 1.0. You can find it in the Appearance section of the details panel with the selected.
Hey ,
The performance numbers listed in the original post were from the blueprint, buoyancy code, and basic underwater PP/caustics. The fish AI system has added some more complexity to the project, and I too get similar framerates to those you mentioned above. The good news is all of the added parts are scalable, and we will be working on more aggressive LOD’s soon to try and minimize the performance hit.
I will update that info in the first post asap.
Thanks . Just having built system a few hours ago, I just wanted to ensure that I wasn’t missing something in my settings. I’m working on a VR project so framerate is absolutely critical. 120fps in the editor = ~37fps in the rift.
, quick question about the river tool. I am trying to use it for quick river implementation in our game. We have alpha coming up soon. What baffles me is how to use it. I can use the regular spline tool just fine, but not so much. It may be a stupid question, but how do you create more control points?
That’s pretty much the only I am having. Although I would love to see the river tool expanded on and given more features.
EDIT: Also, is there an installation guide for version 1.0. Haven’t done much with before so I don’t really know what I am doing. I guess an idiots guide would do the trick.
Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that the first version of my branch has been committed!
It also has a potential fix for the bug shown above by the way
First commit notes:
- Improved SSS that is also synced to sun’s rotation.
- Added simple material fix for disappearing at long distance.
- Added initial gerstner wave network sync (still WIP).
- Added new example map with smoother shore transition (plus other minor changes).
- Added more accurate method for when the camera goes underwater (check level blueprint).
- Added Source folder for easier plugin compilation
Lot’s more cool stuff are on the works so keep an eye for that
Screen of second map:
http://i.imgur.com/OYXqBt1h.jpg
(Click for original size)
PS: before you ask (or complain :p), the ship is not functional!
I’m working on a drivable ship example though definitely look forward to that! 