Wow, you articulated that so concisely. And the part I bolded, that is exactly how my mental image of the problem is. Except you summed it up so much better and to the point. Thanks for explaining why it is a global parameter reasoning. I was half right at least. I just used too many words and didn’t step back enough to examine the issue better.
I see your point about it not really being about collision. Under the hood, the UE4 engine is not calculating two hard objects coming into contact. The result is a simulation of a collision, but behind the scenes, the engine doesn’t see it as a collision.
My brain just always pictured it as “invisible sphere of influence attached to player touches grass = grass moves.”
And that could somehow be a “system” not relying on global parameters. Thus, my focus on collision.The sphere and grass just need to know they are touching each other and grass reacts according to its material programming.
A global approach does seem faster and easier to apply to a game world though. I am very interested in how the UE4 documentation version is done.
You used the term “material.” Is it a material that bends the grass, and not shader? I was using shader for my questioning. I thought that’s how I could get foliage to bend because coming from Unity, it is a shader that bends foliage. Like the wind shader.
Is the UE4 method using a material? Can UE4 bend grass simply by adding a material to the grass mesh? If so, that is incredibly simple and . Especially for a visual learner, GUI reliant amateur like me - dragging a “bend” material onto the grass in Blueprint - UE4 would be my superhero.
Thank you for looking into the UE4 documentation. It would be wonderful to have the the foliage bend example material mentioned in the document. Having a foliage bend material would be insanely popular and, speaking for myself, convert me from Unity.
Thanks again for your very concise clarity. I am eager for your update.