I’m using/learning Unreal Engine to create 4D models for large construction projects.
A problem I keep running into is animating a trench being dug.
My solution is to create a blueprint where I have a spline and I can animate the position of an excavator along that spline and a segment of trench appears between the start of the spline and where ever the excavator is.
In my blueprint I have:
-The spline
-An animated mesh of an excavator making a digging motion with some dust clouds parented.
-I have a mesh of the trench in segments.
I can get the trench mesh to generate the length of the spline from following other tutorials.
I can adjust the position along the spline of the excavator, but I cannot get it animate in sequencer (the variable is editable and exposed to cinematics).
I would like to be able to animate the start and end position of the excavator and have it render in sequencer.
And I would like the trench segments to be generated along the spline based on the position of the excavator. This way it looks like the excavator is ‘digging’ the trench as it moves along the spline, generating trench segments behind it.
I’m pretty experienced as far as 3D stuff goes, but not so much coding/visual programming wise. I lack the perspective of how to communicate to the engine what I want to do via blueprints. So, if my blueprint looks a mess, its because its snippets of other BPs I’ve made and tried adapting from following tutorials.
If there’s a better way to accomplish what I’m trying to do I’m all ears.
The end goal is to be able to draw a line for the trench and be able to animate in the sequencer the excavator traveling along that line as it makes a digging motion and leaves behind segments of trench.
Thanks for reading!