Improved Character Capsule Support

First, I do understand why all characters are forced to use a vertical capsule, and that is to handle rotations and navigation in complex environments. But everytime I set up a capsule for a new character, I run into several workflow issues which should be very simple to solve or even to completely automate.

Current Workflow

  1. Create character blueprint
  2. Attach mesh
  3. Fiddle with capsule size and moving character

Now the last point is the most problematic. First of all, I cannot figure out how to set the viewport in orthagonal mode in the Blueprint > Components section. Lining up the capsule to the character is very odd and tedious. In addition, the capsule sometimes appears to have inexplicably capped values, and this is very hard to reproduce or explain.

At one time both values capped at approximately 100 visually in the component BP editor, and the values wouldn’t go above 400. But now it works fine. And it definitely works fine when you compile it. Also the preview of the component doesn’t translate well to the game. At another point, I had a character look perfect in the game (I use the game to position to see where to position the character relative to the capsule by seeing when it starts hitting the terrain)… but once I compiled and played the game, the character was 5 feet in the air. Just a lot of weird buggy behavior.

Now here’s how I would like to see it work:

  1. Create character blueprint
  2. Attach mesh
  3. Press a magic button with scale input that will auto calculate the capsule size and character position. I suppose there is a possibility of implementing something in a construction blueprint?

Also how would you advise the implementing the following scenarios?

  • A Roomba character able to drive through a mailbox sized slot – short and fat
  • Many quadrupedal animals or vehicles that are longer than wide
  • A normally upright character that is swimming