K-Studio - K-Cloner

Distribution Product Discussion
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C4D-Style MoGraph & Procedural Instancing Framework

KCloner is an advanced C++ framework for Unreal Engine 5, designed to bring the industry-standard C4D-Style MoGraph workflow into a real-time environment. It provides a non-destructive, stack-based system for managing and animating Hierarchical Instanced Static Meshes (HISM) and Skeletal Meshes.

The MoGraph Workflow in Unreal

Built for technical artists and motion designers, KCloner replicates the familiar Cloner + Effector architecture found in traditional DCC tools. It bypasses the complexity of Niagara for layout tasks and eliminates the CPU overhead associated with Actor-based arrays, providing a surgical toolset for procedural world-building and animation.

Core Framework

  • C4D-Style Cloner System: Parametric distribution engines including Grid, Radial, Honeycomb, Mesh-surface and more.

  • Non-Destructive Modifier Stack: A procedural stack that allows for real-time reordering and tweaking of Noise, Step, Random, and Texture-driven transform modifiers.

  • Spatial Effectors: Proximity-based influence zones with Box and Spherical falloffs. Powered by nanoflann KD-Tree acceleration for high-performance proximity lookups across thousands of instances.

  • Runtime Animation Tweaking: Direct manipulation of all animation parameters—such as frequency, amplitude, and falloff—at runtime without requiring re-bakes or restarts.

  • Math Expression Engine: Integrated ExprTk math engine allowing users to write custom C-style mathematical logic to drive cloner behavior directly in the Details panel.

Production Pipeline Features

  • Baking Suite: One-click utilities for converting procedural cloner states into Vertex Animation Textures (VAT) or merged Skeletal Meshes.

  • Niagara Integration: Native Niagara Data Interface (NDI) to pipe cloner transform and color data into particle systems.

  • Sequencer Native: Every modifier parameter is fully exposed to Sequencer for frame-accurate cinematic control.

Performance & Optimization

  • HISM-Based: Aggressive LOD management and GPU instancing for handling 100,000+ instances.

  • Zero-Tick Evaluation: System-wide optimizations allow animations to be driven purely by time-steps or sequencer evaluation, saving significant CPU cycles.

  • Pure C++ Core: Minimal Blueprint overhead; designed for stable frame rates in high-density scenes.

Required Plugins: Niagara, AudioSynesthesia, GeometryCache

Support: taylorkipp@greeble.co. Feel free to send feature request along with any bugs you run into.