Hi,
I am working with Rama on a new PIE C++ plugin that will bring the much needed “Havok Settle” concept to UE4.
When laying out interactive objects in levels, simply pressing “end” to drop to floor doesn’t always work well with uneven terrains, or when multiple actors are clustered close together. Getting them to stay put when you hit play can be time consuming, and a real pain. Some level editors (e.g. Skyrim’s Creation Kit) have the option to place objects in your level in a simulation mode so they fall and settle down, and then get locked in place for a level start. That way you don’t get unexpected results, or things shooting up, or falling over, as you get to set their exact position that doesn’t interfere with other actors’ collisions.
UE4 PIE doesn’t have this feature, and so we are working on a C++ plugin that will add another Simulate mode in PIE through the menu, that will allow this. You will be able to pick up and drop individual objects, or groups of objects, or you can insert a special simulate physics volume into the level, and anything that has Simulate Physics enabled in that volume will settle down under gravity and find it’s calm position - during DESIGN. You can then drag the volume to the next room or dungeon or whatever, and do it again, and keep going.
I need this for myself, and I think this would be a really neat addition for level builders who have to spend ages trying to manually position objects during design. The most important goal here is to make it as built in and easy to use / seamless as possible so that it requires minimal config or clicks to use.
Just gauging interest to see if it’s worth putting polish on it and submitting to the marketplace. Should hopefully have some screenshots and videos shortly.