# Water depth footstep sound effects **URL:** \ **Category:** World Creation\ **Tags:** Raycast, line-trace, unreal-engine, Blueprint, question\ **Created:** [July 30, 2019, 8:20am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063 "2019-07-30T08:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CorsairOfLight](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/corsairoflight/32/485641_2.png) [@CorsairOfLight](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/CorsairOfLight)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2019, 8:20am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/1 "2019-07-30T08:20:11Z")
Hello all, I am trying to set up a sound effect system for an ocean shoreline, that changes your footstep sound effect based on how deep the water is getting. Now I know that you have to set up line traces and all that, but how do you get them to detect meshes that don’t have collision (the water), let alone detect how deep the water is? What is the primary setup in this case? Thanks in advance! 🙂 ![283594-water-depth.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/5/2/8/5284ba27ca23504dde4f4357fd2fd4ee11087b9c.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Abdul\_Hasan\_Ali](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Abdul\_Hasan\_Ali](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Abdul_Hasan_Ali)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2019, 10:26am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/2 "2019-07-30T10:26:37Z")
You have to setup custom collision channels and stuff like that. I don’t know the details. Maybe here you find some info [Collision Filtering - Unreal Engine](https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/collision-filtering) ---
**Author:** ![Deathrey](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Deathrey](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Deathrey)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/3 "2019-07-30T11:33:39Z")
You would use a system, that gives you approximation of your water surface on CPU. ---
**Author:** ![CorsairOfLight](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/corsairoflight/32/485641_2.png) [@CorsairOfLight](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/CorsairOfLight)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/4 "2019-07-30T18:57:53Z")
What does a blueprint for this look like? ---
**Author:** ![LiL-Nase-Xatar](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@LiL-Nase-Xatar](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/LiL-Nase-Xatar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/5 "2023-07-03T15:17:40Z")
This video will help you [Let's Build the RPG! - 20 - Water Footstep and Jump landing Sound Effects - UE5 Blueprint Tutorial - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI0FW8yJBKU) ---
**Author:** ![Korwinthale](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Korwinthale](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Korwinthale)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/6 "2024-05-21T21:33:31Z")
This doesn’t work with oceans, I have tried every thing I can think of of nothing returns anything other than “default physical material” ---
**Author:** ![3dRaven](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/3draven/32/906552_2.png) [@3dRaven](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/3dRaven)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/7 "2024-05-21T21:38:11Z")
The ocean is at a set height =\> it never changes. Just compare your characters world position Z to the Z position of the ocean. Depending on the distance set certain thresholds to fire off different sound effects. ---
**Author:** ![Korwinthale](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Korwinthale](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Korwinthale)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/8 "2024-05-30T03:00:26Z")
Actually it does change depending on the wave depth, I finally got it to work by getting a collision profile name return on the Hit component output and comparing it with a == node to WaterBodyCollision and on True applying the appropriate effect. Now my characters footsteps register the water as it laps under them and can apply appropriate depth sounds as the waves change the depth of the water. I was trying to figure this out specifically to adjust the sounds on the fly as the character runs along the edge of the water on the beach so as the waves propagated under the characters feet the “splash” sounds would play but when they receded the “wet sand” sounds would play and the further out in the waves you ran then different assets etc. ---
**Author:** ![mengineZZ](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@mengineZZ](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/mengineZZ)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/water-depth-footstep-sound-effects/453063/9 "2025-08-18T22:08:05Z")
Hi! Could you provide a bit more info and visuals of the Blueprint and system itself? I am trying to get through the same issue. Many thanks in advance!