Jonathan Lindquist

Chief Technical Fellow, Duck Shake Games | Former Principal Technical Artist, Epic Games

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

Check out this real-time Niagara sim!

It uses Position-Based Dynamics, static volume textures to recreate the character's mesh, dynamically evaluated constraints and simulation stages.

HQ: https://t.co/oYAIdu6loS

#UE4Niagara #RealTimeVFX #UnrealEngine #Techart #VFX

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@iveytron For reals

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@Sa1tama4 Thanks :)
The sim was run in real-time. The particles referenced the limb sdfs to find their initial placement. The limb pivot point relative location was then stored. Then the particles just ran a phys sim and were or were not attracted to their updated bone relative location.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

Check out this real-time Niagara sim!

It uses Position-Based Dynamics, static volume textures to recreate the character's mesh, dynamically evaluated constraints and simulation stages.

HQ: https://t.co/oYAIdu6loS

#UE4Niagara #RealTimeVFX #UnrealEngine #Techart #VFX

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@natereesedev @Sa1tama4 Awee, thanks! I appreciate that :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@Sa1tama4 A new "query distance field function" is now available in the static mesh DI. You can use that to pull the engine generated distance field from each limb mesh rather than having to rely on volume textures.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@Sa1tama4 Hi there. I chopped the skeletal mesh up into pieces and then imported them as static meshes. From there I generated distance fields from the meshes and referenced those volumetric textures in the emitter to cull each limbs particles. There are a number of ways to do this.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@games_inu @amu_mhr @danielelliott3d @ChrisZukoArt The 4 hierarchical depth limit is only for the material thats supplied. The textures support depths into the thousands. You'd just need a for loop operator in either niagara or the material editor to process it. Doing it in Niagara would probably be the cheapest option.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@JR3DFUL_ So when 5.3 becomes available, you will be able to implement the feature by adding the "traverse skeletal mesh" module to a sim stage in a gpu emitter. Then notes will appear that will guide you through the process. This will be a large workflow improvement. :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

Check out this behind the scenes look at some of the techniques that were used to bring The Matrix Awakens to life :)

https://t.co/g0ApcA2hDf

#UE5 #GameDev #VFX #techart #UnrealEngine #realtimevfx

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@JR3DFUL_ Glad to hear it. Perhaps, I'll add an example asset to future content examples projects. Several improvements were made in 5.3 that make it easier to use. [1/2]

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@mradfo21 I'm interesting in this as well.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@_Jambax Turn what off?

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@tbAnimator @GeoffLesterCG Sweet stuff!

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@TearsOfJake Thanks! The "TraverseSkeletalMesh" module calcs 3D line/plane intersections for all of the edges. It was easiest to work in world space as we're tracking vec lengths over time, etc. Triangle adjacency info can be queried using a number of methods. Check out the module for more :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@thegamedevclub Sure thing. The youtube link contains a full presentation :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@mradfo21 I'm consistently blown away by your work :D

Please check out Matt's awesome talk on the visual effects within the Matrix Awakens if you haven't seen it yet :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@Tylru Hi!
The advanced Niagara map in the Content Examples project contains several particle-to-particle collision examples. This rope experiment was written before many of our new features came online. @SirWyeth included a similar, but more efficient, test in the examples map as well.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

This rope simulation experiment was generated with UE4's Niagara.

#UE4Niagara #techart #UnrealEngine #gamedev

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@diy_nguyen Hi, I'll send a dm. :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@colon_one_3 Unfortunately not.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

Local space decal and gradient projection system's are useful when working with movable objects.

This blutility converted a volume's transform into the mesh's local space before feeding it to the shader. Which allows the material to generate an internally projected decal.

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@Dr_Flambe @ThomasOfWilson Hi!
I'm not sure if the example was present in 4.27 but it hasn't been removed since it's addition. You will find it in the Niagara_Advanced_Particles map within the content examples project. The demo is called 3.8 - Structural Support. :)

[Jonathan Lindquist @TechArtJon]

@fergemanden I absolutely love this!