Tag: Add-On

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Scatter for Godot

Today we are looking at Scatter for the Godot Game Engine. Scatter is a Godot add-on that makes it incredibly easy to instance mesh objects in your game level. This makes level design tasks like placing grass, paths, fences, etc incredibly simple. Additionally Scatter supports instancing multiple meshes (think different tree meshes to make a forest) in the same scatter, excluding splines or points from being scatter targets and more.

Scatter is an open source project with the source code hosted on GitHub under the MIT open source license. The project is implemented as a simple Godot add-on, so simply clone the repository into your projects Addons folder (or create one if you don’t have one already). Next load your project, go to Project Settings, then Plugins and make sure Scatter is enabled.

Once scattered is enabled, you create a Scatter object. This is a spline path that defines the boundaries of the scatter object. You need to add a ScatterItem child to your Scatter, then add a MeshInstance to the ScatterItem. This mesh instance is the 3D model that will be “scattered” around the boundary defined by the Scatter path.

The creator of the Scatter add-on also created Concept Graph for Godot, an excellent procedural generation extension we previously covered here. You can learn more about Scatter for Godot and see it in action in the video below.

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PowerIK For Unreal Engine Hands-On

Today we look at PowerIK for Unreal Engine, a full body IK solver. PowerIK was recently released as part of the December monthly UE giveaways as part of the free forever category. On the Unreal Engine marketplace, PowerIK was described as:

Power IK is a full-body IK solver that lets animators push and pull any skeleton with any number of effectors.

Use Power IK to easily align creatures to uneven terrain, or dynamically modify their pose at run-time. Power IK is a robust and efficient solver that produces remarkably natural poses even under extreme circumstances.

PowerIK has the following features:

  • Unique proprietary full-body IK solver
  • Power IK Solver AnimGraph node
  • Built-in ground alignment
  • Power IK Rig Actor Component for making interactive rigs
  • Bonus! Procedural animation example blueprints
  • Bonus! 6 sample skeletal meshes with fully documented blueprints

While it supports Unreal Engine 4.26, the current install will give you an error when you try to run PowerIK. If this occurs, on Windows the fix is fairly simple. Navigate to your install directory for UE 4.26, then navigate to:

\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\PowerIK\Source\PowerIKRuntime\sdk\lib\Win64

Copy the file POWERIK.DLL. Next paste it to the directory

\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\PowerIK\Binaries\Win64

Now it should work just fine. In the video below we go hands-on with PowerIK using the example project currently available for download here. If you run into some trouble, the documentation is available here.

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Godot On Steam Using GodotSteam

If you are creating a commercial PC game using Godot there is a good chance you are going to want to publish on Steam. If that is a case if your game requires any network services such as achievements, a leaderboard or DLC you are probably tempted to use Steam’s own Steamworks suite of APIs. In that case you most likely want to know about GodotSteam an open source implementation of the SteamWorks API for Godot 2/3, providing convenient GDScript interfaces for the vast majority of the Steamworks features.

GodotSteam is an open source project hosted on GitHub that is implemented using the Godot module system. The source code is under the flexible and permissive MIT license. There is a GDNative branch available although sadly it appears to have been abandoned. Being a module means you will have to download and build your own version of Godot, a process I describe in this video. If the world of Godot, modules and GDNative are all new to you, don’t worry, we have an overview available here.

If you want to get started with GodotSteam there are excellent tutorials and comprehensive documentation available here. You can learn more about Godot, Steamworks and GodotSteam in the video below.

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Unreal Engine 4.26 Water Simulation

Previously expected in Unreal Engine 4.26 Preview 1, the new experimental water simulation system from Fortnite has finally shipped in Unreal Engine 4.26 preview 3. The new water simulation system enables you to quick create realistic and highly configurable water simulations, including oceans, lakes and rivers. Of course the key word is experimental, this is a feature that is nowhere near ready for prime time.

You can see a quick preview of the water system in action in the video below. Given the fact that there currently exists no documentation and it seems several of the features are currently broken, the video by no means showcases all of the new fluid simulation systems capabilities. Currently the only information available on how to use the new system come in the 2 1/2 Epic Games livestream available here. While early on, the new system does seem incredibly promising. For now however, the UIWS, or Unified Interactive Water System from the September monthly UE4 giveaway is most likely a better choice.

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VPainter For Godot

VPainter is an open source free add-on for the Godot game engine that enables you to paint directly on 3D models. There are two modes of operation, one is to paint on the vertices of the mesh, while the second involves blending up to 4 different textures into one seamless material.

VPainter is open source MIT licensed and hosted on GitHub. To get started, merely clone (git clone _____) the repository https://github.com/tomankirilov/VPainter.git.

Next, copy the addons folder into your Godot project, merging it if you already have an addons directory.

Next, fire up the Godot Engine, go to Project->Project Settings, then select the Plugins tab and click enable:

Enabling an Add-on in Godot.

VPainter is now enabled and will appear in the editor window when a MeshInstance is selected. For further details on how to use VPainter or to simply see it in action, check out the video below.