PCG Road Generator For UE 5.2 Tutorial

welcome and thank you for joining us for this exciting tutorial in this session we will delve into the world of procedural content generation and explore the incredible capabilities of our new product the procedural Road generator tool for Unreal Engine Unreal Engine has always been at the Forefront of innovation and with the introduction of Unreal Engine 5.2 epic games has brought forth a host of new features including the powerful procedural content generation framework this tutorial will demonstrate how to harness the potential of this framework and combine it with our road generator tool to create breathtaking environments within Unreal Engine throughout this video tutorial we will guide you step-by-step showcasing how to apply procedural content generated by our tool to create stunning scenes specifically we will focus on utilizing the quixel mega scans Library foliage enhancing the visual appeal of your environment before we delve into the tutorial itself we invite you to explore our Showcase Video on our YouTube channel titled PCG Road generator for Unreal Engine this video will provide you with an in-depth overview of the tool its functionalities and the incredible possibilities it offers for your projects so grab your popcorn sit back and get ready to embark on an exhilarating journey into the world of procedural content generation and the Limitless potential of our road generator tool for Unreal Engine before we dive into working with the exciting PCG content it's crucial to ensure that it is enabled in our project settings let's follow these steps to enable the plugin first navigate to the project settings section and locate the plugins tab once you're there type procedural content in the search bar to quickly find the relevant plugin confirm that the plugin is enabled by checking the corresponding box now that we have the PCG plugin enabled we can proceed to create our PCG graph to do this right-click within the content browser and select create PCG graph let's name our graph Road demo for clarity with the PCG graph created it's time to bring it into our scene drag and drop the PCG volume into the scene ensuring that you scale it up appropriately it's essential to position the road within the PCG volume as this volume represents the area where the content will be generated in the scene next click on the road generator and use the search bar within the properties panel to filter for the tag property here we need to create a tag name this tag will be used in the PCG graph to specify the target for Content generation by assigning this tag the PCG system will know precisely where to place the generated content please remember to complete this crucial step as it ensures that the PCG system functions correctly and accurately places the content within the designated area to open the PCG graph simply double-click on it upon opening you will notice two nodes input and output these nodes will be utilized later in the process to proceed press the tab key or right-click anywhere within the graph node area and type in get spline data locate the settings for this node and navigate to the actor filters section here select all World actors next choose actor selection by tag and input the tag Road it is important to note that the same tag has been assigned to our row generator by doing this we inform the PCG system where to generate the content now let's incorporate another node named transform points to better understand the scene and visualize the content generation process let's enable the debugging feature for this node by switching the scale method to Absolute in the debug options you can press the D key to preview the resulting content directly in the viewport this will provide you with a visual representation of where the generated content will appear within the transform points node you have the ability to manipulate the location rotation and scale of the spawn points these points serve as representations of future assets that will be replaced later by adjusting these values you can scatter the assets alongside the road let's experiment with some values and observe the result in the viewport to create a strip of trees for instance input specific maximum and minimum offset values as well as a rotation angle this will generate a series of points along the road simulating trees along the roadside however you may notice that the points are currently floating in the air to address this we'll introduce another node called projection to project these points onto the landscape to make the projection node operational connect it to the input node expand the input node and establish a connection between the landscape and the projection Target in the projection node to visualize the projection of the points activate the debugging mode on the projection node by pressing the D key again additionally ensure that you modify the scale method to Absolute in the debugging settings of the projection node this adjustment is crucial for previewing the projected points accurately on the landscape without this modification the preview may not show the projected points now with the projection properly visualized you will notice that the points are projected onto the landscape instead of floating in the air to extend the line of trees to the other side of the road follow these steps simply copy and paste the transform points node connect the copied node to the get spline data and projection node adjust the location values within the copied node to negative values this adjustment will effectively flip the points and position them on the opposite side of the road by following these steps you will be able to visualize the projection of points on the landscape and extend the line of trees to both sides of the road once you are satisfied with the initial settings and the placement of the projected points it's time to replace them with foliage assets for this example we will be using foliage assets from the qixel mega scan Library to replace the projected points with foliage assets follow these steps add a static mesh spawner node to the PCG graph to specify your custom meshes go to the settings of the static mesh spawner node and locate the mesh entry section to add variations of foliage assets add elements to the mesh entries array you can include as many variations as you desire in this case we will add a few tree variations to the array to add your custom meshes simply drag and drop them from the content browser to the mesh array in the descriptor section specifically in the static mesh field once you have added your custom meshes you should be able to see the trees scattered in place of the projected points now let's organize the nodes we have created so far by grouping them with a comment select all the nodes and create a group using a comment let's name this comment group trees using comment groups will make the PCG graph more organized and easier to navigate currently we don't have control over the number of instances trees spawned along the road to address this we will add a new node called spline sampler to our existing PCG graph this node between the transform Point nodes and the get spline data node the spline sampler node allows us to set the desired amount of spawned instances along the road spline by adjusting the value of subdivisions per segment in the node settings you can increase or decrease the number of Spawn trees along the road Additionally you can switch the mode value from subdivisions to distance and set the distance increment which represents the gap size between each spawned instance these settings will provide further control over the density and distribution of the trees along the road to incorporate grass and Scatter it along the roadside similar to the trees we can make use of the existing nodes we have created and modify their settings accordingly copy and paste all the nodes we have created so far excluding the get spline data node as we will continue using the same spline data group these duplicated nodes using a comment just like we did before and label the comment group as grass reconnect all the nodes together ensuring that the landscape is properly connected to the projection node this will ensure that the grass is projected onto the landscape and doesn't appear floating in the air along the road spline adjust the Min and Max offset values within each node to position the spawned grass at the desired locations within the static mesh spawner node replace all the static mesh entries representing trees with static meshes of grass this will ensure that grass is spawned instead of trees for the grass utilize the distance mode within the spline sampler node set the distance increment to a suitable value such as one to scatter the Grass more densely this will create a lush grassy landscape appearance by following these steps you will successfully add in Scatter grass along the roadsides using the existing nodes in your PCG graph adjusting the settings such as Min and Max offsets and the distance increment will allow you to precisely control the placement and density of the grass one of the exciting new features introduced in Unreal Engine 5.2 is the path tracing capability for spline mesh components let's explore how the road appears with path tracing enabled as you can see the results are incredibly realistic however one issue I noticed is that the trees appear rotated on steep areas of the landscape which is not realistic but there's a simple fix for this go to the PCG graph and access the settings of the projection node in the apply data section uncheck the project rotation option once you do this you will observe that the trees are now vertical just as they should be in the real world by disabling the rotation projection we ensure that the trees align properly with the terrain creating a more realistic and Visually pleasing scene to add an additional layer of visual interest to our road scene let's incorporate some dry leaves on the road or sidewalks this extra foliage will enhance the realism of our scene the process is similar to what we've done before utilizing some of the nodes we've already created copy the spline sampler and transform Point nodes we created earlier reconnect these nodes as before ensuring they are in the correct order group these nodes using a comment naming the comment group leaves since we don't need to project the leaves onto the landscape we won't use the projection node the position of the leaves will be based on the shape of the road rather than the landscape in that static mesh spawner node change the static mesh variations to dry leaves to represent the foliage adjust the location offset within the transform Point nodes to position the leaves on the road in this case we will place them alongside the curbs don't forget to adjust the Min and Max offset location values in the Z Direction this ensures that the leaves are spawned on the road surface rather than below it by following these steps you will successfully add dry leaves to the road scene enhancing the overall realism adjusting the settings such as Min and Max offsets and transform Point nodes and the distance increment in spline sampler node will allow you to precisely control the placement and density of the leaves with this flexible workflow you have the freedom to add as many layers of foliage or custom meshes as you desire in this particular presentation I've chosen to add an additional layer of foliage to further enhance the final result specifically I've opted to include dry weeds alongside the sidewalk creating the impression of an unmaintained or abandoned Road to incorporate the weeds onto the road I've copied the nodes used for spawning leaves and made necessary adjustments by modifying settings such as the Min and Max offsets and the transform Point nodes and the distance increment in the spline sampler node I've precisely scattered the weeds along the border between the curb and sidewalk this allows you to achieve the desired placement and add an extra Touch of realism to the scene one of the remarkable advantages of this workflow is the ability to quickly edit the shape of the Road by manipulating the road spline points at any point in the process you can add or remove Road modules without any additional steps required all changes are automatically projected onto the scene saving you time and effort this exceptional feature empowers you to create numerous variations effortlessly once you've established your PCG graph with the foliage you can make substantial changes to your scene without worry thanks to the procedural nature of the process everything adjusts automatically ensuring that all elements remain in their proper places whether you're making radical changes to the road shape or sculpting the landscape the adjustments will be projected seamlessly and effortlessly this level of flexibility and efficiency allows you to experiment freely iterate rapidly and ultimately create captivating environments with the assurance that everything will adapt and remain in place you can focus on the creative process without being burdened by tedious manual adjustments I encourage you to take our road generator for a spin and push it to its limits be sure to watch our showcase video of the PCG Road generator for Unreal Engine 5 which highlights all the incredible capabilities and features of this product you can find the link to the Showcase Video in the description below say goodbye to countless hours spent manually creating and placing assets with our road generator you can save time and effort allowing you to focus on refining your level design this workflow is designed to take your skills to the next level and enhance your overall level design experience you can find our PCG Road generator on the unreal Marketplace simply follow the link provided in the description of this video tutorial if you have any questions please don't hesitate to leave a comment or subscribe to our channel to keep you updated on all the exciting content we're working on thanks for watching this tutorial and don't forget to render your tale with us foreign

Channel: Rendertale

Views: 16,159

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Id: 9XxXJpTb-5k

Length: 14min 56sec (896 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 05 2023