How to Make the NPC's Head Look At the Player in Unreal Engine 5

Hello guys, in this quick and simple tutorial we are going to learn how to make a the AI look with its head at the player in Unreal Engine 5.
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[@kiddskate12]

I love that when he is doing it and when he gets an error he SHOWS the error and how to fix it amazing work I cant wait for more tutorials

[@GorkaGames]

thank you!

[@I-VisiBomb-I]

except he doesn't. my character just looks up and i haven't a clue on how to fix it.

[@taskipl3802]

@@I-VisiBomb-I same did you fix it?

[@SimpleDeveloperOfficial]

@@I-VisiBomb-I Had a similar issue, this might fix it, go and select the Look At node and under Look At Axis, there should be something called In Local Space, try ticking that off and see if that fixes it

[@SimpleDeveloperOfficial]

@taskipl3802 Hey, I might have found a fix for it, go into your animation blueprint and select the Look At node, then under Look At Axis, there should be something called In Local Space, try ticking that off, its what I did to fix my issue

[@ESJoell]

You can forgo casting in the animation blueprint by replacing it with the "is valid" node (? kind not f) from get player character, and connecting get player character return node to mesh. It works even without the is valid node, but in all likelyhood, it will produce errors because the animation updates before the player character is loaded

[@al_my_pal]

Your nuanced tutorials are easy to follow and help me understand these basic but immersive features. I don't even have a decent PC for unreal 5 but I'm watching these before upgrading and diving in. You've earned a sub from me sir.

[@天才變態少女东北歌手]

set everyting to "low""low", and make game screen to smaller, it will be good word

[@sabramwasdart9027]

Your content is amazing for a starter in Unreal Engine like me. Thanks for taking the time to do this, legend! Subbed

[@GorkaGames]

thank you so much! I'm glad that you find my videos useful!

[@sabramwasdart9027]

One of the next videos maybe how to make a mini map in the top corner of a game? 👌🏼

[@Unyverses]

Another Banger Brother! Another Banger

[@LinuxPhantom]

Can you give us an idea of how to set it by distance? Ive noticed it follows you when your across the map. Amazing stuff by the way!

[@DeWessel97]

In the NPC animBP event graph, get the world location of the NPC & the player character, plug those into a Distance (vector) node. Use the resulting value to set a boolean variable, when the result < [ your preferred distance ]. Plug the bool into the Alpha of the Look At node. 🙂

[@electronicinfection]

@@DeWessel97 And map range the distance to 0 and 1 to get a smooth alpha value for the head transition. =)

[@ghostinhell666]

@@DeWessel97 Hey thank you kindly for the great explanation!

[@ty_teynium]

​@@DeWessel97 error message after compiling: uses potentially threaded unsafe call disable threaded update or use a thread safe call. Function may news BlueprintThreadsafe metadataadding.

[@DeWessel97]

@@ty_teynium idk man im not a programmer sorry 🤓if its a yellow error ignore it otherwise ask google or chatgpt lol

[@Blowave-]

Hey, I've done this tutorial, but the character instead of looking at the player, it looks up and when I move around it, it avoids looking at the player, can you pls help?

[@furioarts]

Had same. Search for "in local space" not ticked in lookat node

[@ghazalmajidi]

@@furioarts Lifesaver!!!! Thank you!!

[@RaulMartinez-bt3vm]

Nice content Gorka, I love your tutorials, you come up with interesting content and you explain it very well! A few things, can you expand on the functions of this video tutorial to make the player character have a head tracking mechanic so the head of the character follows the camera? Also, I'm looking forward to more of your parkour mechanic tutorials like the vaulting video you made some time ago.

[@procrastinator24]

great video, thanks! I was trying to replicate all of that on my own in my Anim BP, glad I found your video to show me a much quicker and more simpler way!

[@draicor]

Hey mate, good tutorial, I love how you explained some of the nodes too.

[@beckhanra]

Thanks mate! Used this tutorial to make player characters head follow the camera: camera world location, forward vector multiplied by some etc, from your line trace tutorial. Works like a charm

[@ASTRAL15293]

what can i do if the head rotates reverse???

[@miquelsalvatejedor3123]

Love you Gorka! just what i needed! Aupa ahi!

[@KANAWA2025]

all simple and cpntruct - good job bro!

[@dontribal739]

How do you adjust the range of when the NPC looks at you? Currently, the NPCs all stare at my player when I'm far away. How do I make it so they don't look until I'm closer?

[@buennyo]

Thank you so much for your work and help! ❤

[@larabatech1200]

mindblowing as usual

[@rocketpoweredchimpgamesphi7798]

Great and simple as always! Thanks Gorka! :o)

[@FactSlash]

This is so cool thanks keep up the good work, and congrats on 18k subs.

[@GorkaGames]

thank you so much!

[@FroiDevUE]

Again, saving the day 🙏🙏

[@imercutio]

Awesome tutorial. Would be great to see how this works for First Person.

[@fnafbusters8208]

Very helpful Tutorial! Only one quesstion, if I want to use the Look at feature on a Blendspace, what would I need to connect to the second pin in the blend layer per bone?

[@AliBounds]

I was just playing street fighter the other day thought that was cool. Now im here

[@wolfiedgr8t]

Excellent man,thanks for the great tutorial ♥

[@hardcoregamer739]

I know I'm a couple months late but do u know how to restrict that animation to distance?? As in I want the NPC to look at me when I get in their vicinity, it would be exceedingly weird if u just walk in a marketplace or just down the street and every single soul(NPC) is staring at u XDXD. Thanks in advance!!!

[@NOOBIEPIE]

Idk if you found out, but you can add a sphere collision in your NPC BP and set it to only overlap pawn, and then from there you can set a boolean variable to decide if the player is in range or not

[@thejusticesong4696]

additionally you could calculate the distance between the character and your NPC and adjust the blend you find in the look at node to make it fade in using the distance

[@theoldrsftw]

I always wondered how to do this. Thank you for the guide.

[@electronicinfection]

Does anyone notice the npcs head turn to the left (right from pov of npc) is kinda limited compared to the other side? Feels weird. Maybe it has something do to with the idle aimation or ue5 mannequin?

[@ty_teynium]

2:03 get player character ---> get component by class [Static Mesh Component ] --> get socket Location?

[@guxango8630]

First comment. Great video!

[@GorkaGames]

thank you!

[@kimochisaiko6442]

great as always

[@javisartdesign]

Nice and easy trick! thanks

[@GorkaGames]

my pleasure!

[@Moctop]

That's nice but how to you blend it into an existing animation?

[@EisonDoesEverything]

Could use an animation notify state and then send it via a blueprint interface which sets the value you need on notify begin and notify end.

[@lga9046]

One question. I have an instance of NPC that I have coded to do several random anim sequences as they roam the level, and after assigning this new ABP_AI_Look anim to them, I find that the animation sequences that are playing are overriding the ABP_AI_Look code to look at player. They play normally without the head moving. How can I make it so those sequences are also affected by the Look To Code in the Animation BluePrint?

[@twoorobbie]

Do you have one where your character could turn their head im trying to go for a realistic type of game but can’t find any videos on it

[@JeffreyZweigII]

Head seems to freeze in the position of where my player starts, and does not move after that. any idea why it's doing that?

[@IMoresoft_Studio]

Thank you

[@GorkaGames]

my pleasure!

[@christofferplatou2828]

Dope, thanks! How would I make this a variable so it wouldn't always be on?

[@killerthepro756]

Great vid and when will you make the hotbar and what are the details just to expect a good video

[@GorkaGames]

soon hopefully man!

[@killerthepro756]

@@GorkaGames Great but what are the details of the hotbar video

[@TolisPiperas82]

I hope will add it in the ai of the rpg series in the future?

[@GorkaGames]

yes!

[@TolisPiperas82]

@@GorkaGames when is the next rpg video?

[@kenalpha3]

My head bone is -Y down, +Z forward (eyes forward). And +X is left ear. What do I put for Look up Axis or Look At axis? (I tried all 3: X only (1, 0, 0), Y only (0, 1, 0), or Z only (0, 0, 1). But my AI neck is not rotating along the Y axis, it is tilting sideways.) [Edit 2: #2 solved. But #1 and 3 arent] 2) My AI is a child of my char BP (thus its anim BP uses same as Player). So what is the logic that if self = Player (human), then dont do the neck turn? Do I put that check in Event Graph or AnimGraph? I dont see the node (in AnimBP terms) to [get self] or [get is player] node, so I can add a Bool branch.) Ty Edit 2: The Bool in Event Graph has to be before the Cast To. So before his CastTo 1:38, add [Get Owning Actor] == [Get Player Character]. Feed that into a Branch. (If the Owning Actor of the AnimBP equals Player Character, then True for the Branch.) Then make and set a new Variable called "Is Player?" (this Var is needed to fix my problem of not being able to add the same == check nodes in Anim Graph.) So then in Anim Graph, add [Blend Posses by bool]. Drag in "Is Player?" at red pin. At True Pose, add a Saved CachedPose of BEFORE the head turn code. And at False (if we are not player - then we will use his head turn code), connect the Output of his Head turn code. Then the Output of [Blend Posses by bool] connects to your final [Output Pose] node (running guy icon). I also added a 2nd Look At node for Spine1, Clamped at 10. And I split the Z pin of "Look at POS." I subtract 50 before it plugs into the 2nd Loot At node (for spine1, since it is lower than head/eye height, I dont want the spine tilting up too much). ==============OLD Edit: I did try putting Blend Posses by Bool in AnimGraph, with a bool and [Get Player Character] == [self]? But it gives a warning for using [Get Player Character] node in AnimGraph: _"Node Blend Poses by bool uses potentially thread-unsafe call Get Player Character . Disable threaded update or use a thread-safe call. Function may need BlueprintThreadSafe metadata adding."_ I also put the Bool in Event Graph, but it seems to do nothing for true vs false.

[@kenalpha3]

How do we reduce/clamp the Tilt chin up/down more than the Twist neck (rotate)? They use the same value = unrealistic. When my player is very close and jumps, the AI chin tilts up too fast/too extreme, even with Interpolation time = 10. The Clamp angle is too big for Chin up. I want to reduce it by 1/2. Because irl the eyes will move up before the head tilts up - thus the chin will not tilt up so extreme/fast. But in UE, they are treating the neck Twist and Tilt up as the same value.

[@NotSVGames]

Is this video applicable for the rpg series??

[@RSProduxx]

of course

[@GorkaGames]

yeah!

[@chavlaz]

it works;... but it's all inversed. any ideas?

[@nihilepsy3053]

Is there a way to make him only use 1 rotation axis like yaw

[@차승준-m9g]

Thank you, look at.

[@GrimsinxGaming]

Just spot on tutorial thanks so much.. My AI character when he runs its a loop can help fix please

[@mechuxxxxxx]

hi, great tutorial, can you add how to limit his range when he start looking, because it will gonna look weird with a room full of people constantly watching you at every second :)

[@kenalpha3]

Same. I wish he'd show/code the features/pre answer the basic questions that most modern games already have by 2023 - to make it a complete tut. Because I see a lot of people asking the same thing. I semi know the logic, but not how to implement in Anim BP, because the nodes are kinda restrictive/backwards compared to Blueprint code. Thus I am left wondering with you. Also he's using CastTo player, and only showing how this works against a single target (Player). By 2023, someone knows how to code it for Wildcard/BPI - look at whoever the AI is currently looking at (e.g. last interacted Actor/Player or closest distance). But again, I dont know how to implement that in AnimBP. So it's frustrating when I know the answer/code exists, but not shown, so I must keep searching.

[@heresmynovel331]

Have you found any answers please???

[@mechuxxxxxx]

@@heresmynovel331 nope, i just stoped watching his tutorials, because its getting me nowhere above things he is showing

[@mechuxxxxxx]

@@heresmynovel331 and i bought udemy course unreal blueprints 101 so im aproaching this problem with learning from the beginning

[@georgebessinski2122]

Anybody knows how to implement it inside behavior tree, so that npc only looks at the player if he`s in line of sight?

[@badboy-sc7gt]

i have a problem when player 1 jump NPC's looking up, but when player 1 crawl position, NPC'S not looking down? so why

[@zeeshankhan-gw2lv]

Great thanks

[@muneebhero1159]

Can you teach how to make score or points system

[@kriswintf2027]

but how to Attach pawnsensing component to head bone?

[@ryansaper]

I have a problem where my character looks at me, but once he interacts or touches anything, he freezes in that position and nothing animates on him. This only happens with the look at player system, but it's fine when I remove it from the abp.

[@MilanKarakas]

Excellent!

[@ulurag]

Can you make a video about how to child collision components so they move together with the mesh as it animates, like if you have a bird and put a capsule collision on the beak and as the bird moves into different poses the capsule collision component moves and rotates with the beak of the bird wherever it goes?

[@kenalpha3]

Do you mean a Character? > SK mesh? And which engine? Im using modular meshes in UE4.27, with Set Master Pose component/function. Which means I have my default SK player "mesh." Then I added a child mesh. But when I imported, they share the same skeleton (but different parts of the mesh are filled in. E.g. just body mesh or just hair mesh). Thus the Set Master Pose node syncs their animations together to use only the anim BP set for "mesh" (and saves processing.) But you can apply different physics to the child meshes, like wiggle hair, something in the bird beak. But UE4.27, their default physics is very extreme/buggy unless you fine tune 100 settings that they dont explain. Idk if they fixed in 5.1. But there is an addon called Kawaii physics. It may be easier to setup like I said above, then use Kawaii to make the [worm/beak] wiggle - connected to the main SK mesh body/move with the animation - let have some independence.

[@brightboy18]

Maybe you already have a video but is there a way to make the NPC/Boss AI body always face the player

[@QuailCraft]

I'm having an issue where look at, setting the interpolation time does nothing. its set to 3000 and the head snaps instantaneously.

[@Cemrekartworks]

Hello, I just discovered you. I'm kind of new to the gaming industry. I am improving myself thanks to your content. I'm planning to make a horror game. Can you tutorial some more content about this? Things like jumpscare, moving objects, turning lights on and off, interacting with objects. + Subbed. I'm thinking about making a donation in the future for you. Thank you.

[@LuciousKage]

Niceee! does that work other way around too ? if i want my character to look at someone ???

[@bazio5592]

Maybe locomotion system next ?

[@GorkaGames]

check my RPG #2!

[@jesseyules]

Hi! Q: What settings should we change if we're using BP First Person?

[@simu_lacra]

The only thing you have to change is to cast to your FirstPersonCharacter BP instead of third person in the event graph.

[@Slaysh3rxx]

How can we do in fps ? İ worked too much but cant do :(

[@АндрейКислов-б4з]

The head is looking in the opposite direction, how to fix it?

[@SafixGames]

Same..

[@projectMAINCORE]

cast to third is not showing up so its not working anymore.

[@BLOG_BAR]

how to do this with the character's head, the same mechanics do not work, it tears off the head

[@cyanicgames5224]

I dont know why but the way my character looks at player seems to be inverted? It looks to the opposite direction, when he is on my left side the character tilts head to their right side. Any idea how to fix this?

[@stibaer573]

Had the same problem. I was able to solve it by going into the AnimationBluePrint, AnimGraph, selecting the yellow LookAt and on the right side under Details under LookAtAxis, changing the Y-Axis from 1,0 to -1,0. I hope this helps.

[@rashidfarhan6223]

this is soo easy in unreal and kinda hard in unity

[@TrespasserAlt]

for some reason my character is looking up while tracking the player, pls help.

[@Mr.Chris_PL]

Make sure to select the look at node and in details in look at axis part disable in local space, worked for me.

[@screenapple1660]

Wait... how do you make a player turn its head on enemy and far away head turns with mouse?

[@alejandrogarcia4394]

Hola Gorka, no sé si puedes ayudarme. Me gustaría hacer una fila de personajes andando por un mismo recorrido (spline) y que paren cada 2 segundos y luego continuen andando y que vuelvan a parar y asi, todos en fila uno tras otro. He visto ya 20000 tutoriales y no encuentro el modo. Podrías recomendarme alguno? Te estaría enormemente agradecido tio. Un saludo.

[@RSProduxx]

nice

[@GorkaGames]

thanks!

[@XjjxHxhdusi]

My medal have 2head(head’headTop_End) if I use head he look up to sky

[@allashama]

this technicle doesnt work if your target to look at is an object without head bone. The AI will look up in the sky instead of looking at target, even with the Actor Location. If someone know the tip to make the AI looking at a target instead of a head bone. Thanks!

[@I-VisiBomb-I]

I have a head bone and it still just looks up.

[@emptybruh]

@@I-VisiBomb-I Yea for me, not sure whats going on, have you figured it out? The problem is caused by Mixamo rig joints being wrong orientation

[@Mr.Chris_PL]

For the looking at sky just make sure to select the look at node and in details in look at axis part disable in local space, worked for me.

[@FoxoticTV]

Nice but you forgot to mention how to do this within proximity, they're always gonna look at you even 100000 miles away.

[@2010Edgars]

My npc enemy looks with degree offset.

[@g-dojjo]

Thanks for tutorial!! :3 but i have a weird problem with rotation way :D My AI looking at to reverse side :D When my player right AI looking at Left side :D

[@g-dojjo]

Okey im fix it lol :D If your AI looking at another way just adjust : In "AI" Anim Blueprint---Anim Graph--Look At(NOD)Click it--at Right Panel Find"Look At Axis" in Skeletal Control--Change Axis! mine is "Y" "-90"

[@nassergreatdeveloper3745]

3:23 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@wallacejvm]

Casting in update animation is not a good practice, it will make you lose a lot of performance in the blueprint

[@gail_blue]

For April fools, you should make a video that's hard to follow.

[@I-VisiBomb-I]

like someone said before, the character just looks up at the sky all the time. this is disappointing...

[@sideeffectstudios7236]

Nice tutorial but it didn't work

[@TheDudeAbides421]

Algo