How To Create Swimmable Water With Functional Swimming Animations - Unreal Engine 4 Tutorial

[@gamedevbrownbus2871]

It might be a bit late, but if you worry about those errors, you could move the setting of the character ref to the tick, and use a validated get, so that as soon as there is a valid character ref, it sets it, but wont try to access it before that

[@MattAspland]

Thanks for letting others aware man! I did fix this afterwards but forgot to write an update in the comments, so I appreciate you letting other people know your fix to it.

[@yassinehentati2297]

How do you do that, could you add more details please ? btw im just a beginner but thank you a lot for the comment

[@FreakSheepVODS]

yea i agree a littlebit more info on how to will be great not really helpfull

[@gamedevbrownbus2871]

@@yassinehentati2297, @Gamers Network DevTube, So what I mean, is in the Animation Graph, instead of setting the character ref in the "begin play", you do it after the "Event Blueprint Update Animation" node, after the isValid. The way you do it is just create a variable with the type of "Third Person Character", and just drag it in as a get, then right click "Convert to Validated Get", and from The isValid exec pin, you just connect it to the node it was at originally, but from the "Is Not Valid" you do the same logic as in the video (so get Player Character --> cast to Third Person Character --> and instead of promote, you just set the variable you created earlier (because you already created the variable you dont need to promote it again)). Ill link a screenshot to clarify. ibb.co/5hT0Tvn

[@gamedevbrownbus2871]

@@FreakSheepVODS Hi, I posted a reply just now but I couldnt tag you for some reason, so it's in the thread if you are still interested

[@StephenPotter-uu9vz]

Matt, I know this video is 3 years old.. I just wanted to take the time to thank you for all your tutorials. Every one i've followed from you have been spot on! Just started playing around with Unreal and its a little overwhelming... You have made learning a little easier. Thank you! Stephen

[@tearsinrain8002]

I want to give you a big virtual hug! I've been going bonkers for almost 24 hours trying to solve this and this has helped me do it! Good man - keep up the good work!

[@elenadmpl]

Please protect this man and the knowledge

[@Arengan]

If you have an issue that I have at Unreal Engine 5 you might not actually see animations playing that because you have to plug both 'Speed' and 'Ground Speed' to the 'Set is Swimming' at AnimBP

[@Vladd_1605]

So does this tutorial work also for unreal engine 5?

[@develop4fun]

The bug is easy to fix: you need to check that Character_Ref is valid before setting Is_Swimming? animation (Event Graph). Thanks so much for the tutorial, I learned a lot! I will follow your other videos with great pleasure :-)

[@МаксимПетров-ы1з]

thx

[@saifchowdhury974]

Thank you so much! I didn't know you had to download swimming animations for it to work!

[@Blake240p]

This deserves way more exposure... Thanks man, great tutorial! Before giving up and searching KZbin, I was banging my head against a wall for several hours trying to just make the damn 3rd person character swim. lol I had no idea this much work would have to go in to make this work... There is so much done for us in UE4 but things like this aren't? I'll be scratching my head on this for a while.... Maybe it's just because I haven't been programming in UE4 long enough(It has been about 3 months) to realize that it was already basically done to begin with?

[@MattAspland]

Thank you man, glad you found it helpful :) and yeah Ue4 does a lot of the basics then it’s up to us to do the more complex parts, but it just takes a little time to learn then as soon as you do it becomes second nature, good luck with it all :)

[@aiarch]

Thank you very much for the tutorial as this is something no one shares. Those who know want to keep it a secret and those who make videos on KZbin do not know it 🙂👍

[@EmreCizmeci]

if i want entire ocean for swim , i must do this?

[@dage6131]

man you really are the best tutorial guy i ever found. thankyou

[@conkerthesquirrel4331]

If anyone is still having issues on the errors - I swapped the is swimming enum for the typical "isSwimming" function validate. Basically just look at how "set 'isinair' is done. Green "isSwimming' Validate then output that bool to the Set Swimming variable we created. The rest of the script can remain exactly as the tutorial.

[@elenadmpl]

Great tutorials thank you so much

[@CAB355]

Автор очень благодарен Вам за урок, особая благодарность за подробное изложение темы, и да, я присоединяюсь к Блейку и его комментариям, я также боролся в течение нескольких часов, пытаясь заставить персонажа плавать. Но ваш урок поставил все на свои места всего за 20 минут. Еще раз большое спасибо Мэтт

[@MattAspland]

Привет, большое спасибо. Я очень ценю это. Я рад, что смог помочь тебе и другим. :) Еще раз спасибо и удачи в ваших будущих проектах.

[@megtwin]

You can fix the error message about the character reference by adding a .2 delay between the delta time variable and the is valid at the beginning of the Event Blueprint Update Animation.

[@MattAspland]

Yep, I fixed this later on and forgot to mention it. So thanks for making others aware too! :)

[@megtwin]

@@MattAspland Did you cover surface swimming, I couldn't find a video on it?

[@MattAspland]

@@megtwin I didn't no, I might come back to it and do that however. Good idea

[@megtwin]

@@MattAspland Good!

[@ShawnDaGeek]

Very good tutorial. I do have a question if it is still relavent. In 5.0.3 there is no "Get Movement Mode" function, only Set. Does this function need to be prewitten, is it in a plugin or is it engine for what version?

[@MC-Form]

For some reason, I can't "Get Character Movement" around 13:15 in the video, any ideas why? Using UE 4.27, great tutorial!

[@MC-Form]

Ya know what, Just in case somebody else comes across this problem, Cast to the Character blueprint, not the animation blueprint!

[@ScreaminBaby]

Thanks for the tutorial, well done!

[@ACETVx]

Hello, could u do a tutorial on how to swim on surface? as right now when u try to float on surface the character pops up for some reason and i cant get oxygen as im going underwater everytime i try to float on the water.

[@MattAspland]

I could look into doing that yeah :)

[@DirtyPoopers]

i tried using a trigger box to set gravity scale to negative. It works but creates a bouncy forcefield. I then created another "buffer" trigger box near surface with a weaker gravity scale. It works OK but let me know if you have tried something else! I was also thinking about using an "invisible floor" that would keep character at surface, then maybe make a function that makes it go away if player wants to "dive under"

[@sweatyhaggis4303]

anyone know how to get smooth transitions if the character was leaving the water on a beach for example? My character kinda swims on the land for a bit before he stands up

[@studiobaxter1242]

I had this problem, and this was the solution for me: Go into your water body blueprint. If you don't have one, select the water body in the details panel of the editor and next to the Add button, click the button that converts an actor to a blueprint. Open the blueprint and in the details panel scroll to collision presets, and change it from 'water body collisions' to 'custom'. Scroll down and set the collisions responses manually to ignore, except for 'world dynamic' 'pawn' and 'physics body'. Set those to overlap.

[@MaverickSF]

Great job my friend!!! This going to help me!!! Thank you and congratulations!!!

[@MattAspland]

Thank you man! Happy I could help! Best of luck with your project! :)

[@SafaAlkan]

When i built the lights, under of the water become fully dark, how can i fix that? I put point light but its not solve that :/

[@SafaAlkan]

Also ı downloaded animations that you provide us. I also use mannequin skeleton etc. but the animation doesn't look properly. Mannequin's feet looks attached to each other somehow, how can i fix that?

[@hillstudios1]

Bro thanks for awesome tutorials..

[@LyubomirIko]

Great tutorial as always!!!

[@stefanleroux8750]

Hi. I have a request if it is possible. Dont know if you have played cowboys of the old west. In the inventory you can use the mouse , keyboard and gamepad. But the gamepad analogue stick is like the mouse . You can controll the cursor with the analogue stic and any button on controller as the mouse left button. Is there any way you can do this? Hope this make sense.

[@MattAspland]

I think I understand what you mean, I haven't played it no but I can have a look. I'll look into seeing if I can accomplish this, can't make any promises though sorry lol, but I'll definitely look into it though :D

[@Flyontheend]

Hello! I was fallowing ur other tutorials and got the "crounch" then when my character start to swim he can crouch in the water D: there is something I can change that? I've started learning UE4 these days, and you are the BEST!! keep doing this amazing work!

[@MattAspland]

Hey, ha I can imagine that's a sight to behold lol. I think a good way to stop this from happening is on our crouching code, to just have a branch to see if we are walking, basically not swimming or falling etc. If we are, then we can crouch, if we aren't, then we can't, so don't do anything. I'll create some code and link an image below so you can see what I mean. Hope this helps :) And thank you so much, I really appreciate that support and feedback! All the best of luck with your future in UE4! :) imgur.com/a/CDaLszD

[@Flyontheend]

@@MattAspland Wooow its amazing! you are amazing man

[@MattAspland]

@@Flyontheend That's great news, always happy to help! All the best of luck with your studies :)

[@Heyratdtyrhrn]

I'm using the 4.26.1 water plugin and for some reason I just walk at the bottom of the ocean, please tell me how I fix it. Oh sorry I fixed it

[@deathpony3333]

how did you? trying to implement this in my game too

[@Heyratdtyrhrn]

@@deathpony3333 Did you add a physics volume if you did make sure you tick water volume

[@deathpony3333]

@@Heyratdtyrhrn Thanks so much, I guess I missed that tiny detail

[@jameshiggins4410]

ive downloaded the swimming animation you have used but when importing its giving me errors any chance you know how to fix this

[@MattAspland]

Hi, it might be that the animations aren't animated for the skeleton you are working on. I'll re-upload the animations for the Ue4 mannequin and see if that fixes it for you :) Swimming Animations: drive.google.com/drive/folders/157ft2qKBu8vnvSjnVdus4MwRF9PL7PUt?usp=sharing

[@philippec7213]

Thank you very much, very usefull 😀👍

[@_just.a.player_]

Will this work in ue 5???..

[@Preirin]

Thank you for the tutorial. Quick question: if I have an odd-shaped body of water such as a lake, do I need to piece together multiple processing volumes or can I use a single one under the terrain that matches the level of water without messing the landscape up? Also, are there any free swimming animations? Or did I miss them in the starter content? Cheers

[@tanglefur4852]

Nah, you could use one processing volume, just put it the side you want it for. forswimming animation check the marketplace or web theres some that are fre

[@emilylemke7299]

I'm working in 4.25 and having a difficult time finding the "Get Movement Mode". Any suggestions on what I can do to go around that bit?

[@MattAspland]

Hi, I think it should still be there in 4.25. Make sure you are trying to get it from the "Character Movement". So drag and drop the character movement into the event graph, and drag out of that before searching for "Get Movement Mode". If that still doesn't work, you can un-tick context sensitive in the top right of the search bar. If neither of those work for you, let me know and I'll keep looking into it :)

[@danliviu75]

best tutorial, thanks

[@TheChristianProdigy]

idk what happened, the animation was working perfectly fine but all of a sudden it stopped working, would you by any chance know why?

[@MrSmashmasterk]

It could be that you need to set its number of loops to be high.

[@aethylwulfeiii6502]

I’m stuck because I am trying to follow this tutorial but I am using it on a Mixamo character and the animation event graph is different so I can’t seem to get the swimming animations to play, also I am in unreal engine 5.1. Although I can get the swimming mechanics and swimming mode to enter into. I’m not sure what could be wrong. I have my swimming animations loaded in from the blendspace.

[@mferr11]

I don't know if you'll se this, but if you do I was wondering if you knew how to rotate the capsule component along with the player, so that the collision lines up with the mesh? I've been trying a bunch of things and just can't get it to work without completely bugging out. I figured rotating the capsule and using root motion would work, but I can't get the capsule to rotate 90 degrees (so the character lies horizontally as if swimming) and then rotate from there based on the camera. Any suggestions? Also, when my camera goes underwater in the editor, it has a depth of field effect, but when playing it does not have the depth of field effect. Do you know what might be causing this?

[@rocketpoweredchimpgamesphi7798]

Think I saw that exact problem on another (totally unrelated) tutorial somewhere that to rotate your capsule component, you need to create a capsule first, rotate it, and only then add the character mesh to it as you can't do it when the character is already "complete" i.e. has a capsule/ character movement / mesh etc.. Sorry can't find the tutorial now, but Google may help?

[@Grand_Alchemist]

The second to last part doesn't work for me -- the player doesn't rotate smoothly back to an idle position. It should work but doesn't.

[@sirtalltell]

Idk if it’s too late to post on this video or if anyone will see his but… I followed this to a T… three times and when I stop swimming and it goes to the idle anim my character will rotate upside down and if I move my mouse left and right with will turn in a circle like a ferris wheel. Idk how to stop it or if it’s my camera settings. Please help. 😅

[@quechus13]

Hello! I did it and it works! but when I leave the water and jump, the jumping isn't the same, like the gravity gets heavier or something. Could use some help.

[@blueprintgames9795]

Very good. Dives?

[@MattAspland]

Thank you, and I can look into implement that too, it would essentially be an animation playing to jump in :)

[@itsmfdanbruh]

does this work on ue5?

[@kammanpl450]

Will it work with ue4 4.26 water plugin???

[@MrSmashmasterk]

My swimming blendspace is not being triggered, and I'm not sure why...

[@jason_tarr]

I'm not sure if you are still active on this tutorial, the issue I am having is when I (or my camera) enter the water volume (cube) the edges aren't visible. If the camera pans above the water volume I can see the surface/edge but not if the camera is inside the object. Have you experienced this / know how to fix it? I'm on UE5.0.3

[@flamewheel1747]

hey, been following the create stuff from the Crouch, and was working on adding the Swimming into something for trials, except one thing: I can't get it all to work so i can use Crouch Anims and Swim Anims... is there a way to get that to work at all? I have it otherwise set up as you did for both, but I've got no clue how I'd go about making it do both at the same time (and if there are more animations I wanna add to the creations hereafter). I'm using the 3rd Person stock in case you're wondering.

[@dodart273]

wheres the swiming anim? btw thanks

[@MattAspland]

Hi, I just used the second, of three, swimming animation off of mixamo.com www.mixamo.com/#/?page=1&query=swimming

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

So, I didn't have any swimming animations. I went and got the Swimming Animation Set by Hammerhead. I went to just happily drag the 2 Animations that matched what were used in the video. They didn't want to let me do so. I got a red dot on the BS Graph instead of a Green Dot. I couldn't see them on the list of Animation Assets either. So I copied them into the folder the Starter Animations were in. Still couldn't use them. Not sure why. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[@debrupsaha6679]

How do i fix the leg?...please help

[@MattAspland]

Hi, what's wrong with the leg in your project?

[@debrupsaha6679]

@@MattAspland Sir if u see carefully when i swim underwater the foot of the right leg is kinda buggy....like it is twisted...btw thnx for the video

[@MattAspland]

@@debrupsaha6679 Oh okay, are you using the mannequin or have you got a custom character skeletal mesh? And no problem :)

[@debrupsaha6679]

@@MattAspland im using the mannequin

[@redlettervagrant1159]

Do you know why I'm not sinking to the bottom, though all of the other setting are working fine?

[@MattAspland]

HI, you would only sink to the bottom if you already have a force pushing you down. For example, jumping in the water would force you to go down, otherwise you would stay in place but float around a little. This is just how the unreal base swimming physics work.

[@ananyaejain2525]

Hey you can make water through water plugin and land mass plugin enabled. BTW video is awsome

[@Im_pro_true16]

does this still work 2022?

[@joshuaallison9847]

How do you fix the weird hop when you exit the water. I've narrowed it down to the Idle/Walk JumpStart rule, if you delete the rule the transition from swimming to walking on a beach is smooth but there are some other issues that arrive from that. I tried adding a clause on the jumpstart rule to only trigger if the character z position is above a certain amount but thats not ideal since it calls the get character ref without any verification the object is created. It works but it gives me a warning. Is there a better way to do it?

[@mangonauts6464]

Getting a bit of a different effect with the water, in that once inside the water volume I can't see the water rippling above me. But outside the water volume, I can see the surface of the water doing that rippling effect. Any idea why this might be the case?

[@arankasih1162]

hey matt! its great and all, it works but i changed it a little bit. so what ive done is i change the mouse input to be a keyboard input. it work, but once the player hit the surface, my animation is shaking, a lot and doesnt seems to be able to swim on the surface. also, it is shaking when the player hit the bottom, do you know any fix about this? thankyou!

[@designbyzarko]

Mine is not working i don't know why... I did everything exactly the same

[@MattAspland]

Hey man, which part isn't working for you? For example, can you swim at all? Not up or down? The rotation sets wrong? Etc.

[@designbyzarko]

@@MattAspland well basically animation isn't working. But I think I slow down when enter the water so I guess that's working. But nvm

[@yozzahughes3939]

Love your videos dude You should do a pvp survival shooter series lile dayz 👍🏻👌❤️😁

[@MattAspland]

Thank you so much! That's a great idea thank you, I'll keep it in mind :)

[@yozzahughes3939]

@@MattAspland keep that mind for.... Next video 😂📹

[@MattAspland]

Haha, currently doing this series, but hopefully in the future yeah

[@generalpapa1548]

Do you know how to create bubble chat for multiplayer game ? 💭

[@MattAspland]

Hey, sorry not really. I'm not too experienced with multiplayer. So sorry, hope you can find something though. Best of luck :)

[@generalpapa1548]

@@MattAspland thx you and best of luck to you too! 😊

[@MattAspland]

Thank you :)

[@fgc_7433]

What if I want the player to only swim on top of the water and not be able to go into the water itself?

[@jamespearson3721]

i didnt need the stuff in blueprint only animation BP, i created a idle to anim(Blendspace)

[@ETJakaEli]

how long does it take until you figure out the blueprint system man? im dying over here

[@MattAspland]

Hey, it took me a couple months to years, but you've just got to stick at it. Try maybe doing game jams to help and just mess about with the blueprints. Also, make sure that you fully understand what a tutorial is doing when watching it. Best of luck with your learning, you can do it. Don't give up :)

[@ETJakaEli]

@@MattAspland years?? did you only focus on blueprints under that time? or by that time, you were learning all of it at the same time?

[@MattAspland]

@@ETJakaEli Well I was focusing on school and other stuff as well, and took a little break. So I'd say closer to around 3 or 4 months, but you're always learning after you know a lot as well. It just takes time and dedication.

[@POWGameStd]

Can you add subtitles for saying explaining the features and roles of something of UE4 ; And subtitles for sayings about the idea of creating game features. Determining where the sentences begin and end will make it easier for me to translate. Please !!!

[@misfit765]

I did everything the best I could and my dude just walks in the water lol. hmm

[@MagistrTheOne]

work!

[@AZ-ie9kz]

i want to make vrchat in ue4