New Character Physics in UE5: Can You Pet the Dog? | GDC 2023

Watch the recording of our presentation ‘New Character Physics in UE5: Can You Pet the Dog?’, originally shown at our booth at GDC 2023.
The new Physics Control component is a plugin that enables you to add simple, intuitive, and powerful physically based controls to a Blueprint in Unreal Engine 5.
In this talk, we demonstrate the basics of getting set up by using a procedural worm to move around. Then, we transition to animating a puppy, playing catch with him, and thanking him for the game.
Learn more: dev.epicgames....
Check out our blog post for news on UEFN, 5.2, MetaHuman, and more: www.unrealengi...
#UnrealEngine5, #GDC2023, #EpicGames, #GameDevelopersConference, #UE5, #GameDevelopment, #CharacterPhysics

[@Eirenband]

Finally focusing on physics. Enough with graphics we need dynamics like this!

[@zhenzhang3451]

yeah we need more physics than graphic. They focus too much on graphic ...at the end physics is the king

[@MidBoss]

Yes, more physiiiics!

[@IsaacCode95]

i really wished they changed the physx to something else, something that is more deterministic and can produce the same results if i choose to, physX is lacking or maybe it could be just my knowledge IDK.

[@frankiesslipal3730]

@@zhenzhang3451 UE 6 could be huge for physics, they are always improving something, the way they are doing is fine, what ever comes first is welcome, doesnt matter if graphics or physics what we know is its gonna be great for the future of gaming

[@UlissesSampaio]

Amen! Need moar physics-based gameplay!

[@DJenriqez]

This is oficialy the cutest game engine tutorial ever made, 10/10 dentists recomend this

[@exosproudmamabear558]

Thats a lie there is no way the last dentist will approve anything,even cute doggos

[@DJenriqez]

@@exosproudmamabear558 I heard, they already caught that one that don't recommend and replaced him.

[@bluethan806]

It’s too sweet. 1/10 dentists approved

[@highdefinist9697]

A pretty stark contrast to many other Unreal demos about, for example, fighting robots, armor piercing ammunition, or exploding buildings. Well, either are pretty entertaining and well done, but the overall variety is definitely welcome!

[@ox-mox]

You are an amazing speaker! I watched like a 100 videos from you showing of things in unreal...and you always inspire me again and again. Looking forward to your next talk! Bester Mann !! :)

[@d.g7683]

This will help ground characters into the world a lot more! In most games they look so static, this will be a great method to perhaps also save on animation development time while also integrating physics to have the character interact with the environment.

[@GameDevAraz]

This is revolutionary

[@JorisBax]

This is perfect for the reboot of 'Black & White' !

[@Shrooblord]

Just what I was thinking!

[@perfectionist724]

Wow ! Absolutely amazing! I'm highly impressed! Thank you for this demonstration!

[@PaperfoxArts]

This will be amazing for VR!

[@Ferdam]

It always felt to me we stopped progressing physics features and usage in games after ~2010. We got euphoria/GTA4 and 5 with similar stuff like this, but then games started to focus 99% on other stuff (graphics mainly) and stuff like this, shown in this demo, were never big features in modern games. I hope this changes now. Path/Ray Tracing stuff is definitely cool, but I don't wanna just play photorealistic games

[@alex-qn5xp]

Imo a certain amount of physics is required to achieve photorealism, fancy lighting is cool but the difference between something like rdr2 and gta5 when stuff is actually happening is night and day.

[@NightOwlAmbient]

Great session! I like the insight into animating things besides bipeds. Very well done!

[@cragworks]

Thank you! Hope the project is available to download too~

[@bastelwastel8551]

Can we have a whole game of just playing fetch with the dog please? 😅

[@Shrooblord]

He basically showed you how to do it! :D

[@liliumcomplex]

SteamVR has playing fetch with a robot dog integrated as one of the basics xD

[@DarkoP9.13]

This(that marionet part) is is exactly what is needed for realistic car suspensions . Most games suffer from lack of interactive physics.

[@williamlacrosse9389]

You have a wheeled vehicle class for that.

[@nisaa__]

so, when UE5 games have dogs and dont let us pet them, i am sad! This is super easy to set up! just wow!

[@aoc8548]

My fav comment " So the dog is a little more complex than the worm " 🙂

[@GameDevAraz]

This is incredible! Omg, this is what gaming needs

[@kiaranr]

Lovely presentation! This tech has the potential to start bridging the gap between hyperrealistic rendering and real-time character animation. The subtle ways that physical forces push our bodies around is a huge missing component of realistic animation.

[@JooleanBoolean]

Great presentation! He made a complex subject really easy to understand and funny. And it's amazing he managed to put all this into 25 minutes

[@12thy4]

Would love to study this project if it ever becomes available

[@reggielj]

Wow, this is incredible. The amount of features built into unreal is... unreal. ;D

[@boundlessunrealengine9467]

Thank you for the great work!

[@leejim584]

Such an amazing toturial! I'm so greatful that I was there

[@scaredyfish]

Always love it when Andreas makes an appearance on the feed!

[@WhiteNorthStar1]

Super presentation and tutorial... informative and FUNNY!!! :)

[@aftamat4ik]

WOW! Incredible!

[@chakubb]

This is awesome. really very impressive. No more Ragdoll deaths!

[@nacholazer]

Something im wondering about, also being new to game developing, is when to use the Physics Control Component and when to use the Physical Animation Component.... Anyone who would have some insight on that? Thanks in advance!

[@KillerBearsaw]

This is outstandingly informative and very promising. It looks easier to implement than legacy methods.

[@DillonThomasDigital]

Holy crap - that dog fetch demo at the very end. Even though I knew it was all fake, I still had the same emotional reaction as if it was real.

[@LIMQUID]

The presentation was soo good , loved it .

[@alessioalonne4333]

Not working anymore on 5.3 Was so straightforward and useful... so sad.

[@glenfoxh]

I was working on something just like this, but in Unity. Very complex. And so many ways to go about it. Had created over 8 different models with different ways to animate them. Tried to make some get pulled by forces, like a puppet on a string. Others moved with a muscle system, with gravity acting on them. Much like your worm. Some of the results was quite funny. Such as one from my two leg bots, walking off up into the air. And I have no idea why. Made a table with legs so it could walk. I seen something interesting with that one. If I made the nee, move to the center of the table, it would stand without falling over when lifting one of it's legs. This was rather promising. I only have but one video uploaded. Noting great. But helpful to some, none the less. I had two, but one got removed for some reason. So, I never bothered to add any more of my results, after the one got removed. With no given reason as to why. It was of a four leg table that I could control the all of the legs bend with the mouse, by moving it side to side. Was able to even get the table to jump, by swiping the mouse across fast enough. Was done years ago, and since stopped using Unity.

[@omegablast2002]

ive been in unreal for a long long time now and ill be dead honest...this looks really amazing but also extremely overwhelming and complicated.

[@tplummer217]

I use visual studio all day. The unreal editor looks very slick! Nice tooling.

[@bhaumikpatel4959]

Love this video! Thank you

[@eclecticgamer5144]

Mind blowing use cases.

[@seancstudio]

This is amazing!

[@mtoon0]

i would really like to see how the control component hold in comparison to physical animation

[@hmnyari]

Amazing !!!!

[@stereographik]

amazings gameplays on the way!

[@TimothyBrake]

Nice presentation. The Physics Control should be an official default included plugin (experimental). For Skeletal Meshes, would be great if it’s just a checkbox in the skeletal mesh editor ‘somehow’ and everything just works as expected like it would in the real world. Seems like true physics and interactions with the world. 👍

[@XAHAK]

where is the project? I want to pet the dog

[@OriginRow]

This is outstanding 🤯

[@CFM7]

Love it

[@dcad6934]

Where is the documentation on physics control?

[@goldennboy1989]

This will be very useful for my project

[@ibrews]

Best talk ever :)

[@vrai_]

Definitely feel alive

[@Official_KB_Studios]

Imagine this in VR

[@BaseRealityVR]

🤫 Don't tell everyone, 😉

[@PeterFnPorker]

WOW!.... just WOW

[@ORIBOX]

this is what i'm looking for!

[@asiseverything3404]

the doggy was soooooooooo cute!

[@perfectionist724]

Will the project be available? I'd like to study it

[@wormjuice7772]

I woud love to see control rig being able to handle static meshes, then let us make the bones and all in there. Would be great to not specifically have to go through the whole blender character making process. Just focus on bodyparts, and do the rest in unreal. I see this physics with the worm exampe as the direction i want to go. Awesome addition guys.

[@prattner67]

Will the project be available? It would be nice to get a closer look at it.

[@dsfs17987]

great stuff!

[@aliakbarzade230]

Cool!

[@irtezamasud1079]

damn!

[@chagaze7199]

Interesting! !

[@scoresandflames]

As I'm typing all day through in 3 different languages on the same keyboard, I feel your pain regarding the different keyboard layouts! It is a challenge.

[@thanatosor]

He did the fetch, I'm satisfied.

[@TanatomorFozis]

amazing!

[@omarmasoud2008]

awesome

[@sithmaster]

Instead of using more than one "Set control target orientation" for middle and end connection, wouldn't it be more fluent to add an array to the child mesh component which goes through a list from top to bottom? Similar to the dog's limb stuff - Or is this the same? Example: The snake should consist of 20 pieces or even grow longer. (Yes, like the Nokia Phone snake)

[@Lv7-L30N]

Awesome

[@alexandermoyle9034]

cool!

[@nicolaastanghe475]

LOL that hand thing now i want BnW 3

[@brain_56]

Heads up, currently giving this a try and it doesn't look like it's networked!

[@andrinSky]

Is it possible that we can download this funny little Dog?

[@basverhaar1577]

What are those buttons at the left side that he presses to switch location or scene?

[@jordanbrown2487]

Followed along step by step and nothing moves. Working in the content examples level no less. Feel like there's a hidden check box somewhere that was glossed over? Solved it, for the control data settings, the default values will be nothing so make sure to edit them. especially the strength.

[@ijerofei]

More Physics!! More Chemistry!!!(like in LOZ)

[@JohnDaniels]

So is this basically like the physics constraints in unreal engine 4?

[@NextWorldVR]

I see very little difference between this and existing methods. I could always touch characters and Trees etc in VR.

[@RealRedRabbit]

Spoilers: Yes, you can pet the dog.

[@mondoshigua]

👋🏼🇨🇴🧔🏻👍🏼🤝🏻 Saludos desde Colombia, buena conferencia

[@goldennboy1989]

I tried using this on a human character and the performance impact is HUGE. How do we optimize this?

[@thanatosor]

Time for Dungeons because we need to punish more minions with that soft gloves

[@32BitJunkie]

Hasn't this been in both UE4 and Unity for like a decade? It was used in Robo Recall and Boneworks long ago. Why is this being presented in 2023? Did you improve it somehow?

[@FNPivvot]

I think this is pretty much an overhaul to the old system in blueprint that makes it both easier to use and adds more versatility when it comes to interacting with gravity.

[@lowfreqq]

Wow

[@rawformulagames3483]

brutal

[@aaaaaa2470]

Ein Deutscher der es wenigsten drauf hat!!!👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@laggyluk]

how many more years needed for documentation? :P

[@lorryburger8165]

As a small aside to this awesome demonstration, how do you get the dogs fur to take on the underlying meshes texture colour?

[@edcatmull9253]

I don't know how he did it, but it's possible to have a UV attribute on the fur if you create it in XGen

[@chakubb]

Take a look at the UGroomComponent.

[@asdfasjdhfakhdshjfahs8034]

LMAO. The cats in Hogwarts Legacy were a full on cut scene that you couldn't skip. Imagine if that game had natural interactions. On the contrary I did like the animation when tipping the musician in Hogsmeade.

[@CosmicComputer]

Could we please have this file to dissect?

[@A_Train]

This man is going to get kidnapped at 30 years old. What a wonderful demo!

[@rangerpopo6702]

The only thing that can advance gaming is stuff like this and not graphics

[@fuzzyhenry2048]

I tried physics control at the moment when it's available. I wanted to make a boxing demo. The problem is, if you enable the physics control all the time, the animation will be deformed and inaccurate because of the gravity and physical body setup. ( Like the fingers wouldn't pose properly. The arms aren't waving in the right amplitude) That's not what you want if the character is not interacting with anything.But how do you tell when and where to enable or disable this feature. I didn't figure it out.

[@ijerofei]

you can set custom damping values ​​for each bone

[@fuzzyhenry2048]

@@ijerofei No matter what the values of Damping or Strength are, it will always deform the animation unless you disable the physics control.

[@fuzzyhenry2048]

I can't blame that on physics control as the results of it are influenced by the physical body shapes and constraints and the bone animation sometimes are not physically right.

[@ijerofei]

​@@fuzzyhenry2048 If you have a hero with a sword, for example, and you want his hand animation to be 100% accurate, you can make specific bones "kinematic". Of course, if you then push him in the stomach, the "kinematic" hand will not respond. It's more of a question of what exactly do you want to get from this technology

[@kenalpha3]

So what he showed is available now? In which Engine version? And what you said is a problem. It should have default status as do not react to gravity. (When we hold a cup irl, our wrist does not bend down due to gravity.) But can react to external forces. (A Node in the Anim BP, with a default value of 0, 0, 0. This is the force (separate from gravity) that would be updated to be the Hit force or the Petting Hand movement against the physics body. This is what should activate the physics thing he showed.) Thus if what you said is true, and they didnt do what I explained, then why is Epic ignoring how rl gravity doesnt deform our pose irl? (Even in UE4.27, Im having a problem with a Physics setup that works after tuning 200 settings. But if I change to 4x gravity (in the Character Movement component) - then the physics Mesh gets messed up/extreme/jitters. I dont know the 4x ratio formula of which Physics settings to change to match/reduce a [4x increase of gravity]. Something is seriously wrong with how UE handles gravity vs physics.)

[@kenalpha3]

Is this out for UE5.2 yet? Will it be free? Is it something we need to get at the Market, or will it be included in UE as a plugin to enable?

[@fuzzyhenry2048]

It's out in 5.1. It's a free built-in plugin.

[@BaseRealityVR]

For The Life Of me I Am unable to make this work :(

[@aikidoca]

now i want to know about "self collison and animations when we gonna be able to use the same animal for any type of "body, be fat, be normal and others or when you have large or small waist or breast how to avoid hands to poke into the mesh because the animation not was made for the type of body

[@TheArtonator]

Is this work with Unreal 5.1 ?

[@BongoEdits]

Is this for VR?

[@M-gf9gu]

Why is it when I do this my guy just falls over and spins out of control into the nether?

[@carlosrivadulla8903]

pls acquire sideFX to make UE6 now

[@JesusIsRealJ1247]

Finally, no cats!!!

[@Xodroc]

Hmm, the title of this video reminds me of a skit from Viva La Dirt League.

[@zhenzhang3451]

as I said physics is the king... Physics is the end of game not graphic. graphic is good but we need more physics.....

[@zhenzhang3451]

What I really want is every object has a TSDB association with it. in the database it record all physical attributes each frame or in a time scale. we can generate those TSDB from commercial industry physical engine such as ANSYS or Abaqus CSI ETABS, Flac3D etc...

[@zhenzhang3451]

we can import or export database between those software using Time series Database. The physical conditions attributes for each second or milisec stroed in those database.

[@perfectionbox]

In the next call of duty they'll have german shepherds biting enemies in the crotch 🤣

[@berthein5476]

i started the talk and.. i didnt except a german. i don't think they are german. but man that was unexpected lol