Procedural Content Generation Basics - Unreal Engine 5 Tutorial

In this video we will create a Procedurally Generated Forest and take a look at basic Procedural Content Generation (PCG) tools available in Unreal Engine 5.2
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:25 - Enable Plugins
00:50 - PCG Basics
05:50 - Making a Path using Spline
08:50 - Using other Static Mesh
10:43 - Making trees vertical on slope
11:48 - Changing Shape using Spline
15:35 - Multiple Paths
16:44 - Multiple Shapes
19:32 - PCG without Landscape
22:45 - Using PCG with Blueprints
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[@junhadi5282]

the best PCG tutorial I have ever seen. good job

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and share it with your fellow game devs. Subscribe for future videos.

[@hongliang185]

the best PCG tutorial, easy to follow and useful.

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and check other videos on my channel, share it with your fellow game devs! All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@crystalsix9014]

Nice tutorial! I like it when people forsee troubles that may occur and try to prevent it saying all the possible scenarios.

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and share it with your fellow gamedevs! subscribe for future videos. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@Highcastle_of_Geek]

Great tutorial. Always straight to the point without filler, very useful information!

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you!

[@UnrealAxis]

Watch other videos on the channel page if you like and also share the videos with your fellow game devs, it'll help a lot. Subscribe if you haven't already, thanks again!

[@kristiansdzenis5284]

you need to make a koffee link or gumroad with project file or something so people can say thank you, this video helped me out so much. Thank you for creating it

[@analovejoy3730]

Thank you! This is very helpful!

[@UnrealAxis]

You're welcome! You might like the Lovejoy turret video too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpvSZqWIZ6uoi5o (add to watch later maybe). Good luck on your gamedev journey!

[@BurakSaruhan]

Great content! Thank you!

[@UnrealAxis]

You're welcome! If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and share it with your fellow game devs. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@abhishekkadam5140]

Thanks Mate!

[@UnrealAxis]

You're welcome!

[@prashanthc.m7147]

best one ! thanks for the tutorial. have a doubt can we add mesh for that spline like how we add in landscape spline for creating roads and stuff is it possible to the same in this spline?

[@CyclopsGM]

Found your vides recently, damn you should make more

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and share it with your fellow gamedevs. Subscribe and ring my bell for future videos. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@user-og8fo3nl2v]

Hello and thanks for clear & nice tutorial. I have a question here. How can I set unbound and closed spline shape limit it (without Scale/expand PCG Volume?) Thanks

[@BFXFactory]

thank you

[@UnrealAxis]

You're welcome! If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up and share it with your fellow gamedevs, also maybe subscribe for future videos. All the best for your gamedev journey!

[@lakhotiashubham]

Hey! Awesome video man. Do you know how to create PCG on top of Landscape "Static Mesh" (not just a cube like you showed in your tutorial) ? I tried doing what you did on a static mesh that i imported in Unreal but the Cubes were just floating in the air.

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you for your comment, maybe mesh sampler and copy points node can help with that, we don't yet have a video about that but there might be documentation about it, keep it up! If you find a good solution feel free to post it here too, thank you!

[@TheEnergizedcinema]

the pcg on static mesh works only on a plane, it does not scatter the points onto a static mesh mountain but just on top of the volume

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you for your comment, seems so, maybe mesh sampler and copy points node can help with that, we don't yet have a video about that but there might be documentation about it, keep it up! If you find a good solution feel free to post it here too, thank you for watching my videos!

[@pawekulesza4326]

I have a problem with PCG Shape. It doesn't load trees on the mountains. Is there a way to make it load on the landscape around the drawn area? Or does the spline only work on flat surfaces?

[@shawnbecker1026]

When i add the path as shown here it does not remove trees from the forest volume, I am using unreal 5.3.2. Does this method still work in 5.3.2 ?

[@junhadi5282]

Hi, it would be great if you could make a spline mesh for the spline paths so that it can be seen as a road going through the forest? would it be possible to enable scaling the width of the road so it can be scaled up or down if necessary?

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! We'll take that into consideration. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@Eternity1770]

nice guide,watched in one breath! i have to ask can u make guide(there is 0 guide about that,only jackson have,who created the endless world,but its only about his own project)how to attach the nav mesh to the character/pawn.set up size of that and everything.its like rare to find something coz,its not popular.really hard to understand,im getting crashes or its not working corectly. u can check like i said,there nothing about how to make navmeshvolume movable with character or how to add on spawn actor(to create a endless runner)to make him spawn in blueprint ty

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! Not sure if we will have endless runner series in the future, but we'll take that into consideration. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@user-hg8up1co6r]

Thank you for the lesson! I have a question, how can I spawn meshes this way, while adjusting the exact number of them. For example, I need 120 trees (no more and no less). Thank you.

[@UnrealAxis]

Maybe adjusting the point extents and points per squared meter in surface sampler (or adjusting bounds in bounds modifier) according to area of the PCG might achieve the result - it'll probably require some attempts before it works as you want. There are probably better ways to do this, keep looking!

[@CGokce6]

hey there great vid. When connecting the difference node to density filter I get a to point connector node. The pcg when compiled doesn't work. What is the alternative route?

[@CGokce6]

Nevermind found the issue. Change the density function for difference node to binary

[@Kiran.KillStreak]

explonation is great ,nice tutorial. and you need to do something with subscriber count. even small small tutos videos channels got more subs.

[@UnrealAxis]

Thank you! Please share the video and subscribe if you have not already.

[@UnrealAxis]

Also take a look at other videos on my channel, thank you!

[@themax2go]

btw selecting "unbounded" makes it only slightly larger... maybe something is missing? running ue 5.3 on mac m1, you probably used ue 5.2 and i know some things have changed from 5.2 to 5.3. and that was the first time you mentioned it, 5 minutes into your vid (i stopped there for now)

[@themax2go]

i still liked and subscribed your vid, i watched to the end

[@UnrealAxis]

Maybe double check what the surface sampler is being used on? Making it unbounded probably only covers as much are as the actor's surface area or the landscape surface area... Also unbounded usually won't make it any larger than spline area if you're using splines to control shape as shown in the video. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@hotsauce7124]

Hello, can we also use "packed level actors" for PCG actors?

[@UnrealAxis]

Haven't tried it yet, if you try it and find something you'd like to share, feel free to drop a comment here. If you like the video please give it a thumbs up and share it, subscribe for more videos. All the best on your gamedev journey!

[@nmatthes2927]

The problem with spline shaping is that the spline for the forest is 2 dimensional, meaning that if I have a steep mountain within my shape spline only in heightareas near the spline trees are generated. In higher positions they are not. Is there a way to fix that?

[@UnrealAxis]

Thanks for your comment, if you find a solution feel free to post it here too.

[@_trashcode]

thanks for that very helpful tutorial but i dont get the Path thing not working. i did everything as you said in your tutorial. but none of the trees move away. any idea what that could be?

[@UnrealAxis]

PCG feature seems to be experimental and there can be many reasons why it might not be working, some common ways to solve it might be: 1. Make sure the Tag on BP_Path ACTOR is exactly the same as the tag in the PCG graph Get Spline Data node. (The tag is on the actor, NOT on the Spline component). 2. Make sure the BP_Path actor is on the floor. Make sure all the spline points are on the floor too. 3. Maybe try increasing the Bounds Min and Bounds Max in the Bounds Modifier node. Instead of 200, maybe try using 500 or more? 4. Maybe try only with one path or one shape first, not multiple paths or multiple shapes. 5. Maybe try regenerating the PCG after moving the BP_Path actor. (In the PCG graph, there is probably a Force Regen button. If using blueprints, the PCG component can be selected and the regenerate button might be in the details.) 6. Maybe watch the video again slowly from start to finish and see if you forgot something. And there might be other ways, looking into unreal engine documentation might be helpful too. All the best!

[@anapple.4338]

i found that changing the x axis value on the bounds modifier worked for me, i did a value of 1.

[@themax2go]

pretty good tut - but slow down a bit, i mean explain what you do whenever you do it. still ok to follow, but for absolute beginners to ue, they might have a difficult time to follow

[@UnrealAxis]

Thanks for the feedback, more videos for beginners coming soon!

[@CGokce6]

Get actor property doesnt seem to be working

[@LOL1423derp92]

what about slope? Say a cliff is too steep, I dont want it to spawn stuff on the side

[@UnrealAxis]

Maybe look into 'normal to density' node with 'density filter' node - so after landscape surface sampler the setup can be something like 'surface sampler' => 'normal to density' => 'density filter' and you'll probably have to play around with the settings of these nodes (strength / bounds etc.) to achieve the desired effect. Maybe there's more info in the documentation. All the best on your gamedev journey!