Ue4 Tutorial - Moving an Object along a path using a Spline Track

[@marciomarquer]

I followed a lot of tutorials, but for those just starting out, it's difficult. Most of them say they will teach, but they desperately click on the screen so that there is no way to follow... something very incoherent for those who say they follow "logic". But you made a spectacular tutorial...you could understand EVERYTHING and it worked!!! Dude, you are CONGRATULATIONS, because you really differentiate yourself from others... YOU KNOW HOW TO TEACH!!

[@nervewar7738]

I really like your calm and clear teaching style. You're like the Bob Ross of Unreal.

[@brittanycruz1717]

Happy trees 🌲

[@clawrag9152]

Who is Bob Ross?

[@EspacX]

This has to be the best tutorial out there. Thank you so much for your great explanation. One thing I'd like to add: About 10:12, you can use a "Sequence" node for that.

[@terrablader]

just starting tut can already tell its a winner

[@LinkokiriHon89]

It's incredible how many blueprints and variables you have to implement to make it work. °_° Ty for the tutorial!

[@blackswan6386]

in this i wish unreal has an easy workflow as after effect, just add, orient to spline, set time offset start/end, and finish :D - in unreal you have to be a math expert or c++ programer,...wtf - thats what i mean, we need a new engine who combined the best of all into a new Legendary Engine !

[@muffininacup4060]

@@blackswan6386 well, ue4 offers a lot more functionality than aftereffects and therefore allows you to tweak and program every single thing yourself for any use you might need; if it was hardcoded you would miss on functionality. yes, you might need a bit of math/programming knowledge to tell it what you need to do but that should be a given if one's planning to be a dev.

[@nokander]

Understanding nothing you say and just copying what you do and I'm like halfway in the video thinking 'no way this works'. Works.

[@QuitevFX]

Fantastic tutorial! You are so concise and well-spoken. Your short explanation of a Lerp mid-tute was super helpful. Thank you!

[@SorceryGames]

Excellent tutorial. I wanted to use splines for my enemy flying movements and though, hmm I wonder if there is a good tutorial. There sure was. Thank you so much for this, saved me bags of time reading documentation (and who wants to do that!!)

[@unluckynumber3825]

Wow, I wish all tutorials were this awesome.

[@Luos_83]

Straight to the point, and works. Thanks :)

[@andrewpaine2957]

Excellent tutorial, simple to follow and great effect, thanks

[@JoeElShawadfy]

you are awesome and you deserve more attention

[@emirhankose9495]

Thanks for tutorial mate! It was very helpful.

[@AgentOttsel]

Awesome tutorial! Very clear and concise!

[@daniel.pandele]

This is exactly what I needed. Short and sweet presentation, GG

[@BATCH3]

Amazing!! Just what I was looking for!!! Thanks a lot!

[@chiefrbc8919]

Thank you so much this solved a week long issue!

[@FitGameDeveloper]

Amazing tutorial, thank you! This is even better than I had hoped for.

[@CreationArmyTV]

You’re a life-saver! Thank you! I’m trying to make a ‘conveyor belt’ of moving obstacles in a Plinko game and this is exactly what i needed

[@TorQueMoD]

Thank you for the great tutorial. I actually followed another one but they were doing it in a much more convoluted way by setting the world transform on the mesh itself and then trying to add in an offset, but the problem was the offset changes depending on where it is in the world. Your tutorial allowed me to figure out how to add in a relative offset which is perfect.

[@adamtherealone]

To anyone wondering, you would want to use a relative transform rather than a world based transform.

[@SPSSkals]

Thank you! I had a similar system using timeline and world locations lerping from A to B but wanted to get it to work via spline and this was exactly what I was looking for.

[@lionellaurent108]

Exactly what i need now. Thank you a LOOOOOT !!!!!

[@VincentHLLim]

Thank you!! Just what I've been trying to find.

[@TheRedflash777]

Great tutorial, please don't stop sharing your awesome stuff:)

[@Keln02]

Great tutorial. Not exactly what I need, but very insightful

[@Politicalmeme]

how to trigger this in sequencer?

[@FB-eq9vl]

Great tut mate! Thank you very much!

[@marciomarquer]

Perfect explanation...excellent teaching and an objective and really logical programming. Excellent video! I've already subscribed to the channel!

[@unrealmagedev]

Awesome tutorial, thanks man!

[@aaronalmeida1696]

Had a question like this for an interview, thanks man!

[@mellstardust66]

Very good sir, Thanks you for this golden education and explanation.

[@emberwulfz6948]

Amazing video man!

[@TheCultOfDance]

Finally explained how to do it, thanks.

[@gabrielepardi5178]

Thank you very much: clear, stright to the point with all usefull informations. Thanks again for your time :)

[@Cursethedawn]

This really helped me out today. Thanks a lot!

[@VERCENDARK]

Great and useful tutorial, Thank you.

[@CalebHoernschemeyer]

I don't see the Track variable type as explained at 5:27. Using the latest version of 4.24. Also, press here for quack noise --> 5:27

[@VirtualWorlds]

It's quite possible you didn't call your spline Blueprint Track. Go back and change the varible *SEARCH FOR* the name you called your Spline track blueprint! That should do it me thinks. =-)

[@tron_evan]

Thx for this amazing tutorial! I have one question: At the final step, how to draw a specified trajectory for expamle a circle?

[@GoatOfTheWoods]

Thanks a lot dude, very good tut !

[@ElectroGamesYT]

How to fix cart rotation?

[@Angry_Karakuri]

Thank you! Couldn't figure out why the timeline wasn't looping on my end. About 2 days in and I got a ton of stuff done but it's those tiny things here and there that I don't know, coming from Unity. lmao

[@dronaroid]

exactly what i needed, thank you!

[@nev1299]

Perfectly working!) Great thx for this tut! :)

[@shallowpixels4855]

SAVED MY LIFE

[@Mngzkhuel]

wonderful tutorial ♥ thank you so much :)

[@elroyquartel5912]

am i the only one that cant find the "get useful spline" at 5:45 ? or did i do something wrong so i cant see it?

[@anthonyschilling7132]

Same here :(

[@ximonwhhatt3796]

i'm lost here

[@manuelfuentes9382]

Great tutorial , thank you!

[@Buugane]

Well paced and delivered tutorial which I thought I had followed to the letter. I can't even get the spline mesh selected in the Blueprint to appear when I drag it into the scene. I keep getting an error message that "The default scene root is not static". I have tried several times to just create a BP with a basic Cube mesh as in the tutorails and no other commands and still have the same issue. Any suggestions please as my thinning hair is suffering with being pulled out! Many thanks

[@joem9561]

Amazing tutorial

[@briandreilly]

I couldn’t get this to work in 4.23 until I deleted the Set New Time module and connected the Set Play Rate to CartMover Timeline. Good tutorial though!

[@DevAndDine]

Great tutorial! One question: How can I make my cart stop at the spline´s end point instead of respawning at the start?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi, the simplest way is to set the timeline looping off. With the loop off it will simply stop at the last point on its own. Then you can also play it in reverse to have the cart go back to the start point. Hope that helps

[@DevAndDine]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Thank you so much! :D

[@333studios.]

Great video brotha

[@samdax3d]

Very simply and usefull! thank you! :)

[@wink3319]

Well done! Thank you!

[@NickAB94]

Hi this works well for me no problem. However when ever i bring in another spline and a different mesh nothing happens?

[@NitroIndigo]

I tried making the spline a component of an object's blueprint, but that caused the entire component to move, instead of moving the static mesh along the spline. I can't get references to a separate spline actor in blueprints. How can I fix this?

[@bellVFX]

Is this works with Cinematic? or just playgame mode?

[@DeepFriedOreoOffline]

Is it just me, or does it appear that the duration of your script doesn't work? At the very end, 12:35, you set the duration of the second kart you add to 5. But when you hit play, although it snaps to the middle of the spline and continues normally, they both move at the same speed... Seems weird, because it works for me.

[@gregster6686]

Please help! I'm getting an error 'the property assoiciated with useful spline could not be found in ....'

[@FDCPElmo]

Really good tutorial, you explain everything perfectly. Would it be possible to make a single BP that acts like a train following the track?

[@FDCPElmo]

Omar J. Cruz Rubio I managed to do it. I removed the static mesh from this blueprint and made a new BP called Traincart_BP with nothing except for a static mesh attached to the root. Then in your BP I added a Forloop to the begin play to spawn an X amount of traincart_bp’s and store this in an Array. Then after your Set Alpha node I added a ForEachLoop for the Array which connects to your SetActorLocationandRotation exec and target. And the ForEachLoop array index I multiply with a float named Cart Distance which I then add with your Lerp into the get Location and get Rotation distance.

[@nobunaga8514]

@@FDCPElmo I am going to attempt this... But would it be possible to do this by using this system to build the wheel sections to the front and back of each cart and then using dynamics constraints to pin each cart to the front and back wheel assembly?

[@bunkerr14]

Followed step by step, all works. However my object that moves along the line is sideways by 90 degrees, how do I change this to face the spline?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi, to set an accurate rotation along the spline you need to use the set actor location and rotation node. You then have to get updated rotations from the spline using a get rotation at location along the spline same as with the location set up on the video. Note that the default forward facing direction in UE4 is along the X axis so if your cart is not facing that direction inside its own blueprint it will appear to be moving off axis. Hope that helps

[@bunkerr14]

@@doublecrossgames9355 sorry you've lost me a bit there

[@bunkerr14]

i've set the rotation and location nodes to x: 90

[@bunkerr14]

oh i see yeah the object is not facing that direction, how do I change this?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

@@bunkerr14 you just go into the cart BP and physically rotate the mesh in the viewport to face the local Xaxis

[@wurstpeter754]

Hello, does this method also work with UE5? I'm using version 5.3 and followed everything exactly as you showed in the tutorial. However, at the end, when I try to use the spline as the track reference in the Cart Blueprint, it keeps saying that the track is incompatible.

[@marlisfleischmann6633]

Thank you, great tutorial! Any idea how to loop the movement? I got loop on the timeline checked. However, it doesn't loop.

[@trinhcongnguyen4175]

You should select both "Loop" and "Use Last Keyframe?".

[@DavidConstance]

Awesome. So if I were to do Doombuggies (haunted mansion) how would I turn the carts towards a scene? As opposed to facing forward the whole time? I'm trying to figure out how to use trigger volumes but I'm kinda new at this

[@King1Street]

God Bless U Man

[@Arne1998]

Is there a way i can give it different speeds between 2 points in time? I want the cart to go really slow at some point and then accelerate quickly

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Yes, its a bit involved for the comment section but the short answer is you add a duration variable to the track itself and have more than one track section. In the "Complete" or "Finish" pin out of the timeline you can simply use your Track reference to update the Duration on the cart to match the speed you want. You will also need to add a "Next Track" variable to the track itself so you can eyedropper the track segments to each other in the right other. When the cart reaches the end of a track segment it will have its track ref updated to the next section as well as the duration.

[@Arne1998]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Thank you so much!

[@Soosane]

Maybe I'm making a silly mistake but I don't have "get location distance along spline". It's not an option?

[@SamDreamsMaker]

Thanks a lot ! :)

[@CommanderColson]

Is there a way I could make the actor ‘jump’ to another spline after finishing the first? Example: Spaceship flies down to planet along a spline from its mother ship. After landing (finishing the spline), it lets the player out to walk around. Player then returns to the spaceship with the intention of returning to mother ship. Once inside, space ship uses new spline to TURN AROUND and fly back to mothership. I unfortunately can’t just use a flip flop, as that will make it look as though on the return journey, the space ship is just backing up into space.

[@wgiesel]

Great tutorial! Thanks. If it possible to let move the cart in close loop?

[@mahmudhossain4917]

How would you add more cubes so that it behaves like a moving train? I see start offset is a solution. But better solution would be to to connect the cubes.

[@ahmadsy1000]

@Chief Roomyoni how to use а rigged model on splines in UE? Maybe u know?

[@blackswan6386]

hello sir. i love this tutorial, tthis spline action is so powerfull for animation motion grafix. your voice is warm and the lesson is really comfortable. but let me ask one question, in my case i put a SHIP o nthe spline, but it does not rotate in the direction of the spline, it looks like th rotatio and angle does not work ?! can you help me what i missed or how to set up ? just 1 click or more ? thank you

[@allenearl1514]

I have a few questions, if you or anyone else wouldn't mind answering them. 1) How would you go about setting a maximum speed for the object on a dynamically-created spline? 2) If the object were to simply stop at the end, then more points were added in runtime, how could you make sure that the object simply continues from where it stopped? 3) How can you delete spline points after they are passed so that the path isn't followed again? I've been trying to figure these out for a week now, but I'm having some trouble.

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hey Allen Earl. 1) Because the speed is determined by the play rate of the timeline you would probably want to cap the play rate so it wont go too fast. I would make a function that takes the length of the spline and mathematically calculates the play rate that would yield the speed you want. 2) you would need to take the new length of the spline calculate a distance based alpha for the new length and then find where the cart is on that new alpha and set that value as the play location for the timeline. 3) it would probably be easier to simply swap tracks when the first one is done than changing individual points. Not sue I get what you're trying to do with it, but if you set the start point of the spines in the same place you can have the cart change track seemlessly

[@allenearl1514]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Thank you so much!

[@ZimCrusher]

can this be used in VR? To control how the playerPawn moves? Rollercoaster, maybe?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hey Fish Zom, short answer is yes, but you'd have to have set tracks where you'd want the pawn to move. Hope that helps

[@ZimCrusher]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Gives me hope. Thanks.

[@fuzzyhenry2048]

For those who need to correct the rotation of the cart.You can simply add a function called "AddActorLocalRotation" right behind the last function. But my problem is the timeline doesn't loop when it reaches the end. I did check the "loop" checkbox but it just won't work well.

[@fuzzyhenry2048]

Ok I forget to check the "UseLastKeyFrame". Now It's working perfectly.

[@Kein_Alias]

Very Nice! Thank you. =)

[@LucasSantos-gt9ve]

Great tutorial, helped me a lot! I have a question, and looking at the comments below I see that I'm not the only one with the same issue. I need to create multiples objects following a spline, something like lots of arrows in random offsets along the spline to show the flow of some fluid. Any chance to create a tutorial on how to do something like this? Or any suggestion on how to achieve this? Thanks!!

[@Cross1013]

So since the movement logic is actually on the carts, you may be able to add a Vector variable to the cart and add that offset to the vector that is plugged into the "set actor location" node. This will have the cart moving along the spline but not actually on the spline itself. Once you have the offset on the cart added you can expose that variable and change it for multiple carts while on the details panel while on the view port. There is also not a limit to how many carts can be on the spline, so you can duplicate the asset, link it to the spline and change the offset vector so they dont sit on each other. Hope that helps

[@杨悍文]

How can I set the line during playing and make the Cube move along the line I created in game?

[@letsplaysquire3257]

I have an issue of the object not reaching then end, I'm using it to path the flight of a crow and it just flies to the end of the spline and sits there flapping not triggering the "Finished" pin and changing the flying boolean to false thus changing the animation, with or without loop active. Great tutorial otherwise though thank you :)

[@Kaylum_Birrell]

Is there a way to make the player character follow the line is it the same as the object but just replace it with the character??

[@insanamon3456]

Is there a way to make the cube know wich track it's supposed to follow without having to put it down and than click the track I want multiple enemies to spawn in waves and follow the track when they spawn but I can't do that because of that feature and I don't know a way aroumd it please help

[@daredgamingstudios5516]

Great Tutorial Guys Thanks Alot i was Wondering How could i add Multiple Diffrent targets to the same spline similar to something like Beat Saber could be a left right up or down block traveling on the same spline

[@coasterinc1987]

Its great works very well... i thought id done it wrong but then i forgot to expose the variables...

[@VertexHero]

Is there a way to do this manually in key frames, via sequencer? It would be easier for me to do this outside of run time. I appreciate your help.

[@URUC-Official]

Great Tut! How can I make the "cart" look forward the whole time? where is Z axis rotation is locked but it can still swivel side to side?

[@naylaw1928]

I had to go back and rotate it in the original max file and export it again. it work when I replaced it in the blueprint.

[@joonaspylvinen5595]

Thanks. Just made a bus to our neighborhood game

[@emberknight6848]

is thier a way how i can make it so i can just put the one cart in and make it so that one can make 4 go around it? ie make it visible and set the amount you want to go around it??

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi EmberKnight, the simplest way would be to add a variable integer to the cart that is exposed so you can set it to the number of loops you want. Then on the timeline you would add and execution curve with keyframes at the start and end of your Alpha. Set up a flipflop node that alternates updating and checking and checking a blank integer variable to see if it is equal to the one u are updating. If true call stop on the timeline. Hope that helps

[@CountOfWoodlands]

However, how do I determine easily at which time the cart shall start to move without messing other things up? With this set up, it always goes off once the game starts.

[@CountOfWoodlands]

@@doublecrossgames9355 ok I tried but I keep messing up other things by doing so. Could you maybe explain that more thouroughly? I really need to get that trigger option (starting spline after, for example, 3, 4 or 16 secs after roundstart). It's all amazing with the duration, cart start offset options etc, but I really need that trigger option.

[@redknuckles7655]

@@CountOfWoodlands Make a bool on your character called "IsinCart?" Then go into your cart bp and get rid of the "Begin play" now use a trigger box in your level where you want your character to trigger the cart so set a trigger box get your cart Actor and get the "Move cart" function and call it. Use the trigger box to set the new bool "Isincart" and have the move kart function only work if that bool is true. Your problem is "Begin play" As soon as the game starts that node will fire and only once and only when you click the play button. You need to call that "Move kart" Function by triggering it. Hope that helps

[@CountOfWoodlands]

@@redknuckles7655 ok that was helpful and I can need it this way too, although it didn't really answer my question. I think I'm to blame for not expessing myself clearly enough - I'm not native English. What I needed is to set a specific time at which, for example, the cart begins to move, I don't want to trigger it whenever I move to a specific location with my character.

[@CountOfWoodlands]

@@redknuckles7655 Update: okay. I've just figured it out on my own. I just had to set an event graph before event begin play. However, my objects are shaking back and forth very rapidly on the spline before the action begins. It's just little motions but they are shaking like crazy, as if they couldn't wait to get flying.

[@redknuckles7655]

@@CountOfWoodlands glad you figured it out. not too sure on the shake.. I set one up and noticed it has some shakes but if i curve the path more smoothly it does not happen as much. Does it shake while going straight?

[@alexdixon5208]

Great tutorial man!! This has helped out a lot. Any ideas on how to start on the spline track at the closest spline point relative to the cart / player? Say if they jumped on it in the middle, is there a way with this structure to start in the middle instead of the beginning?

[@JM-tn9cb]

You might want to try the node "Find Location closest to world location". Just found it yesterday :)

[@LarionSiments]

Hey, absolutely fantastic tutorial! how can i stop the cart at the end (or middle, based on the point in the lerp)?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Yep or when the timeline gets to .5. You could even make an event track with a key at that .5 mark and have it fire an event for w/e you want

[@LarionSiments]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Thanks for the answer, but i don't really get how would i go about that, how do i set an event from when the timeline gets to 5?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

@Siments Larion In the tutorial I used a float track in the timeline to get the alpha. There is something called an Event Track as well. That one outputs an execution instead of a float. Then you can make a custom event and attach it to the stop on the timeline itself. When a keyframe in the.event track gets called your custom event can be called. Also to make it stop at the end just make sure your float track isn't set to loop. Hope that helps.

[@LarionSiments]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Thanks a lot man!

[@QuickSnipe777]

Hi there, I used this tutorial to make my plane blueprint fly through the sky and it all works great!. My only problem with it is that the static mesh always faces one way even if I have it doing a bunch of turns throughout the track. Where is the best place to fix something like this? Thanks!

[@doublecrossgames9355]

The static mesh should rotate to match the curve of the spline. Make sure you hooked up your set actor rotation node like I did in the vid. Hope that helps

[@TriThom50]

Can this be applied to a pawn instead of just a static mesh? I have a more complicated model of an object I want to move on a set path just as you did with the cube, but this object is a pawn and not just a mesh.

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Yes, any actor that has a movable transform will work with this

[@TriThom50]

@@doublecrossgames9355 okay so what if you have a car where the body of the car and the wheels are perhaps a separate but attached mesh, if you use this method it will move the body of the car linearly, will the wheels rotate?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

@@TriThom50 Shot answer is that if the meshes are moving as one as in Mesh 1 world transform > mesh 2 relative to Mesh 1. It should move both so long as mesh 1 is the one moved. Hope that helps

[@TriThom50]

@@doublecrossgames9355 So I have been able to build this on my own mesh, and it shows up in my world when I play the game, but it doesn't actually follow the spline track. Do you know of any potential issues?

[@Xiaoxiao738]

How to add more than two points on the spline? I only have the start the curve and the end point.

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi, you can select the end point and alt+drag to make another point. It will auto populate a curve for the new end point

[@aerth613]

Thanks for the video. Can you suggest a way to intervene in this blueprint so that groups of objects can be spawned and follow the spline, or is this Blueprint limited to one object only? I understand using the delay here but I'm trying to get a hundred or so meshes moving and cannot manage that many indiviual blueprints! Many thanks.

[@Cross1013]

I suppose you could have a "spawner actor" that simply runs through a ForLoop from 0-Howevermany BPs and on the loop you simply spawn the cart. You would have to give that spawner actor a reference to the track like you did the cart so it can then pass that reference on spawn to the carts it makes. Should be able to drag out of the return pin for the Spawn actor of type node you will need to use. and SetTrack to pass the value along. Hope that helps, and sorry for the late response

[@xcarter48]

This is so helpful, thanks so much! If you made the object on the spline a cart or vehicle, how would you get someone to spawn inside of it and ride the spline path to the end?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. There's a few ways to handle that, but if you want a character to spawn inside it and move along the track as a single unit, you probably want to make a second "set actor location and rotation" for the character you are moving/spawning except I would add a scene component to the kart that will serve as the target for that second set actor location. The character's basic controls will not work properly while this is running though. So the character in the kart would be trapped until the ride ends.

[@xcarter48]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Perfect, thanks!

[@264games2]

I'm Late on this one but I have a few issues. How do you get it to stop at a point along the spline?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi, theres a few ways you can do this. Basically what you are gonna wanna do is check the location of the cart. Either by checking the alpha or by causing overlaps along the track. Either way you will need to trigger a custom event and hook that event into the stop pin for the timeline. You can then either require a player input or set a timer to start the timeline back up. Hope that helps

[@marwanreda157]

hello thanks for your great help how can we make this work in sequense please ?

[@LoganVFX]

Hi! Now that i ve everything up, i would like to make it start when i play my sequencer, would you have any idea how to do that?

[@doublecrossgames9355]

Hi Logan. I believe you can get a reference through the sequencer interface and then call the start event as a key frame so the kart will move on queue. Hope this helps

[@LoganVFX]

@@doublecrossgames9355 Hi, thanks for your answer, that s exactly what i did and it seems to be working. Thx for the tutorial man.👍

[@divyabaranwal6825]

could we do the same thing with niagara particles? I wish my particles to face along the path direction

[@sanketvaria9734]

How to do this with particles? Particles, not emitter. Both cascade and niagara.