Unreal Engine 5 - Footprints In the Sand (Landscape Displacement)

In this Unreal Engine 5 tutorial, I'll show you two ways to displace your landscape to create footprints.
Full disclosure, I'll be using the Openland Toolkit to achieve this effect, but the good news is that it is free for non-commercial use and full of fantastically useful functionality...
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:05 - Setup & Shadow Fix
00:06:22 - Fake Displacement
00:23:34 - True Displacement
00:52:46 - Blueprint Overview
Download the Openland Toolkit at:
github.com/GDi4K/unreal-openland
This page has some great documentation and tutorial videos as well which I highly recommend.
To create the desert landscape, follow my tutorial at:
• Unreal Engine 5 - Crea...
To create the desert dustcloud:
• Unreal Engine 5 - Crea...

[@GDi4K]

I just found this video. This is great. I will link somewhere in our documentation.

[@Jobutsu]

Again, clear and to the point. Thankyou!

[@full_afterburner]

You are my Bob Ross of UE5 at the moment, thankyou so much for these awesomely crafted video tutorials.

[@ChrizLizt]

LOVE your tuts, thank you. Love the desert and desert driving. Thank you. Now, I will create a mad max desert driving game. xD

[@rnadomj]

Your tutorials are so good!!!

[@geoffrey3668]

Thank you for this great tutorials you are sharing! This make my life easier and thus better :).

[@LFA_GM]

Thank you so much for this series. I was able to get good results with both methods, but with lots of flickering. Do you have any advice for UE5.2? Thank you again.

[@PetrJericho]

Thanks a lot, great tutorial! Everything works fine on UE 5.2. If you get long tracks on the sand like skis, try reducing the Max Depth parameter for Trail L and Trail R (Fake Displacement method)

[@phantompickle6477]

Do you know how to get the trail to work. When I do the steps the trail won’t appear

[@shui6337]

@@phantompickle6477 go to project settings and enable "Virtual texture support" and as a plugin enable "Virtual heightfield mesh"

[@aycametinn]

Great tutorial! I have an issue when I tried to package for dedicated server - "landscape proxy" error. Do you have any idea what it may be the reason for this?

[@TheAndrizone]

Is there a way to use this in the secuencer it means in cinematics, for a shortfilm?

[@oberdoofus]

hi thanks for this! - will these methods work in sequencer?

[@ChaosStep]

Is there a way to link the deform fade to time, so that the footprints fade out even when standing still?

[@UnrealAnderson]

LOVE your tutorials :) would it be possible to apply displacement effect to make a hole in the ground by a grenade explosion with sand particles flying up?

[@d_Howard]

This is great! Now I need to switch the game to 3rd person view, add a mannequin, then fix it so he can get in and out of the truck. Probably need to think up something for him to do when he gets out of the truck, too. (like pick up the drone, look for batteries, missiles, etc...) Nice work!

[@unrealitybites763]

Can't wait to see the finished game, d Howard

[@d_Howard]

@@unrealitybites763 yeah...might be a long wait. I started learning and experimenting with UE5. Lots to learn there! My system can handle some of the lower end stuff. Do you know if UE4 projects can be successfully upgraded to UE5?

[@Illorca]

sooo good

[@josexavierneto]

Brilliant tutorial!! I just want to ask if you have an strategy to make these changes cookable and able to be packaged to android. Thank you.

[@jumpieva]

thank you for this, but one thing I'm not quite clear on, do you have to always start with the 'fake' way even if you want to do the 'real way' ? it seems like you still utilized part of the blue print logic you previously made.

[@c00l1ng3n]

I've already animated a sequence in Sequencer, which auto plays when I click Play. I tried changing Game Mode, overriding it etc. Any waypoints? I'm 15:00min into this tutorial, where we test the displacement of the normal map. :)

[@ilkclub]

possible landscape displacement in simulate mode or in sequencer?

[@ATERSMASH2000]

Great tutorial yo , but I’ve having some trouble with me foot prints not appearing ,in the open land deform manager , is there something I’m missing? Maybe in the character collision or something?

[@CyberpunkV2077]

Hello, sorry to bother you but I am unable to find the Openland node as it is not showing up anywhere please could you help me out, many thanks.

[@Soturi4k]

Is it possible to add an effect to the steps that plays on the steps? Something like electricity dissipating or just a color etc? I’m new to Unreal but from what I do know it’s looks plausible?

[@iuliandobrogeanu3762]

I've set manually the RTVT non using the the openland , however used ReadOpenlandDeform which i guess didn't automatically detect the landscape

[@console.g]

And how do you remove the square shadow, which you created the dust effect in the wind?

[@ShivaprasadMaliPatil]

hi how do i apply this dynamic material instance in fbx please let me know.

[@jza2335]

Can this be used for npcs instead of player characters?

[@leonardkiefner6460]

Does this also apply to vehicle Trails?

[@dogman_13]

Greetings! Have a problem: I use virtual textures like in video step-by-step, but my textures are trembling. I tried to play with RVT Volumes settings, so doesn't happened. All works OK, when I disabled Deform Fading (use Fake Displacement) P.S. If someone has 'Add RVT Support' button unclickable in 'OpenLand_RVT_Widget' - try to setup plugins and Virtual texture support in Project Setting at first, and next step - move OpenLand folder to your project. It is because some nodes missing smth in blueprint classes.

[@__yourspring]

It works fine in a single landscape, but not in a world partitioned landscape. may i know how to solve it?

[@abdelhafidibis]

Did you manage to solve it since?

[@abdelhafidibis]

Just found that it works after checking "Use dynamic material instance" in each landscape streaming proxy, not just the Landscape item in the outliner. Just in case you still want to use it.

[@phantompickle6477]

I was wondering how you got trails to show up. I followed your instructions but when I clicked play no trails showed up. I’m doing this on unreal engine 5.2. Is there a difference in what you need to do because I’ve rewatched several times and I can’t figure out what I did wrong. Please let me know what I need to do.(fake displacement)

[@kristiancurran887]

@UnrealityBites is it possible to add this to sequencer. I have a metahuman who is walking on mud and would be super cool to have this

[@HaykAmirbekyanTKD]

whats up with the flickering? how do you get rid of it?

[@Madlion]

Not sure if you noticed but I cant get self shadow to work with heightfield mesh....

[@kerlondepaixao]

How to Activate in Sequencer? When I Activate the Open Land Deform Component in the Sequencer it doesn't make the job.

[@Messir]

Is it compatible with UE 5.0? Im getting the BAD blueprint for some reason. All nodes in all the blueprints are BAD in UE 5:0

[@KranPatsan]

Thanks for lesson!) But i have problem with fake displacement: in game mod all works perfect, but when i try put this scene in cinematic (in Sequence Master) diplacement gone. Please help! (Sorry for my bad english)❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗🙏🙏🙏

[@Messir]

can I do it for the 1st person?

[@tangtang103]

Your tutorial is just insane, but I have a question. Why I can't see my footstep into my build ?

[@darthravyn572]

I have multiple errors after I attached the the displacement height to the breakmaterial and makematerial : [SM6] Function Read_OpenLand_Deform_Data : Missing Material Function [SM6] Function Read_OpenLand_Deform_Data : (NodeCollectionParameter) Collection Parameter has invalid Collection [SM6] (NodeMakeMaterialAttributes) Errors on Property Normal I have no idea how to fix it, any help, please ?

[@camilleachour3319]

Great Tutorial. Do you think it could be possible to use this technique with the sequencer?

[@thenumbfeeling]

Have you found any way to use this on character animated in sequencer m

[@da_drood-digitalart]

i'm aiming for the same, that's why i haven't started this tutorial yet. Have you found any solution in the meantime?

[@darklordstudios72]

Love the tutorial, but not able to get even fake displacement to work in 5.1 so not sure if changes were made. Custom landscape material but not sure that would affect this.

[@GabrielSahraoui]

fake displacement works on 5.1

[@ericdoesart_]

Love this tutorial, very easy to follow! The only thing is that everytime I add a new 3D model, the footsteps no longer appear. I'd love to know if anyone knows what to do in this situation

[@elmago9815]

I'm not sure what you mean by adding a new 3D model, but I did encounter the same problem with the footsteps not appearing if nanite is enabled on the landscape

[@ErrRationale]

I'm getting the following message from the very first step: The following member variables in blueprint 'Blueprint /Game/Custom/OpenLand/Blueprints/Deform/OpenLand_DeformManager.OpenLand_DeformManager' have invalid type. Would you like to remove them? Is OpenLand broken for UE5.1?

[@driftingdodo527]

I know its a long time ago, but did you resolve this issue?

[@ErrRationale]

@@driftingdodo527 I haven’t used this plugin since I opened it and tried it lol

[@SanTotori]

This vedio helps me even in 5.3! Many thanks! Btw, now that 5.3 surpport Nanite Landscape and displacement, will the workflow Update?

[@Bluescott456]

Hi, I am getting an error in 5.3.1. Did you encouter it? Fatal error: [File:D:\build\++UE5\Sync\Engine\Source\Runtime\RHICore\Private\RHICoreShader.cpp] [Line: 36] Shader requested a global uniform buffer of type 'VirtualShadowMap' at static slot '[Name: VirtualShadowMapUbSlot, Slot: 6]', but it was null. The uniform buffer should be bound using RHICmdList.SetStaticUniformBuffers() or passed into an RDG pass using SHADER_PARAMETER_STRUCT_REF() or SHADER_PARAMETER_RDG_UNIFORM_BUFFER().

[@SanTotori]

@@Bluescott456 “Fake Displacement” works well in 5.3.2 blueprint project. No idea about the error haha.

[@Pefect]

@UnrealityBites Hi, after 8 months maybe you know is true displacement works right or how to fix it ? ;d

[@vamuse]

Guessing the true displacement method doesnt work for VoxelTerrain? The RVT is looking for specifically landscape object

[@therealwolfguy3108]

How do I make the footprints actual footprints in unreal engine 5????

[@cdhevents414]

I have a layer blend with all my textures to paint on the landscape, but these methods don't seem to work when plugging the material attributes into the blend, anyone have an answer?

[@eugeny3d]

the same problem ;) maybe it was possible to solve it?

[@ArthurDaniel100]

I have a big problem (i use the 5.1). After i put the trials in their position, the result is a circular path like the first one you show + the steph path togheter... How can i fix that?

[@Monkeyyouwho]

FYI I had to unselect "follow player character" in the deform manager to get rid of the giant circular trail and only have foot trails

[@sylvaindelaine]

uncheck the Follow Player Character in the OpenLand_DeformManager

[@lucascavallari8489]

Is there a tutorial on how to do this from scratch?

[@Aquious]

I pressed the S key like you said in the blueprint and nothing came up so I cant do the max height. So I can't do the footprints?

[@Pefect]

Hi, you need to press S and click left mouse button. It's just shortcut. Also you can in blueprint click right button and write ScalarParameter.

[@robertlarsson241]

Any idea why my "Add RVT support" button is greyed out/unclickable? I've made sure to follow all the previous steps :\

[@unrealitybites763]

Not sure... the only two things you need as far as I'm aware are: 1) Enable virtual texture support in Project Settings and restart 2) There must be a landscape in your level, the widget should say "Using your-landscape-name as the ground actor" I would also say that the button kinda looks disabled anyway until you hover over it.

[@Fjaka]

Great tutorial! Very informative! I was wondering if there's a way to permanently write those footprints on landscape? I'm working on a trailer (not interactive) that's mainly based on sand terrain and I need to have a sandy road that has footprints all over the place so is there a way to "record" the footprints permanently? Cheers!

[@johntestement969]

I have a similar need. I would like to make permanent landscape deformations for a ditch, preferably from a spline. How can we use the deform tools with permanent static meshes?

[@miroslavvano8411]

How to make footsteps fade overtime?

[@KepperSnapper]

Hello, I've been trying to do this, but even with Dynamic Material Instance checked on, and M_MS_Surface_Material parent material set up, for the life of me I cant figure out why my landscape refuses to deform. Does anybody have any solution for this?

[@Silver-os9jy]

Same problem... have you found a solution? I tried both the fake and the true displacements but nothing seems to work.

[@KepperSnapper]

@@Silver-os9jy sorry, I never managed to figure it out. I reckon I messed up somewhere in between so I just went on without it.

[@zhenduo1753]

oh .....🥶Same problem

[@abdelhafidibis]

@@KepperSnapper Just found that it works after checking "Use dynamic material instance" in each landscape streaming proxy, not just the Landscape item in the outliner. Just in case you still want to use it.

[@technicalhariom1291]

Will it work for Android game?

[@romanshipulin6437]

how to make it work on ue 5.1?

[@ZynoSpelar]

I did this in 5.2 after connecting the runtime virtual texture sample with the makematerial attributes and material attributes the texture becomes fully black.

[@zeropointfusion7679]

Hey, I'm working on this in Unreal 5.1, did you ever find a fix for this?

[@real2late]

How have you made these assets blend in so well?

[@unrealitybites763]

Using Runtime Virtual Texture (RVT) blending on the Quixel assets. You're right, it makes a huge difference on making them fit believably onto the landscape. I'll probably cover it in a future video when I create various other landscapes.

[@FreakZado]

@@unrealitybites763 Please do!

[@Kaisadria]

33:30 I have a problem, true discpalcement, namely even though I have everything done as in the video, my texture is all black even though everything is well connected.

[@NaikouVR]

Same Problem here ... if anyone figured that out why please tell me how :3

[@TheBelrick]

Unreal has emerged as a clear winner in Unity 3D vs. Unreal Engine 3D. One unheralded aspect is IMHO the difference in the two marketplaces. I use both and i find unreals third party addons to be of a superior quality that also stays current for much longer.

[@unrealitybites763]

I've developed in both engines (although not in Unity for a couple of years). What drew me to Unreal Engine originally was the wealth of free assets, particularly the Quixel megascans, and the fact that this seems to be a conscious, cultural decision by Epic Games. Now, in UE5, the launch of Nanite and Lumen makes it so strong for 3D games and production design compared to Unity. I've really grown to love blueprints as well (which is strange considering my traditional coding background) and blueprints also lend themselves well to teaching others.

[@ca1n259]

I have a problem in the Fake Displacement step. When we edit the Surface material at 10:20, I do everything as in the video, but when I switch to play mode, it gives an error landscape physical material needs to be rebuilt and nothing works, there are no round traces. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? I tried to solve it through Build-Build all landscape, the error disappeared, but no traces appeared under the character.

[@abdelhafidibis]

I'm in the same situation, did you manage to make it work since?

[@abdelhafidibis]

Just found that it works after checking "Use dynamic material instance" in each landscape streaming proxy, not just the Landscape item in the outliner. Just in case you still want to use it.

[@mehance]

@@abdelhafidibis thanks a lot, it worked for me!

[@jakobstranne1778]

I added a night-cycle to my desert project but I have one problem that I don't know how to fix, when the sun is in the position at the middle of the day everything gets totally white and it's hard to see anything at all probably because there isn't any shadows but it still doesn't look realistic. Do you know how to make it look more realistic? Please let me know and love the content btw! 😁

[@jakobstranne1778]

Is it also possible to make a tutorial like this but for commercial use?

[@unrealitybites763]

When you have the sun in the midday position, you will need to change the exposure to suit your taste. In your Post Process Volume, find the exposure section, set the mode to manual and change the exposure amount to your liking. If you were feeling like a challenge, you could change the exposure amount in blueprints based on the time-of-day.

[@unrealitybites763]

The tutorial is the same whether for commercial or non-commercial use. That's because the OpenLand code is the same, it's just where you get it from.... Github as per my instructions for non-commercial and the Unreal Engine Marketplace if you want the paid commercial version.

[@jakobstranne1778]

@@unrealitybites763 thanks alot, perfect! :D

[@randombleachfan]

Off-topic question: Does "Non-commercial use" mean that I can't share my project publicly with anyone? I am new to game dev and I am currently learning about different types of licenses lol.

[@unrealitybites763]

My understanding is that non-commercial use means you can't make any money from any project that uses the toolkit, so you should be able to share your project with others as long as they are aware of the money-making restriction

[@randombleachfan]

@@unrealitybites763 Huh, I see.

[@djtc2093]

Can this be done for my car tires?

[@unrealitybites763]

Yes, just add the deform component to the bottom of each tire instead of feet and it should work fine. Don't parent the component to the tires though (as you don't want the deform component to rotate around).... just place it independently under each tire.

[@djtc2093]

@@unrealitybites763 Thanks man

[@djtc2093]

@@unrealitybites763 Hi again. After following the tutorial my landscape has bugged out, it's lost all shadows and depth. and it's showing a lot more tiling. Could you try assist please? The landscape looks so flat. Literally broke my game.

[@user-km4nl8si6z]

but my material doesnt have a parent material

[@technicalhariom1291]

If I only want to add effect on any one of layer of the master material

[@unrealitybites763]

Yes, you can do that. To see an example of how to do it, open up the M_OpenLand material, find the MF_OL_Handle_Deformation function and open it. There, you will see that you can use MaterialLayerSamples multiplied by height as the input for your deformation max height, so you can have different heights for different landscape layers (or no effect at all)

[@Rudra_om]

Amazing make a Tutorial On Car take damage When it Get hit

[@nima_ap]

Looks good but tbh the way it looks makes it feel like you're walking on clay. Sand needs particle effects to look truly realistic.

[@unrealitybites763]

Of course, but I think an hour long tutorial is probably enough for most people. I may do a part 2 on footprints looking at the mask effects and particles (if they look good enough)

[@jakobstranne1778]

@@unrealitybites763 That would be dope 🔥

[@lukequinn121]

this isn't working for Unreal Engine 5.1 unfortunately.

[@-De9d]

neither of these worked for me

[@user-nj9zy9hg4f]

Am i only one whos got problems with open land blueprint? It is broken(((

[@UE_5_beginner]

But an hour video dawg? cmon man.