I love hearing that! I seriously couldn't find a step by step process on how to do this. So when I figured out a way that worked for me I decided to make a video about it.
Dude, I hate you so much...I just spent the last hour trying to figure this out just with landscapes and inverted shapes, etc. and was banging my head against the wall...then, boom, Mr. Elusive Panda comes along with "just flip some rocks upside down" and now I feel like an idiot. ;) Honestly, this is great and literally couldn't come at a more perfect time...well, I guess an hour earlier, but that on me for not searching first. Thanks so much, subscribed! ;)
I think this is an artistic way of doing it, since different shapes require different fine tuned alpha painting. It seems like doing a marching cubes mesh for the surface, placing rocks around the edges of the mesh uniformly, and then using a heightmap to displace vertices could produce pretty similar results. I'm currently trying to implement marching cubes in UE5 so I can do the same thing, not an easy task.
from what i have seen so far on blueprints and pgc you can do this. I am not quite sure of the way to procced, but if you create a custom pgc and then move on into layering your content. like you would with foliage ( rocks , trees etc.. ) just start small and layer the floating island in an assets by itself. So you might need to create the floating island as a seperate asset. ( i mean without all the separate rocks combined into the shape made ). ^^ do note i am only saying this because it would make sense at least for me. as by not doing this , i dont think your floating island would look the same, due to different spwn points. however looking back since he used a sphere as a actor for the assets to move around it would be the same i guess, but still it could not work. ( i dont know much of pgc so do correct me if anything or if all is wrong. LOLL ) If i would create this and try myself, i would go into the modeling and create 1 shape to look a like as the first one, then copy and do just like he did and then combine/merge into a new asset. But you can do this with assets imported as well, at least last time i checked. after you have combined/merged them, they are now one asset. Create a custom pgc ; make the script to your liking and add ur asset. Considering this is for a floating rock island , you should expand it very far and make it so there is less then 10 spwn points and scale distance so it fits your imagination. Doing big scale and bigger island then what is in video with more then 10 spwn points could be to say a hard time for your pc. so creating ur script to be on small size first, would save u time and have it easier to fix.
This is so awesome! Is it possible to have a normal sea level open world with your floating islands above and travel between the two, or would they need to be seperate with a loading screen?
It is possible, depending on how many static mesh actors you are using. If you are wanting a large open world, Unreal utilizes something called "level streaming" where it loads in another level based on the distance of the player. A good example of this is with Ark. That game was built in Unreal and uses level streaming for their massive maps. They also have maps with floating islands.
That's why you're the GOAT... The GOAT!!! Simple, you explained everything.
That's awesome, thank you for sharing this tutorial!
This is great, alot of good tips and easy to follow without it feeling too slow. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! I use this method to make Overhangs and Land bridges in my game now!!
I love hearing that! I seriously couldn't find a step by step process on how to do this. So when I figured out a way that worked for me I decided to make a video about it.
Thanks a lot! I'm not using unity but a new RPG program called Bakin and this did the trick!
Dude, I hate you so much...I just spent the last hour trying to figure this out just with landscapes and inverted shapes, etc. and was banging my head against the wall...then, boom, Mr. Elusive Panda comes along with "just flip some rocks upside down" and now I feel like an idiot. ;)
Honestly, this is great and literally couldn't come at a more perfect time...well, I guess an hour earlier, but that on me for not searching first. Thanks so much, subscribed! ;)
I like this but what if you want to procedurally generate them? Can it be done in a similar way?
I think this is an artistic way of doing it, since different shapes require different fine tuned alpha painting. It seems like doing a marching cubes mesh for the surface, placing rocks around the edges of the mesh uniformly, and then using a heightmap to displace vertices could produce pretty similar results. I'm currently trying to implement marching cubes in UE5 so I can do the same thing, not an easy task.
from what i have seen so far on blueprints and pgc you can do this.
I am not quite sure of the way to procced, but if you create a custom pgc and then move on into layering your content. like you would with foliage ( rocks , trees etc.. ) just start small and layer the floating island in an assets by itself.
So you might need to create the floating island as a seperate asset. ( i mean without all the separate rocks combined into the shape made ).
^^ do note i am only saying this because it would make sense at least for me. as by not doing this , i dont think your floating island would look the same, due to different spwn points.
however looking back since he used a sphere as a actor for the assets to move around it would be the same i guess, but still it could not work. ( i dont know much of pgc so do correct me if anything or if all is wrong. LOLL )
If i would create this and try myself, i would go into the modeling and create 1 shape to look a like as the first one, then copy and do just like he did and then combine/merge into a new asset.
But you can do this with assets imported as well, at least last time i checked. after you have combined/merged them, they are now one asset.
Create a custom pgc ; make the script to your liking and add ur asset.
Considering this is for a floating rock island , you should expand it very far and make it so there is less then 10 spwn points and scale distance so it fits your imagination.
Doing big scale and bigger island then what is in video with more then 10 spwn points could be to say a hard time for your pc. so creating ur script to be on small size first, would save u time and have it easier to fix.
This is so awesome! Is it possible to have a normal sea level open world with your floating islands above and travel between the two, or would they need to be seperate with a loading screen?
It is possible, depending on how many static mesh actors you are using. If you are wanting a large open world, Unreal utilizes something called "level streaming" where it loads in another level based on the distance of the player. A good example of this is with Ark. That game was built in Unreal and uses level streaming for their massive maps. They also have maps with floating islands.
@@ElusivePandaGames thanks!
Thanks a lot
looks cool nice tutorial
When you hide the rest of the landscape through visibility the part that you can’t see still have collision or can you fall through it?
It removes the collision as well.
I've actually been trying it out in Unity by doing a plane of terrain surrounded by rock clusters.
Awesome! How is it working out for you?
@@ElusivePandaGames I'll be giving it a try next week. I joined your Discord, so I can share updates there if you'd like!
@@SchalaArchives2023ish Yeah, feel free to share! I can't wait to see it!
Llllike