Unreal 5 Materials - Part 2 World Position Offset Animation from Udemy

Following up from Unreal 5 Materials Part 1 - Environments we take a 7 hour deep dive into World Position Offset in Materials in Unreal Engine 5 - in this course we cover the basics of what World Position Offset is and how it works technically as well as covering many examples to add life to your scenes and create realistic foliage animations.

Part 1 covers the background to World Position Offset, including a technical breakdown of how it works and how we can use World, Local and custom Vectors to control our Animations
Part 2 is a series of simple examples - from hanging chains to basic cloth, that reinforces the theory from Part 1, while also introducing a few key workflows.
Part 3 we take a look at foliage shaders - how we can use a Global Wind parameters to control multiple materials at once, and how each Foliage type requires different World Position Offset settings.
Part 4 we cover some more advanced uses of World Position Offset and take a look at Rederiving Normals to ensure the shading of our models is correct when using World Position Offset.
Part 5 takes a look at some World Position Offset uses that affect the overall world, rather than individual objects - creating curved worlds easily using shaders.

WPO is a great technical subject that can help you to learn about Vector Maths and how to use Blueprints and Vertex Colours to control our models and materials.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Have a holistic understanding of the material editor in unreal 5
Learn best practices and workflows for using functions and producing optimal materials

Learn about the basics of different spaces and vector maths
Explore how to use maths to animated inside unreal 5 using world position offset

Have a holistic understanding of the material editor in unreal 5
Learn best practices and workflows for using functions and producing optimal materials
Learn about the basics of different spaces and vector maths
Explore how to use maths to animated inside unreal 5 using world position offset

Syllabus

Introduction

Source Files

Understand what exactly WPO is and how we can use this to achieve our animations

World Space

Local and Tangent Space

Direction

General Case

Three Sines

Rotation

Apply and use WPO in some simple examples, such as hanging objects and basic cloth

Setup

Simple Translate

ObjPosRandom

Simple WPO Function

Cross Wind

Vertex Colours

Simple Rotation

Advanced Rotation

Vertex Painting 1

Vertex Painting 2

Vertex Painting 3

Simple Cloth

Cloth Cross Wind

World Space Wind

Cloth Rotation

Apply and use WPO in a Foliage context

MPC Controls

Grass Clumps

Grass Cross Wind

Tall Grasses

Tall Grass Cross Wind

Tall Grass Gravity

Player Interaction

Fern Rotation

Fern Half Mask

Secondary Bounce

Tertiary Bounce

Lillies and Floating Objects

Pivot Painter and VATs

By the end of this section students will have an understanding of some of the more complex things that can be achieved with advance WPO Materials

Sprite Facing and Spline Thicken

Butterfly

Fish

Recalculation Normals from Sine

World - Sphere Mask

World - True Rotation

World Spiral

World Spiral 2 and Outro

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Unreal 5 Materials - Part 2 World Position Offset Animation with these activities:

Review Vector Math Fundamentals

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Reinforce your understanding of vector math, which is crucial for manipulating objects and creating animations with World Position Offset.

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Review vector addition, subtraction, dot product, and cross product.
Practice applying vector operations to transform points and directions.

Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics

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Study this book to deepen your understanding of the mathematical principles behind World Position Offset.

View Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and... on Amazon

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Read the chapters on linear algebra and transformations.
Work through the examples and exercises in the book.
Apply the concepts learned to your World Position Offset projects.

Follow Unreal Engine Material Tutorials

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Explore existing tutorials on creating materials in Unreal Engine to familiarize yourself with the Material Editor interface and common workflows.

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Search for tutorials on Unreal Engine's official website and YouTube.
Replicate the steps in the tutorials to create your own materials.
Experiment with different material properties and node connections.

Four other activities

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Experiment with Sine Waves in Material Editor

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Practice using sine waves to create simple animations within the Material Editor, focusing on manipulating frequency, amplitude, and phase.

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Create a new material in Unreal Engine.
Add a Sine node and connect it to the World Position Offset input.
Adjust the Time input to control the animation speed.
Experiment with different mathematical operations to modify the sine wave.

Animate a Flag using World Position Offset

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Start a small project to animate a flag waving in the wind using World Position Offset, applying the concepts learned in the course.

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Create a simple flag mesh in a 3D modeling software.
Import the flag mesh into Unreal Engine.
Create a material that uses World Position Offset to simulate wind movement.
Apply the material to the flag mesh and adjust the parameters to achieve the desired effect.

Document Your WPO Experiments

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Create a blog post or video showcasing your experiments with World Position Offset, explaining the techniques you used and the results you achieved.

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Choose a format for your documentation (blog post, video, etc.).
Document your experiments with World Position Offset, including screenshots or video clips.
Explain the techniques you used and the results you achieved.
Share your documentation with the Unreal Engine community.

Contribute to an Unreal Engine Plugin

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Contribute to an open-source Unreal Engine plugin that utilizes World Position Offset, gaining experience working with a larger codebase and collaborating with other developers.

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Find an open-source Unreal Engine plugin that uses World Position Offset.
Fork the repository and set up a development environment.
Identify a bug or feature to work on.
Implement the fix or feature and submit a pull request.

Career center

Learners who complete Unreal 5 Materials - Part 2 World Position Offset Animation will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Technical Artist

A Technical Artist bridges the gap between artists and programmers, ensuring art assets function correctly within a game engine. They often create tools and scripts to improve art workflows and optimize performance. This course on Unreal 5 Materials, with its deep dive into World Position Offset, offers valuable techniques for creating realistic animations and dynamic effects, directly applicable to a Technical Artist's responsibilities. Understanding how to use Vector Maths and Blueprints, as highlighted in the course description, helps in controlling models and materials. The section on foliage shaders and Global Wind parameters is especially relevant for creating living, breathing game environments. A Technical Artist can leverage knowledge of WPO to push the visual boundaries of a game and create compelling interactive experiences.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Artist

Shader Developer

A Shader Developer specializes in writing and optimizing shaders, programs that control how light interacts with surfaces in 3D graphics. This course, focusing on Unreal 5 Materials and World Position Offset, directly equips you with core skills needed for this role. The course's exploration of Vector Maths and animation within Unreal Engine 5 provides a solid foundation for crafting custom shaders. Shader Developers need a strong understanding of how to manipulate vertices and normals, as covered in the course's advanced WPO uses and normal rederiving sections. This is particularly useful when creating unique visual effects and optimizing rendering performance. The detail on World Space, Local and Tangent Space is especially important.

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Environment Artist

An Environment Artist creates the immersive worlds that players explore in games. World Position Offset and its animation capabilities, as taught in this course, are powerful tools for bringing environments to life. The course's focus on foliage shaders and global wind parameters is directly applicable to creating realistic and dynamic vegetation. By understanding how different foliage types require varying WPO settings, you can craft believable and visually stunning landscapes. Furthermore, the course's exploration of world-affecting WPO uses, such as creating curved worlds, offers creative possibilities for unique level designs. The holistic understanding of the Material Editor in Unreal 5 will be invaluable in the creation of believable and attractive environments that may give a game a sense of realism or otherworldly fantasy.

See salaries and explore the career path for Environment Artist

Game Developer

Game Developers use programming and scripting to create video games for various platforms (consoles, PCs, mobile devices). A deep dive into World Position Offset in Materials in Unreal Engine 5, as offered by this course, may prepare one for creating life like scenes and realistic animation, contributing to a more immersive gameplay experience. Understanding how WPO works technically, as well as learning workflows for using Functions and producing optimal Materials, are invaluable skills for a Game Developer. The course's emphasis on using Blueprints and Vertex Colours to control models and materials, as well as understanding different Spaces and Vector Maths, equips the candidate for crafting compelling gameplay mechanics and visual effects. The section on player interaction with foliage is especially relevant for enhancing immersion.

See salaries and explore the career path for Game Developer

Virtual Reality Developer

Virtual Reality Developers create immersive experiences for VR platforms. This course on Unreal 5 Materials and World Position Offset may be useful in developing realistic and interactive VR environments. The course's exploration of Vector Maths and animation techniques within Unreal Engine 5 lays a foundation for creating convincing virtual worlds. VR applications often require optimized performance, making the course's coverage of best practices and optimal material production particularly valuable. Understanding how to manipulate vertices and normals, as covered in the course's advanced WPO uses, helps in crafting compelling VR experiences. The detail on creating curved worlds easily using shaders may add a novel element to VR experiences.

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Augmented Reality Developer

Augmented Reality Developers build applications that overlay digital content onto the real world. This course on Unreal 5 Materials and World Position Offset may be useful in creating realistic and interactive augmented reality experiences. The course focuses on creating realistic animations and dynamic effects, which translates well to AR applications where blending digital elements with the physical world convincingly is crucial. The course's exploration of Vector Maths and animation techniques within Unreal Engine 5 lays a foundation for creating convincing virtual worlds. The ability to manipulate vertices and normals, as covered in the course, helps in crafting special effects for AR.

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Motion Graphics Designer

A Motion Graphics Designer creates animated graphics and visual effects for various media, including film, television, and web. This course on Unreal 5 Materials and World Position Offset may be useful in expanding a designer's toolkit and skill set, especially with the increasing use of real time rendering in motion graphics. The course's focus on creating dynamic and animated materials provides new avenues for visual expression. Motion Graphics Designers can apply this knowledge to create unique and eye catching effects. Understanding Vector Maths to animate inside Unreal 5 using World Position Offset allows a designer to broaden their repertoire of animation techniques.

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Visual Effects Artist

Visual Effects Artists create special effects and simulations for film, television, and games. They typically require advanced degrees. While this course focuses on real time effects within Unreal Engine, the principles of World Position Offset and material manipulation may transfer to other VFX software. Understanding Vector Maths and how to animate using WPO may allow a Visual Effects Artist to craft compelling and believable effects. This course may be especially helpful for those interested in real time VFX workflows within game engines.

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Architectural Visualization Specialist

Architectural Visualization Specialists create realistic renderings and animations of architectural designs. This course on Unreal 5 Materials and World Position Offset may be useful in enhancing the realism and dynamism of architectural visualizations. The course's exploration of material creation and animation techniques can be applied to create realistic textures, lighting, and environmental effects. Understanding how to use WPO to create animated foliage, wind effects, and other subtle details may add depth and realism to architectural scenes. Best practices and workflows taught in the course may help architectural visualization specialists.

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Product Designer

Product Designers design and develop new products, considering both aesthetics and functionality. While this course focuses on materials and animation within Unreal Engine, the underlying principles of visual design and material properties may be applicable to product visualization. Understanding how to create visually appealing and realistic materials can help Product Designers present their concepts in a compelling way. The course's exploration of WPO and animation techniques can also be used to showcase product features and interactions. The course focuses on optimal Materials that Product Designers may find useful.

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Game Programmer

Game Programmers write the code that brings video games to life. They implement gameplay mechanics, artificial intelligence, and other systems. While this course focuses on materials and animation, the underlying concepts of Vector Maths, Blueprints, and real time rendering may be useful for Game Programmers. Understanding how materials and shaders work can help Game Programmers optimize performance and create visually compelling games. They can also collaborate more effectively with Technical Artists and other art team members. The details on World Space, and Local and Tangent Space, provide a good working knowledge.

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Animator

Animators create the illusion of movement in games, films, and other media. World Position Offset is one of many animation techniques. The course's deep dive into WPO gives a very specific example. The course may provide Animators with knowledge on animating inside Unreal 5 using World Position Offset. It may also educate an animator on the use of Vertex Colours to control models and materials. The course may provide a jumping off point for further understanding of Unreal Engine.

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Lighting Artist

Lighting Artists create the lighting in games, films, and other media. A majority of this course focuses on material creation and animation, but touching on subjects such as normals may prove useful to a Lighting Artist to create or modify objects. The holistic understanding of the Material Editor in Unreal 5 may be useful to the Lighting Artist. World Position Offset may give further control over the behaviour of different materials.

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Texture Artist

A Texture Artist creates the surface details of 3D models, such as color, bumpiness, and reflectivity. This course on Unreal 5 Materials and World Position Offset may be useful in enhancing a Texture Artist's understanding of how materials behave in real time. The course focuses on the Material Editor in Unreal 5. The holistic understanding of the Material Editor may improve the visual quality of textures and materials. The course focuses on optimal Materials that Texture Artists may find useful.

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Level Designer

Level Designers create the layouts and gameplay experiences of video game levels. World Position Offset is one of many tools that may enable a Level Designer to implement their design. A strong understanding of the technical aspects of the Unreal Engine is important for a Level Designer. The course may assist one to learn about Vector Maths and best practices while using Functions. It may be helpful to learn of MPC Controls and pivot painters.

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Unreal 5 Materials - Part 2 World Position Offset Animation

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