How to Create A Massive Zombie Horde in Unreal Engine 5.5 - Niagara Crowd Simulation, AnimToTexture

Video Description

Check out my new product, OverCrowd, for massive crowd simulation: OverCrowd is now live on Fab! Check it out here: https://bit.ly/3Irr8XY OverCrowd can do a lot of the features I was not able to figure out for this video, including, but not limited to: - Avoidance and detection, so characters do not overlap - Modular Wardrobe Manager: Bake VATs and randomize their wardrobes for vastly more variation in your crowd - Automatically LOD generation for dramatically increased optimization - Blender and Offset animations - Swap from VATs to blueprint actors or skeletal meshes for things like ragdolls or increased interactivity - Use Metahuman heads and facial animations https://discord.com/invite/thedarkestage Join the Patreon for exclusive content and discounts on future products: https://patreon.com/CharlieDriscoll This is an in-depth tutorial on creating a massive, stampeding horde of zombies using a modified Niagara fountain emitter and static mesh zombie particles that are animated using Vertex Animation Textures (VAT). We use a tool built by @TrashPraxis to convert zombie skeletal meshes into static meshes, with their animations baked into their material instances, which uses Unreal Engine's AnimToTexture plugin. This is all done in Unreal Engine 5.5, without having to leave to bake the static meshes. I also draw heavily from @CodeLikeMe 's tutorial on creating a rat swarm tutorial, which I have also linked below. Link to Trash Praxis' Tool on Github: https://github.com/kromond/AnimToTextureHelpers Trash Praxis' Tutorial: https://youtu.be/vrlFozqB0jA?si=oJtM5twCbO8QBgXz CodeLikeMe's Rat Swarm Tutorial: https://youtu.be/NilyMiB1fos?si=YBCah9zDPOLh9Aq3 Zombie Characters Used: https://fab.com/s/66eae7a3094c Zombie Animations Used: https://fab.com/s/53aed38d6191 Affiliate Links to Support the Channel: ElevenLabs for AI Voice morphing: https://try.elevenlabs.io/srb9mtho4n0l QuickMagic for Body Mocap: https://www.quickmagic.ai?code=clmew4 (if link is broken, referral code is: clmew4) Artlist for Cinematic Music and SFX: https://artlist.io/referral/dd1d776b-740e-43da-8557-29c2fe35e03d 00:00-00:34 - Intro 00:35-01:20 - CINEMATIC 01:21-04:20 - Overview of Effect 04:21-07:13 - Limitations 07:14-08:13 - Benefits 08:14-09:57 - Main Tutorials Used 09:58-11:29 - Project and Plugin Setup 11:30-13:02 - Download and Install Vertex Animation Texture Tool from Github 13:03-15:25 Adding Zombie Characters and Animations 15:26-16:33 Retargeting Zombie Animations 16:34-17:10 Organizing Meshes 17:11-24:19 Modifying Materials wtih AnimToTexture Blueprint Code 24:20-34:03 Baking the Vertex Animation Textures and Generating Static Meshes with Trash Praxis' Tool 34:05-38:13 Setting Up More Zombies 38:14-38:50 IMPORTANT Do Not Apply LOD If Prompted When Closing Static Mesh Window 38:51-43:13 Setting Up Niagara Emitter and Adding Meshes, Initial Spawn Velocity, and Collision 43:14-44:23 Changing Particle Lifetime and Randomizing Initial Scale 44:24-47:35 Applying Linear Force to Particles 47:36-49:58 Setting Up Variation in Linear Force and Adding Sine Wave Movement 49:59-51:23 Changing Spawn Volume Shape 51:24-53:39 Changing Spawn Rate of Particle Emitter 53:40-56:40 Adding Another Linear Force to Give More Directional Control to Horde 56:41-58:23 Making Zombies Face the Proper Direction, Aligning them to Direction of Velocity 58:24-59:40 Fixing Zombie Bounce by Changing Restitution, Fixing Clumping by Reducing Bounce Friction 59:41-1:00:00 Lowering Linear Force So They Don't Run So Fast 1:00:01-1:00:37 Turning On Cast Shadow for Particles 1:00:38-1:03:05 Adding a Curve to the Mesh Scale So Particles Ease In and Out of existence 1:03:06-1:04:37 Outro