Unreal Engine – FluidNinja LIVE

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Welcome to NinjaLive 1.5: real-time fluid sim for PC, Console and Mobile app developers, inside Unreal.

Get a free copy for testing at: Ninja Community Discord / Student version

For baking fluid simulation, see: FluidNinja VFX Tools

Key features

  • Live 1.5 features global usage: sim containers could move in WorldSpace
  • Live 1.4 features custom, lit Volumes with Self Shadows
  • Ready for Cinematic Rendering via UE 4.26 MovieRenderQueue
  • Ready to drive UE native Volumetric Clouds, Fog and Niagara Systems
  • Autonomous: following a three step setup, responsive fluid simulation Actors could be placed on level
  • Embeddable: fluid sim Actor Component could be added to user defined classes, pawns, vehicles
  • Scalable: could be optimized for average mobile devices – or run a 4k simulation container
  • Simulation buffers (density, velocity, pressure) exposed as RenderTargets

Input

  • Static and Dynamic mesh position, size and velocity
  • Skeletal Mesh Bone & Socket position, size and velocity
  • Texture and Material based density, velocity
  • SceneCaptureCamera and Streaming video based density
  • User gestures via mouse and touchscreen

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Technical Details

  • Sim variables accessible by Blueprints and Sequencer
  • Preset based simulation management
  • User editable sim-output Materials
  • Flow Mapping to add extra details to sim-output
  • LOD, Proximity based Sleep/Wake, Memory Pooling
  • 32 demo levels providing usage examples
  • Manual, Tutorial videos and annotated blueprints
  • Tested under UE5 EA (see Manual, Chapter4)

Level & game design

  • Live is supporting a design approach with multiple, local fluidsim containers for character and area effects
  • Live is not a robust “whole world system” – it is designed for a multitude of dispersed, local interactions

Implementation

  • NinjaLive is a compact Unreal Project – its feature set could be utilized in games by merging
  • It is based on standard Unreal assets (Blueprints, Materials)
  • Live does not rely on Niagara – but could be used to drive Niagara
  • Does not contain C++ code, pre-compiled elements, or third party content
  • Cooking, compiling and packaging is tested for Windows PC, Apple, iOS and Android Mobile

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