LogInGhislain Girardot demonstrated an enhanced Boids-driven particle system for Unreal Engine 5.3 and shared the files behind it.
Over the past couple of weeks, Game Developer and Content Creator Ghislain Girardot, who just recently blessed us with a great new tutorial on creating a wind system in UE5, has been busy updating all his projects to Unreal Engine 5.3, the latest stable version of Epic Games' game creation software. One project he specifically tackled was the Niagara-based system for simulating large schools of fish in the engine, which has now been upgraded and made compatible with UE5.3.
Initially introduced in 2022, the system utilizes a modified version of Boids, an artificial life program created by Craig Reynolds in 1986 to simulate the collective movement of birds, as its main driving force. With a detailed overview and several eye-pleasing demos, Ghislain showcased the new and improved version of the system, dubbed Boids 2.0, which operates using Niagara and its Neighbord Grid 3D interface.
As stated by the author, Boids 2.0 boasts improved performance and better documentation compared to the original and is more user-friendly, particularly for beginners. Additionally, the developer fixed a "nasty bug" present in the original system to ensure that the UE5.3 version functions correctly. The files behind the system have also been released to the public and are available via Ghislain's Patreon page.
And here's the 2022 technical breakdown explaining the first iteration of the system:
If you'd like to take a deeper dive into using Unreal Engine for technical art, we highly recommend visiting Ghislain Girardot's official YouTube channel, filled to the brim with insightful tutorials, tech demos, and breakdowns covering various aspects of Unreal.
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