"Why touch grass when you can cut it?" probably thought to himself Technical Artist and Lighting/Compositing Lead MJ Alajmi, setting up an incredible grass-trimming mechanic that blends together visuals, logic, and sound design into one mesmerizing system.
Powered by Unreal Engine 5, the setup uses a render target to store the height of the trimmer blades, which drives the opacity mask in the grass shader. The same render target also feeds into Niagara, controlling particle effects when grass is cut.
The sound system reacts dynamically, driven by both controller input (throttle) and Niagara particle activity, so when more fresh grass gets cut, the sound volume increases accordingly.
