Ship Controller

ShipController is a SceneComponent that manages other (child) ship SceneComponents such as ShipEngine and ShipRudder.

Ship Controller requires following binding to be set up under Project Settings ⇒ Input:

• EngineStartStop [action mapping]
• Throttle [axis]
• Rudder [axis]

ShipController is intended to be used together with WaterObject, but this is not required.

Typical hierarchy would be:

• MyShip [AShipController] - ship controller pawn class.
  • Hull [UStaticMeshComponent] - a ship hull.
    • HullWaterObject [UWaterObject] - for simulating the ship hull/water interaction.
  • ShipRudder [UShipRudder] - hadles rotation of the rudder with input.
    • ShipRudderWaterObject [UWaterObject] - for simulating the rudder/water interaction.
  • ShipEngine [UShipEngine] - manages thrust, sound and propeller animation.
    • Propeller [UStaticMeshComponent][optional] - visual propeller rotation only, not used for simulation. It would be possible to use a WaterObject as a propeller, but not as flexible as a simple AddForce approach.
    • Audio [UAudioComponent][optional] - engine audio that gets modified through volume and pitch.
  • Keel [UStaticMeshComponent][optional]
    • KeelWaterObject [UWaterObject][optional]
  • … other WaterObjects …

Example ship setup from the demo yacht.

A few notes:

• AShipController should be placed as a root as it is a pawn class.
• Usage of UShipRudder and UShipEngine is optional.
• Multiple rudders and/or engines can be present at the same time.
• To create an outboard engine where the direction of thrust changes with the rudder direction, parent the UShipEngine to UShipRudder as the direction and position of the thrust of the UShipEngine is equal to its transform position and forward direction.

A simple ship controller script containing no optional fields.

Rotates the child objects around its transform position.

Handles engine thrust, sound, and propeller rotation. The latter two are optional.

• Thrust will be applied to the root UPrimitiveComponent.
• To make the engine run on BeginPlay, tick Is On field.
• To use sound attach UAudioComponent as a child of UShipEngine and assign a looping audio file. Sound settings can be adjusted through the Sound section in the Details panel.
• To use propeller rotation (visual only) attach UStaticMeshComponent representing the propeller as a child of UShipEngine.
  • It is important that the mesh pivot of the propeller is at its center or otherwise the rotation will be offset.
  • Propeller rotation speed in relation to the engine can be adjusted through Propeller RPM Ratio.