Simple 6DOF Component Documentation

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FAQ

What is the quickest way for me to get started with Simple 6DOF Component?

Open your Actor, Pawn or Character class and then Add the Simple6DOF Component. Everything is done through this component. Use the 4 functions available in the component.

What parameters are available?

The following parameters are available:

RotationRate: Dictates the rotation rate to use for 6DOF rotational functions.

OrientRotationTo6DOF: If true, automatically offset parent actor's rotation by the active 6DOF Rotation delta. Setting this to false will still keep calculating 6DOF rotational values but will no longer add the rotation offset to parent actor. When the internal 6DOF rotation updates, the "On 6DOF Rotation Offset Updated" Event is called.

These parameters can be found under the Customize category of the component.

What functions are available?

The component comes with 4 blueprint callable functions: Add6DOFRoll, Add6DOFPitch, Add6DOFYaw and Get6DOFControlDirection.

What Event Dispatchers are available?

The component comes with 1 Event Dispatcher: On6DOFRotationOffsetUpdated.

This event is triggered each time the 6DOF rotation gets calculated. The event returns the Rotation Offset (Delta) value.

Is the component replicated?

The basic rotational update of the parent actor is replicated if the boolean ComponentReplicates is set to true.

Why is the example project distributed separately?

Code Plugins are encouraged to have a small footprint which is why often, the accompanying example projects are distributed separately. The Plugin was designed to be small and simple so the decision was made to separate the example project.

Can I use assets from the example project in my game? Can I build my entire game on top of the example project?

Yes, the example project is distributed under MIT license and users are free to use the project under the license terms, even for commercial purposes.

What Engine version does the example project work with?

Any Engine version including 4.27 and above.

What to do if the editor shows missing Plugin error upon launching the example project?

Likely, you do not have the plugin installed for the Engine version you are launching the project with. Ensure you have the plugin installed to your Engine.

[Getting Started]

Example implementation video can be found here. In this video, the plugin is implemented in a standard First Person Template in Unreal Engine 5.4.

The system is controlled by a single Actor Component – Simple6DOF. This component can be added to an Actor, Pawn or Character blueprint to implement the 6DOF rotational functions.

Simply open your desired blueprint and search for the Simple6DOF component from the components panel then add it.

Once added, search for the functions by dragging a pin off of the Simple6DOF component. Ideally, you want to add all 4 functions to your graph. These are: Add6DOFRoll, Add6DOFPitch, Add6DOFYaw and Get6DOFControlDirection.

The Add6DOFRoll, Add6DOFPitch and Add6DOFYaw functions all take the user input then use the input values to rotate the actor/pawn/character in six degrees of freedom without gimbal lock. Assign your inputs here similar to setting up the inputs to add traditional Roll, Pitch and Yaw. One thing to note, if using input from mouse then leave the Absolute value checked. If using input from gamepad or keyboard then uncheck it.

Ensure Use Controller Rotation Yaw is set to false if using Pawn or Character class. Additionally, if using a camera or a Spring Arm, uncheck Use Pawn Control Rotation.

Set Default Land Movement Mode to flying to get rid of gravity if using Character Movement component.

The plugin itself does not provide any movement logic but both floating pawn movement and character movement component can be used to drive the movement. You can use the unit vector values from the output of the Get6DOFControlDirection function as directions for your movement inputs.

Alternative Setup

Instead of allowing the plugin to internally calculate then update the parent actor's rotations, an alternative approach could be to only use the plugin to calculate the rotation delta and make the parent actor rotate separately.

Set the OrientRotationTo6DOF variable to false. This will prevent the plugin from internally orienting the parent actor to the calculated 6DOF rotational values. The plugin will however keep calculating the 6DOF rotation values based on provided inputs. It simply will not touch the parent actor's rotation.

The plugin comes with the On6DOFRotationOffsetUpdated Event Dispatcher. Add this event to the blueprint graph, the button to add the event can be found under the Events category of the Simple6DOF Component when it is selected. This event gets called each time the 6DOF rotation internally updates. The event returns the RotationOffset Rotator. This Rotator is the offset (delta) value. To use it, combine the actor's rotation with this value then set the actor's rotation to this combined rotation value. Alternatively, the returned rotation offset can be directly applied to the actor by plugging it into AddActorLocalRotation.

Replication

Simply set the ComponentReplicates to true to allow the plugin to perform replicated updates of the parent actor's rotation. This just performs a straightforward, rudimentary replication of the parent actor's rotation and does not consider any error corrections. It is advised to use your own form of replication if you need a realtime, more precise form of replication.

Example Project

The following example project is available.

Install the plugin to your engine then download or clone this repo. Open the .uproject file. When prompted, select your desired Engine version. Project works for Engine versions 4.27 and above. If the required plugin is not installed then the editor will show an warning. Ensure you have installed the plugin to proper Engine version from the Launcher.