We’re pleased to announce that TressFX 5.0 for Unreal Engine 4 is now available.
TressFX 5.0 is the latest version of our TressFX UE patch which enables high-quality simulation and rendering of realistic hair and fur using the GPU.
This version of TressFX has been developed on Unreal Engine 4.26 and 4.27, but we will support UE5 in the next revision.
UE4 TressFX 5.0 has been designed to build upon the many features of UE4 TressFX 4.1 while being much easier to use. We’ll briefly go through the new features and updates in this post.
UE4 TressFX – what is new?
This section covers some of the changes from UE4 TressFX from 4.1 to 5.0.
Maya Python Exporter
We have improved the Maya exporter to handle more complicated animation assets. Both strand and collision mesh vertices now support up to 16 binding bones. The previous limit was 4 binding bones. It is important to note that strand/collision meshes need to be exported in the right initial position and keyframe.
Asset editor and visualization tools
We have also updated the asset editors and visualization tools. This includes editor support for LevelMap, Asset, and Blueprint, as well as a new visualization toolchain which allows you to verify asset correctness such as tangents and collision meshes.
Simulation
On the simulation side, we’ve improved the simulation editor and implemented a new SDF editor. Additionally, we have resolved an issue where animation data lagged a frame behind UE4 skinned mesh animation data.
To enhance accuracy we’ve moved the SDF BoundingBox computation from the CPU to GPU-side, as well as made general improvements to the SDF feature
Rendering
Lastly, we have also improved light handling for TressFX, including cast/receive shadow implementation support for more rendering features in UE4 which are more compatible with the Unreal Engine rendering pipeline. These new supported features are:
- TAA.
- SkyLight.
- StrandsUV.
- Marschner Shading Model.
Other updates to rendering include triangle based skinning support (for BlendShapes) and improved resource manangement for editors.
Integrating TressFX 5.0 into your Unreal Engine project
Now that we’ve taken a look at all the updates to TressFX the important question is: how do you use it in your project?
PLEASE NOTE: In order to access this patch, or any of our patches, you must be a registered Unreal Engine developer with access to the Unreal Engine GitHub repository.
If you haven’t changed the UE4 engine files or shaders in your project then the integration process is really simple. You can directly integrate the patch file using a single command. The patch file can be found in: Patch/UE4.27.2_TressFX5.0.patch
Simply run the command below to integrate:
git am < UE4.27.2_TressFX5.0.patch
If you have already made changes to the UE4 engine files that TressFX is going to replace the previous approach will not work. Instead, you will need to manually copy the code segments surrounded by AMD TressFX BEGIN/END into the corresponding C++ files and shaders of your project.
The modified files with the AMD TressFX BEGIN/END code segments can be found in the Engine
folder:
Watch the video
If you’d like to know more about UE4 TressFX 5.0, watch our brand new video presentation (opens in YouTube) which goes into much more detail. You can also download the slides.
Unreal Engine 4 TressFX 5.0
Watch our video explaining what UE4 TressFX 5.0 is, and how to use it. TressFX is designed to simulate and render realistic hair and fur.
Download the TressFX 5.0 patch today!
To use this or any of our patches, or to view patch documentation, you must be a registered Unreal Engine developer with access to the Unreal Engine GitHub repository.
Find out more
The links here will let you learn more about Unreal Engine or TressFX. You can also discover all our other patches including some of our FidelityFX and various performance patches, and a UE4 plugin for FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0.
Unreal Engine
Develop for Unreal Engine on AMD hardware with our plugin, performance and feature patches, including FidelityFX support.
TressFX
The TressFX library is AMD’s hair/fur rendering and simulation technology. TressFX is designed to use the GPU to simulate and render high-quality, realistic hair and fur.
