Website powered by

Hex-Tile water Shader (Unreal Engine)

A hex-tile water shader I created in Unreal. This gives us tiles that will individually rise and fall, giving a nice stylised wave effect, and water that changes between two colours, as each tile rises and falls.

This took a fair bit of tinkering to get right, particularly as I created two versions:
- An instanced based version whereby a rectangular grid of water is created from a single blueprint actor.
- A more customisable version using individually placed hex tiles, allowing for different shapes, as well as applying material instances to each hex to create different effects, such as shallow and deep versions.

Each have their pros and cons, and require their own ways of making the randomisation.

I intend to do a full tutorial video very soon!

The individual block shader, allowing us to customise the shape of the water, and use multiple material instances (at the expense of manually placing the hexes)

The individual block shader, allowing us to customise the shape of the water, and use multiple material instances (at the expense of manually placing the hexes)

The instanced grid method, where the water is generated from a single blueprint actor

The instanced grid method, where the water is generated from a single blueprint actor