Procedural Root & Vine Generator

Documentation · Version 4.0.0 · Unreal Engine 5.4–5.8 · Win64 · Updated October 26, 2026

PRG generates roots, vines, organic barriers and bridges in Unreal Editor. Root and Vine actors follow surfaces, climb, wrap around supports, hang from ledges or spread across cave interiors. Barrier actors fill openings, Bridge actors span two banks, and Attraction actors guide growth toward an area. Export the result as a Static Mesh, or export Growth Data for a Runtime Growth Actor to play back in-game without running the generator again. All four generators support Material / Shader and VAT playback.

Installation

1. Close Unreal Editor. Building a source package requires a compatible C++ build toolchain.
2. Copy the ProceduralRootGenerator folder into your project's Plugins directory.
3. Open the .uproject in the matching Unreal Engine 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7 or 5.8.
4. Verify the plugin is enabled in Edit > Plugins.

What's New in Version 4.0.0

• Hanging vines and Cave / Underground roots, with supported starts, descending spans and interior ceiling/wall traversal.
• Organic bridges with four bank anchors and runtime growth from either bank or both ends toward the middle.
• Smoother paths, stronger tube-clearance safeguards, pointed root tips and more natural vine anchors/fibers.
• Radius-aware bark detail and localized parent-to-child texture/normal blending; optional geometric fusion stays off by default.
• More reliable Sequencer, reverse playback and Character proximity activation, plus a beginner workflow below.
• Packages and actor Blueprints for Unreal Engine 5.4–5.8 on Win64.

Download the 4.0.0 workflow guide · Read the full V4 changelog · Download the changelog

Quick Start

1. Place an actor: Add a Root, Vine, Barrier or Bridge actor from the plugin content to the level. Enable Show Plugin Content in the Content Browser if needed.
2. Choose a workflow: Use the actor's built-in spline/placement setup, or assign an external spline where supported.
3. Select a preset: Start from a preset for fast iteration, then move into Expert Mode if you need deeper control.
4. Build: Use Generate Paths + Mesh for Root, Vine and Barrier, or Generate Bridge for bridges. Refresh Mesh retains the existing paths.
5. Refine: Adjust category-specific settings such as branching, shaping, surface interaction, or export behavior.
6. Export: Use Export Static Mesh for fixed scenery or Export Runtime Actor for animation. Choose Material / Shader or enable VAT baking before runtime export.

Workflow & Exports

Static Mesh Export

Use Static Mesh export when you want final environment geometry. This is the normal production path for non-animated results. Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge include generated detail geometry and materials in the bake. Export the full result or a selected branch, tier or strand subset where the actor supports it.

Runtime Growth Export

Use runtime export when you want reveal, spread, regrowth, seal, or reverse-growth animation. The authoring actor writes UPRG_GrowthData, saves the runtime mesh payload, bakes VAT textures when enabled, and spawns or updates a Runtime Growth Actor.

Path	Use it when...
Static Mesh	The result will not animate and should use a normal Static Mesh asset.
Runtime Growth + VAT	Animated growth using baked vertex data. Available for Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge; enable VAT baking before exporting.
Runtime Growth + Material / Shader	Growth driven by compatible material parameters, without VAT textures. Available for Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge, including directional bridge timing.

Authoring Systems

Each actor type supports a small set of growth modes. Pick the one that matches your scene geometry and intent, then work through the category-specific settings in the reference sections below. Most mode differences are structural — Climbing roots and Surface roots share a lot of settings, but the Climbing-specific ones only appear when that mode is active.

Root Behavior

Mode	What it is for
Surface	Grounded root networks that crawl across terrain, meshes, or other traced support surfaces.
Climbing	Wall-aware roots that seek vertical support, climb, and then stop, flow over, or spread at the top.
Cave / Underground	Starts inside a cave near its roof, spreads across the ceiling and descends walls. Eligible smaller roots can continue along the floor. Cave setup.

Vine Behavior

Mode	What it is for
Climbing	Surface-adhered vines that climb upward and can stop, drape over, or spread at the top.
Wrapping	Vines that cling and orbit around support geometry, including corners and short gaps.
Hanging	Supported underside/ledge starts followed by gravity-shaped free spans and optional reattachment. Use this mode for underside starts. Hanging setup.

Barrier Behavior

System	What it controls
Pattern	Curtain, Lattice, and Organic Seal choose the main strand layout for an opening.
Anchors and Endpoints	Anchor Mode chooses where strands start; Endpoint Mode chooses where they finish.
Cross-links and Offshoots	Cross-links fill gaps between main strands. Strand branches add smaller organic offshoots.

Detail Attachments

Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge place your Static Mesh details on finished tube frames. No decorative detail meshes are bundled. Use Set Up Detail Meshes to choose existing assets or import mesh files, calibrate facing/up axes and scale in the native preview, then Save Setups and Add Setups to Generator. File imports go into /Game/PRG/DetailMeshes; reusable setup assets remain project content.

Enable the detail layers under Mesh > Details. Rebuild Detail Attachments updates placement; Clear Detail Attachments removes its preview. Adding a setup copies its rules into the actor. Later setup edits do not automatically change existing actor layers.

Control	Use
Start / Stop Along Spline	Fractions of finalized spline length. New rules use 0.05–0.8, leaving the last 20% without attachment bases. Tip/junction exclusions can narrow the interval; meshes are not clipped at its edges.
Radius sizing and filtering	Details become smaller on thinner branches. Radius limits restrict placement to eligible branch thicknesses.
Side placement	Place on the exposed tube surface or its flanks. Both Sides suits shelf-like details on thick surface roots.
Facing Spread / Random Spin	Vary facing direction and rotation independently. Calibrate the source mesh before tuning placement orientation.
Flowers / Upward Lean	World Up Bias blends outward facing toward world up. Support-facing constraints take priority near a ceiling or wall.
Distribution / spacing / count	Control coverage and cost. Use suitable source geometry before multiplying it over many placements.
Exclusion regions	Detail Exclusion actors mask a box or spline corridor, globally or for named rules.
Runtime output	Instanced groups retain appearance times and growth durations, including Sequencer scrubbing. Growth does not add wind or skeletal deformation.
Static output	Export Static Mesh merges generated attachments, materials and authored UVs into the bake. Complete bakes above five million triangles ask before proceeding; unattended exports above that limit stop.
Texture atlases	Uniform-grid remapping needs an atlas-capable material. For irregular atlases, use meshes whose own UVs select each specimen and leave grid remapping off.

PRG Editor Tab

Open Window > PRG for the native tab. It follows the selected generator or helper actor, including component selection. Quick view shows the main controls; category filters expose the rest without changing the selected actor.

Setting	Description
Selection-aware mode switching	The tab automatically swaps between Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge layouts based on the currently selected actor.
Category filters	Quick, Mesh, Branch, Shape, Surface, Simulation, Animation, and Debug-style filters help you focus on one part of the tool at a time.
Shared workflow	The main build, mesh refresh, export, and documentation actions stay consistent across actor types.
Faster iteration	Useful when you are repeatedly tweaking presets, branch settings, or export options during look development.

Architecture

PRG is split into two modules with a hard boundary between them. The editor module handles everything you touch during authoring: Root, Vine, Barrier, Bridge and Attraction actors, detail placement, the PRG tools tab, mesh generation, Static Mesh export, and Growth Data/VAT bake. None of that ships to the player. The runtime module is what actually packages: UPRG_GrowthData assets, APRG_RuntimeActor, and the DynamicMesh reconstruction and playback utilities. If you're only using PRG to bake Static Meshes, the runtime module is essentially inert.

Layer	Current responsibility
ProceduralRootGeneratorEditor	Editor-only authoring actors, presets, mesh generation, Static Mesh export, Growth Data export, VAT bake, PRG tab, and details customization.
ProceduralRootGeneratorRuntime	Runtime Growth Data assets, DynamicMesh reconstruction, VAT/material playback, scheduling, triggers, rendering controls, and Blueprint playback events.
Runtime actor	APRG_RuntimeActor rebuilds exported body and tip meshes, then drives VAT playback or shader reveal at runtime.
Platform boundary	The plugin descriptor allow-lists Win64 for both Runtime and Editor modules and displays plugin version 4.0.0.

Spline & Mesh Quality

V4 preserves authored control distances when sampling the mesh path, refines curved spans and improves radius-aware bend and ring-clearance checks. Bounded smoothing reduces the large spike and pinching failures caused by unstable updates. Endcaps retain the body's texture direction, and terminal taper reaches a point over a longer section.

• Start with Low or Medium Mesh Density. Higher density adds geometry; it does not repair missing support collision.
• Use Generate Paths + Mesh / Generate Bridge after changing growth, traversal or placement settings. Use Refresh Mesh for geometry and texture-flow settings on the current paths.
• Lock the seed while tuning. Corrected sampling can change a V3 result on rebuild; different engine collision implementations can also produce different branches.
• Extreme bend/radius combinations may shorten or reject an unsafe branch. Reduce thickness or give the path more room rather than relying on unlimited subdivision.

Materials & Data Encoding

Use the supplied M_FlowAligned material instances for bark and vine textures. V4 measures the tube's cross-section for physical circumferential mapping, integrates lengthwise grain spacing and blends texture samples and normals locally at parent/child contacts.

Control	Use
Bark Detail Radius Exponent	Actor setting on Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge. Default 0.25 makes smaller roots moderately finer-grained. 0 keeps approximately constant physical feature size. Rebuild the mesh after changing it.
RadiusScaleStrength / ReferenceRadius	At full strength, new meshes use physical radius mapping. ReferenceRadius (cm) sets the material's reference repeat density; it is separate from the actor's bark-detail response.
WrapScale / GrainScale	Adjust circumferential repeats and lengthwise grain. Base and Decal Tiling Scale adjust the corresponding texture layers.
Junction Texture Blend Strength	Controls inherited texture and surface-normal contribution at an attachment. On Root/Vine, Junction Flow Blend Distance bounds the actor's transition region.
Normal Strength Base / Decal	Adjust normal-map detail around the blended surface normal. Zero removes normal-map perturbation.
Fuse Branch Junctions	Optional geometric union for closed tubes, off by default. It can substantially increase build time and triangle count. Texture/normal blending remains available with fusion off.

Texture transfer improves an existing attachment; it does not merge the two surfaces. The parent must be present in the combined mesh, so split/individual branch exports cannot inherit texture across separate files.

Custom material payload reference

New exports use payload version 7 and eight UV layers. Custom materials must preserve the growth and mapping channels.

Channel	Meaning
UV0	Geometric cylindrical coordinates; tangent generation remains on this layer.
UV1	Authored angular flow and integrated lengthwise bark coordinate.
UV2	Encoded flow-forward direction.
UV3	Vertex appearance time and branch start time for growth.
UV4.X / UV4.Y	VAT row lookup / physical circumferential coordinate in meters.
UV5.XY + UV6.X	Local centerline-collapse vector for tip and radius growth.
UV6.Y	Legacy/physical mapping marker and inherited junction blend weight.
UV7	Projected parent texture coordinates in meters, or the local physical coordinates away from a junction.
Vertex Color	Encoded shading data; inherited junction normals use octahedral RG encoding. B retains the legacy radius payload.

Root Actor Reference

The Root Actor is the main authoring tool for procedural root systems. It supports preset-driven setup, surface growth, climbing growth, multi-tier branching, attraction, mesh export, and runtime growth export.

Surface roots crawl across traced support surfaces. Climbing roots seek nearby vertical support, climb, then stop, flow over the top, or spread across the top surface.

Main Actions

Setting	Description
Generate Paths + Mesh	Build all generated content from the current settings.
Refresh Mesh	Regenerate the generated mesh from existing spline points.
Export Static Mesh	Generates a static mesh actor from the current generated mesh.
Export Runtime Actor	Export spline data to a runtime growth actor for growth playback.
Open Documentation	Open the Procedural Root Generator documentation.
Reset to Defaults	Resets all settings to their default values
Overwrite Preset From Current Settings	Select an existing preset row and replace it with the current actor settings. If the preset table is missing, it will be created first.

Components

Setting	Description
Root	Root scene component for the actor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Parent Spline Container	Container component that owns generated or authored parent/root splines. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Generated Mesh Component	Displays the generated result in-editor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Primary Container	Container for generated primary branches. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Secondary Container	Container for generated secondary branches. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Tertiary Container	Container for generated tertiary branches. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

Components / Debug

Setting	Description
Hub Debug Sphere	Editor/debug sphere used to visualize the hub or placement origin. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Placement Preview Billboard	Billboard used to show actor placement/orientation in the editor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

General

Setting	Description
Preset	Select a preset row from DT_RootPresets. Includes custom presets created with New.
Growth Type	Enabled root growth behavior. Surface follows supported ground and can traverse downward edges; Climbing seeks walls; Cave / Underground starts at an interior ceiling and descends cave walls.
Expert Mode	Show advanced/expert controls throughout the root generator details panel.
Use External Spline	Use a spline from another actor as the parent root path instead of the built-in spline
External Spline Actor	The actor containing the spline component to use as the parent root
External Spline Component	The specific spline component from the external actor to use

General / Presets

Setting	Description
Root Presets Table	DataTable containing root presets (row type: FRootPresetData).
Apply Preset On Change	Automatically apply preset values when the preset selection changes
Auto Set Preset To Custom On Edit	Automatically set preset to 'Custom' when any parameter is manually edited

General / Advanced

Setting	Description
Preview Mode	Choose which root hierarchy levels to preview: None, Parent only, Parent + Primary, or All.
Random Seed	Seed for random number generation. Change this to get different root patterns with the same settings
Master Scale	Global scale multiplier for the entire root system
Min Generated Radius	Minimum radius threshold for generating roots. Roots thinner than this will not be generated
Flat Hub Merge Diameter (cm)	Diameter of the hub merge zone. Geometry inside this radius is omitted for a cleaner merge into a trunk or planter.

Mesh

Setting	Description
Root Material	Material to apply to the generated root mesh

Mesh / Tube

Setting	Description
Tube Axial Subdivisions	Multiplier for axial sample density along each root segment (1 = baseline)
RM Frames Max Samples Per Spline	Per-spline sample cap for mesh/debug frame generation. Hard ceiling is 16384.
Tube Radial Segments	Number of radial subdivisions around the root tube
Cap Tube Ends	Close the ends of root tubes with cap geometry
Tube End Cap Taper	How much to taper/narrow the end caps
Tube Terminal Taper Length Scale	Length scale of the terminal taper stub ring appended before each non-welded cap.
Tube Terminal Taper Radius Scale	Radius scale of the terminal taper stub ring appended before each non-welded cap.

Mesh / Spline

Setting	Description
Enable Single Point Kink Regularization	Run a local point-chain regularization pass before spline assembly to target single-point kinks (smooth/merge/average) without global smoothing.
Commit Guard Radius Scale	Commit-guard allowance scale applied to local crawl sphere radius. Higher values allow larger commit deviations on thick roots.
Commit Guard Root Radius Scale	Additional commit-guard allowance scale applied to start radius. Use for large-tier roots that need extra local commit freedom.
Enable Final Committed Step Clamp	Apply a separate post-commit clamp to final committed step distance so growth keeps intended step density even with looser commit guard tolerance.
Final Committed Step Length Scale	Multiplier on intended Step used by the final committed step-length cap.
Final Committed Step Length Max Cm	Optional absolute cap for final committed step distance in cm. 0 disables the absolute cap and uses Step scale only.
Use Directional Projection For Final Step Clamp	When final step clamp triggers, prefer the intended growth direction for projection when stable.
Always Run Broad Post Growth Smoothing	Always run the broader sharp-corner smoothing pass.
Enable Adaptive Bend Subdivision	Enable local adaptive bend subdivision on the generated point chain before spline assembly.
Adaptive Bend Dot Threshold	Corner direction-dot threshold below which interior turns start receiving adaptive point subdivision.
Adaptive Bend Severe Dot Threshold	Severe corner direction-dot threshold used to increase inserted points for very tight bends.
Adaptive Bend Max Inserted Points	Maximum number of points inserted around a single sharp bend corner during adaptive subdivision.
Adaptive Bend Min Segment Length Scale	Minimum allowed local sub-segment length as a fraction of Step when inserting bend refinement points.
Adaptive Bend Arc Bias	How strongly inserted bend-refinement points bow toward a rounded arc target instead of linear corner interpolation.
Run Adaptive Bend Subdivision After Kink Pass	Run adaptive bend subdivision after kink cleanup (and broad post-growth smoothing) before spline assembly.
Broad Post Growth Smoothing Passes	Number of broad smoothing passes over interior points.
Broad Post Growth Sharp Corner Dot Threshold	Threshold for treating an interior point as a sharp corner.
Broad Post Growth Blend Min	Minimum smoothing blend for a detected sharp corner.
Broad Post Growth Blend Max	Maximum smoothing blend for a severe sharp corner.

Mesh / Smoothing

Setting	Description
Smoothing Type	Type of mesh smoothing algorithm to apply
Smoothing Iterations	Number of smoothing passes to apply
Smoothing Strength	Strength of the smoothing effect
Smooth Boundary Vertices	Apply smoothing to vertices on mesh boundaries
Preserve Junction Vertices	Protect vertices at branch junctions from smoothing

Mesh / Welding

Setting	Description
Weld Branch Junctions	Merge vertices at branch connection points
Weld Tolerance	Distance threshold for welding vertices at junctions
Use Organic Junction Blend	After welding a child to its parent, reshape the junction into a softer collar.
Weld Coincident Edges	Weld vertices that lie on the same edge
Edge Weld Tolerance	Distance threshold for welding coincident edge vertices

Mesh / Static Mesh Export

Setting	Description
Enable Nanite	Enable Nanite virtualized geometry
Recenter Pivot To Bounds Center	Move the mesh pivot to the center of its bounding box
Place Static Mesh	Place the generated static mesh into the level
Export Scope	Selects which spline scope is used for export and solo preview.
Export Tier Selection	Tier used when export scope is set to Selected Tier.
Export Spline Selection	Optional single spline selection for export. 'All Splines' exports the full generated mesh.
Export Ancestor Chain As Combined Asset	When exporting branch + ancestors, also produce one combined asset for the full chain.
Export Ancestor Chain As Separate Assets	When exporting branch + ancestors, also produce one separate asset per spline in the chain.
Preview Selected Export Spline	If enabled, selecting a single spline for export will also preview only that spline in the editor viewport.
Show Non Selected Splines In Solo Preview	When solo export preview is active, keep non-selected splines visible as thin editor debug splines.
Generated Asset Folder	Folder path where generated static mesh assets will be saved

Mesh / Static Mesh Export / Collision

Setting	Description
Generate Collision	Generate convex hull collision geometry for the exported Static Mesh.
Hull Count	Target number of convex hull pieces when generating collision for the exported static mesh.
Max Hull Verts	Maximum vertex count allowed per generated convex hull. Higher values preserve more shape detail but cost more collision complexity.
Hull Precision	Precision used by convex decomposition. Higher values improve fit at higher generation cost.

Mesh / Interior Face Removal

Setting	Description
Remove Interior Faces	Remove mesh triangles whose centroids are inside another root's tube volume.
Interior Removal Mode	RemoveAll: remove any face inside another tube. RemoveSmaller: only remove from the thinner root at intersections (preserves the dominant root's surface).
Interior Test Radius Scale	Scale factor for the containment test radius. 0.85 means a face must be within 85% of the enclosing tube's radius to be removed.
Preserve Junction Faces	Preserve faces near branch junction points even if they are technically inside another tube.
Junction Preserve Radius Multiplier	Radius around junction points within which faces are preserved, as a multiplier of the local root radius at the junction.
Interior Test Sample Spacing	Spacing (in cm) between centerline samples used for containment testing.
Junction Start Exclusion Fraction	Fraction of child spline length (from its start) where faces are NEVER removed.

Branching / Parent

Setting	Description
Parent Count	Number of generated parent splines.
Parent Length	Target length (cm) of each generated parent spline.
Parent Thickness	Starting thickness/radius used for parent splines.
Parent Spread Angle Deg	Angular spread used when distributing parent launch directions around the hub.
Parent Launch Stub Length	Minimum launch stub length (cm) before generated parents begin to curve.
Parent Min Angular Separation Deg	Minimum angular separation between parent launch directions.
Parent Taper	Rate at which parent splines taper from base to tip. Lower values taper more gradually.
Parent Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier applied near the tip of parent splines.
Parent Target Segment Length	Target segment length used when processing parent splines. Smaller values increase detail.
Parent Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied when processing parent splines.
Parents Use Surface Projection	Project generated parent splines onto nearby surfaces.
Parents Participate In Avoidance	Include generated parents in avoidance checks.
Loop Branch Side Constraint	Restrict which side of the parent spline branches can generate on. Useful for loop splines where you only want exterior or interior roots.

Branching / Anchor

Setting	Description
Enable Anchor Branches	Spawn short support anchors along climbing roots. Anchor branches are meant to read as wall footholds, not full child roots.
Anchor Spacing Cm	Average distance between anchor spawn attempts along a climbing parent.
Anchor Spacing Jitter	Random variation applied to anchor spacing so anchors do not appear on a rigid interval.
Anchor Length	Length of anchor branches in centimeters.
Anchor Length Variation	Random variation applied to anchor branch length.
Anchor Start Radius Frac	Anchor start radius as a fraction of the parent ring radius at the spawn point.

Branching / Anchor / Advanced

Setting	Description
Anchor Taper	Taper from anchor base to tip.
Anchor Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier at anchor tips.
Anchor Min Surface Verticality	Minimum surface verticality needed before a climbing root can place an anchor.
Anchor Spread Cone Deg	Cone angle used when choosing anchor directions around the supporting surface.
Anchor Surface Hug Strength	How strongly anchors conform back toward the supporting surface.
Anchor Target Segment Length	Target segment length for generated anchor branch splines.

Branching / Primary

Setting	Description
Enable Primary	Enable generation of primary root branches.
Primary per Parent	Number of primary branches generated per parent spline.
Primary Length	Length of primary root branches.
Primary Thickness	Base radius at the start of each primary branch.
Primary Length Variation	How much branch length varies (0 = all same, 1 = wide range).

Branching / Primary / Advanced

Setting	Description
Primary Spread Angle Deg	Maximum spread angle in degrees from the parent direction.
Primary Max Child Radius Frac	Maximum child radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point. Prevents children from being thicker than their parent.
Primary Taper	Rate at which primary branches thin from base to tip.
Primary Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier applied near the primary branch tip.
Primary Target Segment Length	Target segment length for primary branch mesh generation.
Min Angle Between Consecutive	Minimum angle between consecutive primary branches spawned from the same parent.
Primary Meander Strength	Random meander strength for primary branch paths.
Primary Direction Preference	How strongly primary branches keep their initial launch direction.
Primary Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated primary spline paths.
Primary Thickness Variation Min	Minimum multiplicative thickness variation for primary branches.
Primary Thickness Variation Max	Maximum multiplicative thickness variation for primary branches.
Primary Taper Variation Min	Minimum taper variation multiplier for primary branches.
Primary Taper Variation Max	Maximum taper variation multiplier for primary branches.

Branching / Secondary

Setting	Description
Enable Secondary	Enable generation of secondary root branches.
Secondary Per Primary	Number of secondary branches generated per primary branch.
Secondary Length	Length of secondary root branches.
Secondary Thickness	Base radius at the start of each secondary branch.
Secondary Length Variation	How much branch length varies (0 = all same, 1 = wide range).

Branching / Secondary / Advanced

Setting	Description
Secondary Spread Angle Deg	Maximum spread angle in degrees from the parent direction.
Secondary Max Child Radius Frac	Maximum child radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point.
Secondary Taper	Rate at which secondary branches taper from base to tip.
Secondary Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier near the secondary branch tip.
Secondary Target Segment Length	Target segment length for secondary branch mesh generation.
Min Angle Between Consecutive Secondary	Minimum angle between consecutive secondary branches spawned from the same parent.
Secondary Meander Strength	Random meander strength for secondary branch paths.
Secondary Direction Preference	How strongly secondary branches keep their initial launch direction.
Secondary Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated secondary spline paths.
Secondary Thickness Variation Min	Minimum multiplicative thickness variation for secondary branches.
Secondary Thickness Variation Max	Maximum multiplicative thickness variation for secondary branches.
Secondary Taper Variation Min	Minimum taper variation multiplier for secondary branches.
Secondary Taper Variation Max	Maximum taper variation multiplier for secondary branches.

Branching / Tertiary

Setting	Description
Enable Tertiary	Enable generation of tertiary root branches.
Tertiary Per Secondary	Number of tertiary branches generated per secondary branch.
Tertiary Length	Length of tertiary root branches.
Tertiary Thickness	Base radius at the start of each tertiary branch.
Tertiary Length Variation	How much branch length varies (0 = all same, 1 = wide range).

Branching / Tertiary / Advanced

Setting	Description
Tertiary Spread Angle Deg	Maximum spread angle in degrees from the parent direction.
Tertiary Max Child Radius Frac	Maximum child radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point.
Tertiary Taper	Rate at which tertiary branches taper from base to tip.
Tertiary Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier near the tertiary branch tip.
Tertiary Target Segment Length	Target segment length for tertiary branch mesh generation.
Min Angle Between Consecutive Tertiary	Minimum angle between consecutive tertiary branches spawned from the same parent.
Tertiary Meander Strength	Random meander strength for tertiary branch paths.
Tertiary Direction Preference	How strongly tertiary branches keep their initial launch direction.
Tertiary Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated tertiary spline paths.
Tertiary Thickness Variation Min	Minimum multiplicative thickness variation for tertiary branches.
Tertiary Thickness Variation Max	Maximum multiplicative thickness variation for tertiary branches.
Tertiary Taper Variation Min	Minimum taper variation multiplier for tertiary branches.
Tertiary Taper Variation Max	Maximum taper variation multiplier for tertiary branches.

Shape / Variation

Setting	Description
Enable Variation	Enable random variation in branch thickness and taper
Variation Strength	Global strength multiplier for all variation effects

Shape / Junctions

Setting	Description
Enable Junction Bulging	Add thickness bulges at branch junctions
Junction Bulge Strength	Radius multiplier at branch junctions. 1.0 = no bulge, 1.2 = subtle, 1.5 = pronounced.
Junction Bulge Distance	Falloff distance for junction bulge, as a multiplier of the local radius. Higher = wider bulge zone.

Shape / Thickness

Setting	Description
Enable Organic Thickness Variation	Add procedural noise-based thickness variations
Organic Thickness Noise Strength	Amplitude of organic thickness noise applied along branches.
Organic Thickness Noise Frequency	Frequency of organic thickness noise along each root path.
Use Length Based Thickening	Make longer roots thicker
Length Thickness Scale	Strength of length-based thickening for longer roots.

Shape / Curve

Setting	Description
Use Advanced Taper Curve	Use power curve for taper instead of linear
Taper Curve Power	Power exponent for non-linear tapering. Values above 1 preserve thickness longer before narrowing near the tip.

Shape / Organic Cross Section

Setting	Description
Enable Surface Ring Flattening	Flatten and widen surface-contacting root rings so roots are not perfectly circular.
Contact Flattening	Flattening amount for rings classified as surface-contacting.
Exposed Flattening	Flattening amount for rings classified as more exposed above-surface sections.
Cross Slope Widening	Width boost applied when roots traverse across steep surface slope changes.
Base Flare Strength	Strength of trunk-side base flare shaping near branch origins.
Base Flare Distance Cm	Distance from branch origin over which base flare shaping fades out.
Bend Deformation Fade Start Deg	Local bend angle in degrees where geometry-side surface basis/deformation suppression starts fading in.
Bend Deformation Disable Deg	Local bend angle in degrees where geometry-side surface basis/deformation is fully neutralized for tight bends.

Shape / Flow

Setting	Description
Enable Hierarchical Flow Inheritance	Use a dedicated shading/UV flow frame and parent-attachment inheritance for bark continuity.
Junction Flow Blend Distance Cm	Distance from a child branch start over which shading orientation/phase eases from parent-aligned values into local branch values.
Shading Flow History Window	History window used only by the shading frame. Larger values produce calmer bark/grain flow.
Shading Flow Max Forward Delta Deg	Maximum shading-frame forward rotation per ring in degrees. Lower values reduce abrupt flow pivots.
Shading Flow Max Seam Delta Deg	Maximum seam-phase rotation per ring in degrees for the shading frame.
Shading Flow Surface Blend Strength	Support-normal blend strength for shading frame orientation. Keep low for stable bark flow.
Bias Seam Toward Underside	Bias seam placement toward the local underside direction for root shading/flow continuity.
Seam Underside Follow Strength	Per-ring blend factor from previous seam toward projected underside target. Lower values are more stable.
Seam Vertical Fallback Dot Threshold	If |dot(forward, world up)| is above this threshold, seam underside-follow is disabled and seam continuity is frozen.
Use Absolute Tree Flow UV	Encode UV1.y as absolute accumulated distance across the parent-child root hierarchy instead of restarting per branch.

Surface Interaction

Setting	Description
Ground Trace Channel	Collision channel for ground tracing
Snap To Ground	Snap root endpoints to ground/surfaces below them
Snap Parent To Ground	Snap the parent source spline to the ground. Disable this if you want the parent source spline to stay exactly where you placed it while children still snap.

Surface Interaction / Placement

Setting	Description
Surface Offset	Vertical offset for surface points
Fallback Ground Offset	Vertical offset for ground points - when radius-adaptive burial is not being used.
Use Radius-Adaptive Offset	Apply the output offset based on the local root radius at each point, maintaining a more consistent burial depth.
Render Burial	Render-only burial applied to the final mesh path. Use Snap To Ground for surface snapping.
Trace Distance	Maximum trace distance for ground/surface detection in centimeters.
Use Secondary Ground Trace Channel	Enable a second trace channel when the primary ground trace misses.
Secondary Ground Trace Channel	Collision channel used by the secondary ground trace.

Surface Interaction / Surface Crawling

Setting	Description
Use Surface Crawling	Enable surface crawling to follow terrain contours
Trace Complex For Surface	Trace against complex collision geometry for crawl surface queries.
Crawl Sphere Radius Multiplier	Radius multiplier for crawl contact tests relative to local root radius.
Max Crawl Iterations Per Step	Maximum crawl solve iterations used per generated step.
Conform Parent Spline To Surface	Conform parent spline points to detected surfaces during crawl evaluation.
Post Snap After Crawl	Apply an additional post-crawl snap to improve final surface adherence.
Line Trace First For Crawling	Attempt a cheaper line trace before sphere crawl traces for each step.
Fast Surface Reacquire	Use a fast local reacquire pass to recover surface contact after misses.
Fast Reacquire Distance	Maximum distance in centimeters for fast surface reacquire checks.
Use Separate Query Offset	Use an explicit query offset separate from the output surface offset during crawl traces.
Crawl Query Offset	Vertical query offset used only for surface crawl traces when separate query offset is enabled.

Surface Interaction / Edge Handling

Setting	Description
Enable Edge Rounding	Round sharp flat-to-wall and wall-to-flat transitions by inserting a point on the angle bisector.
Edge Detection Threshold	When the surface normal changes by more than this threshold between surface contexts, insert a bisector rounding point instead of cutting sharply through the corner.
Edge Search Iterations	Number of binary search iterations used to find the edge location for edge rounding.
Edge Roundness Scale	Scales how far the inserted edge-rounding point is pushed along the corner bisector.
Wall Child Spawn Probability	Probability of allowing child branches (secondary/tertiary) to spawn on wall-like surfaces when encountered.

Surface Interaction / Attraction

Setting	Description
Enable Surface Attraction	Enable surface attraction to move roots towards the surface.
Attraction Actors	Optional attraction actors whose distributed points can pull generated roots toward them during spline growth.
Attraction Strength	How strongly attraction points influence the next growth direction. 0 disables the system.
Attraction Radius	Maximum distance from a point at which attraction can influence growth.
Attraction Falloff Exponent	Falloff exponent for attraction weighting. Higher values make the pull more local around each point.

Surface Interaction / Surface Bias

Setting	Description
Downward Bias	Bias toward downward growth direction
Max Upward Angle Deg	Maximum upward angle roots can grow
Parent Wall Preference	Bias for parent roots toward vertical wall-like surfaces versus flatter surfaces.
Use Direction-Aware Child Surface Selection	Use parent direction context when selecting crawl surfaces for child branches.
Child Wall Preference	Bias for child branches toward vertical wall-like surfaces during hinted surface selection.

Simulation

Setting	Description
Curvature Response	Controls curvature sensitivity in current adaptive/detail behavior. Higher values respond more strongly to curvature changes.

Simulation / Gravitropism

Setting	Description
Enable Gravitropic Behavior	Simulate gravitropic response
Gravitropic Strength	Strength of gravitropic steering toward downward growth.
Gravitropic Multiplier	Multiplier applied to overall gravitropic turning response.

Simulation / Avoidance Behavior

Setting	Description
Enable Root Avoidance	Prevent roots from growing too close to each other
Avoidance Radius	Local neighborhood radius used when evaluating nearby roots for avoidance.
Avoidance Strength	Steering strength used to push growth away from nearby roots.

Simulation / Organic Behavior

Setting	Description
Enable Organic Candidate Growth	Use field scoring so roots react to concavity, relief, crease, and exposure.
Organic Growth Blend	Blend between standard direction logic and organic field scoring.
Organic Candidate Count	Number of direction samples evaluated at each growth step.
Organic Concavity Probe Distance Cm	Probe distance used for concavity sampling around the current growth point.
Organic Relief Probe Distance Cm	Probe distance used for relief/height-variation sampling around the growth point.
Organic Selection Sharpness	Controls how strongly the best organic direction is favored.
Organic Tip Memory Strength	Directional memory retained between steps to keep trajectories coherent.
Organic Termination Frustration Threshold	Frustration threshold above which a tip may terminate when no suitable organic direction is found.
Organic Field Weights	Relative weights for concavity, relief, crease, verticality, and exposure.
Use Parent Area Budget	Conserve local parent cross-sectional area when spawning child roots.
Area Conservation Exponent	Exponent controlling how aggressively child area usage is conserved relative to the parent budget.
Parent Budget Resolution Cm	Sampling resolution along parent roots used for local area budget accounting.
Parent Budget Influence Distance Cm	Distance around a spawn location used when applying parent area budget influence.

Branching / Spawn Spacing

Setting	Description
Enable Spawn Density Check	Check density at spawn locations and skip branches in crowded areas
Spawn Density Radius Multiplier	Neighbor search radius multiplier used for spawn density checks.
Spawn Density Max Count	Maximum nearby branch count allowed before skipping a new spawn.
Primary Spawn Dead Zone Cm	Minimum spacing along parent root before allowing another primary spawn.
Secondary Spawn Dead Zone Cm	Minimum spacing along primary roots before allowing another secondary spawn.
Tertiary Spawn Dead Zone Cm	Minimum spacing along secondary roots before allowing another tertiary spawn.

Simulation / Movement Variation

Setting	Description
Enable Enhanced Root Noise	Replace the default sine meander with a multi-layer noise system tuned for root behavior. When disabled, the original sine-based meander is used.
Root Noise Primary Wavelength	Primary undulation wavelength in cm. Controls the main side-to-side sweep. Longer = gentler curves.
Root Noise Secondary Wavelength	Secondary undulation wavelength in cm. Adds medium-frequency variation on top of the primary sweep.
Root Noise Tertiary Wavelength	Tertiary (long-range drift) wavelength in cm. Prevents roots from looking perfectly periodic.
Root Noise Forward Wavelength Scale	Forward-axis undulation wavelength multiplier. Higher = longer forward waves.
Root Noise Amplitude Modulation	How much Perlin amplitude modulation affects the meander. 0 = constant (mechanical), 1 = fully modulated (organic).
Root Noise Asymmetric Bias	Roots in soil tend to favor one side over long distances before switching. 0 = symmetric, 1 = strong one-sided preference.
Root Noise Asymmetric Wavelength	Wavelength of the asymmetric bias oscillation. Controls how often the root switches its preferred side.
Root Noise Distance Decay	How much meander amplitude decreases along the root's length. Simulates increasing soil resistance. 0 = no decay, 1 = fades to zero at tip.
Root Noise Thickness Correlation	How much root thickness affects meander amplitude. Thicker roots meander less (more structural). 0 = no effect, 1 = strong correlation.
Root Noise Depth Seeking Strength	Subtle downward perturbation that increases with distance. Simulates roots seeking deeper soil layers. 0 = none, 1 = strong downward drift at tips.
Root Noise White Noise Strength	White noise contribution for irregularity. 0 = pure sine waves, higher = more randomized.

Surface Interaction / Terrain Response

Setting	Description
Enable Concavity Resistance	Detect terrain concavities and steer roots along contour lines
Concavity Resistance Strength	Strength of lateral steering away from concavity traps.
Concavity Detection Threshold	Concavity level required before anti-piling steering engages.
Enable Adaptive Downward Bias	Reduce downward bias when root has been consistently descending
Adaptive Descent Lookback	History window length used to detect sustained downward motion.
Adaptive Min Bias Multiplier	Minimum fraction of base downward bias retained after adaptive reduction.
Enable Dip Escape	Detect when root is trapped at terrain minimum and force lateral escape
Dip Escape Lookback	History window used to determine when the tip is trapped in a dip.
Dip Escape Z Threshold Multiplier	Vertical change threshold (relative to radius) used to classify dip trapping.
Dip Escape Max Up Angle Deg	Maximum upward steering angle allowed while executing dip escape.
Dip Escape Lateral Strength	Lateral steering strength applied during dip escape maneuvers.

Branching / Validation

Setting	Description
Enable Child Orientation Sanity Validation	Validate child branch orientation against sampled surface normals before accepting the branch.
Child Orientation Validation Min Samples	Minimum number of orientation-validation samples taken along each child spline.
Child Orientation Validation Max Samples	Maximum number of orientation-validation samples taken along each child spline.
Child Orientation Validation Reject Fraction	Reject child spline when the fraction of failed orientation samples exceeds this threshold.
Child Orientation Up Surface Min Dot	A sample is considered suspicious when abs(dot(Frame.Up, SupportNormal)) is below this threshold.
Child Orientation Right Surface Max Dot	A sample is considered suspicious when abs(dot(Frame.Right, SupportNormal)) is above this threshold.

Simulation / Path Stability

Setting	Description
Enable Anti Double Back	Prevent roots from doubling back or coiling
Max Turn Angle Per Segment Deg	Maximum allowed turn angle per segment before anti-coiling correction triggers.
Min Forward Progress Dot	Minimum forward progress dot-product required to consider movement valid.
Terminate On Angle Violation	Terminate a branch if repeated angle violations occur.
Min Segments Before Termination	Minimum generated segments required before angle-violation termination is allowed.
Post Crawl Angle Validation	Run angle validation again after surface crawl adjustments.
Post Crawl Angle Leniency Multiplier	Extra leniency multiplier for post-crawl angle validation.
Angle Check Smoothing Window	Smoothing window size used when evaluating recent turn angles.

Surface Interaction / Climbing

Setting	Description
Enable Surface Climbing	Allow roots to crawl up vertical and overhanging surfaces
Climbing Surface Threshold	Minimum surface steepness needed to switch into climbing behavior.
Max Climb Height Above Start	Maximum climb height above the branch start in centimeters. Use -1 for unlimited.
Climb Top Behavior	What the climbing root does when it reaches a flatter top-out surface: Stop, Flow Over, or Spread at Top.
Top Detection Threshold	Normal threshold used to detect climbing top-out surfaces.
Root Climb Top Spread Scale	Lateral spread after climbing reaches the top. Used when Climb Top Behavior is Spread at Top.
Climbing Max Upward Angle Deg	Maximum upward growth angle allowed while in climbing mode.

Surface Interaction / Climbing / Advanced

Setting	Description
Root Wall Climb Vertical Bias	Root-style ascent strength while crawling on wall-like surfaces.
Root Wall Approach Bias	Bias toward the nearest vertical surface while a horizontal root is still approaching a wall.
Root Wall Lookahead Distance	Forward sphere-sweep distance used to detect a wall directly ahead.
Root Wall Lookahead Strength	Strength of the steering bias applied when wall lookahead finds support.
Root Wall Lateral Attenuation	Lateral spread multiplier while climbing walls.
Root Wall Meander Attenuation	Meander multiplier while climbing walls.
Root Wall Seeking Bias	Bias toward nearby walls during root climbing.
Root Wall Seeking Search Radius	Search radius used to find nearby wall-like support for climbing guidance.
Root Floor Phase Wall Seek Segments	Number of early flat-surface segments allowed to steer toward walls before full wall contact.
Root Floor Phase Wall Seek Strength	Steering strength for early floor-phase wall seeking in the Climbing profile.

Animation

Setting	Description
Bake Growth Animation Data	Bake Growth Animation data into UV3 for use with Flow-Aligned material
Runtime Export Quality	Controls authored-frame sample density in runtime export data. Full keeps all authored samples.
Runtime Animation Method	Animation method assigned to newly exported Runtime Growth Actors. VAT is the default when baking is enabled; Material / Shader is also available.
Bake Vertex Animation Texture	Bake optimized VAT textures during runtime export. Required when Runtime Animation Method is Vertex Animation Texture.
VAT Quality	Frame-count preset for the baked VAT: Low 24, Medium 48, High 64, Cinematic 96, or Custom.
VAT Custom Frame Count	Custom VAT frame count used only when VAT Quality is set to Custom.
VAT Max Texture Width	Maximum width of the baked VAT texture. Larger widths reduce texture height but may not suit every target platform.
Animated Normals (Unavailable)	Retained compatibility field. Animated-normal baking is currently unavailable.
Bake Reveal Alpha	Pack the growth-frontier reveal alpha into the VAT position texture alpha channel.
VAT Reveal Feather	Timeline feather used when baking reveal alpha around the growth frontier.
VAT Mesh Decimation Tolerance	Error-bounded simplification for the exported VAT mesh, expressed as a fraction of local branch radius.
Parent Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to the parent root growing. The remaining time is split among child tiers.
Primary Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to primary branches growing.
Secondary Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to secondary branches growing.
Tertiary Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to tertiary branches growing. Computed as remainder if 0.

Editor

Setting	Description
Auto Rebuild In Editor	Automatically regenerate roots in the editor when settings change.
Hide Disabled Settings	Hides all settings that can only be modified when expert mode is enabled.
Auto Rebuild Debounce Seconds	Delay in seconds before auto-rebuild triggers after an editable change.
Draw Debug Frames	Draw debug frames/axes along generated spline points in the editor viewport.
Draw Rejected Child Validation	Draw red reject markers and labels for child splines rejected by branch validation.
Draw Debug Shading Flow	Draw shading-flow diagnostics (forward/up vectors plus seam/twist/flow labels) from the authored flow cache.
Shading Flow Debug Label Stride	Label stride for shading-flow debug text. Lower values draw more labels.

Editor / Logging

Setting	Description
Enable Generation Logging	Master toggle for generation logging. When disabled, all per-log toggles are ignored.
Log Generation Stats	Log high-level generation statistics after each build.
Log Spline Creation Details	Log detailed per-segment generation decisions. Very verbose.
Log Mesh Generation Details	Log mesh-generation stage details, including attach/weld diagnostics and per-stage timing.
Log Generation QC Details	Log post-mesh quality-control diagnostics (QC pass warnings).

Editor / Debug

Setting	Description
Debug Disable All Shape Settings	Disable taper, thickness variation, junction bulging, and surface-ring shaping while debugging.
Debug Use Base Taper Only For Radius	Use only the base taper curve when calculating radius.
Debug Hard Bypass Ring Phase Continuity	Disable ring phase continuity and use a simple cylindrical UV1 wrap.
Debug Log Ring Continuity Scalars	Log ring-continuity values for one representative spline per tier.
Debug Log Step Point Pipeline	Log representative point-generation stages for each generated tier.
Debug Disable Append Turn Clamp	Disable the final per-point turn clamp.
Debug Disable Segment Hard Cap Clamp	Disable the segment hard-cap clamp and termination check.
Debug Disable Edge Rounding Point Insertion	Disable edge-rounding point insertion while keeping edge detection active.
Debug Disable Wall Traversal Point Insertion	Disable wall-traversal point insertion while keeping detection active.
Debug Disable Per Step Surface Offset Adjustment	Disable per-step surface offset adjustment.
Debug Disable Start Surface Snap	Disable initial surface acquisition and crawl start snap.
Debug Disable Direction Computation	Disable per-step direction recomputation.
Debug Disable Organic Candidate Direction Blend	Disable organic direction blending while debugging.
Debug Disable Airborne Gravity Bias	Disable airborne gravity bias on the desired direction.
Debug Disable Collision Avoidance Deflection	Disable collision-avoidance deflection.
Debug Disable Pre Crawl Anti Double Back	Disable the pre-crawl double-back check.
Debug Disable Post Crawl Anti Double Back	Disable post-crawl double-back checks.
Debug Disable Non Crawl Surface Snap	Disable non-crawl surface snap traces.
Debug Disable Crawl Edge Seeking	Disable crawl edge-seeking bias.
Debug Disable Concavity Resistance	Disable concavity-resistance adjustments.
Debug Disable Forward Edge Detection	Disable forward edge and lip detection.
Debug Disable Wall Traversal Detection	Disable wall traversal handling while leaving other miss handling active.
Debug Disable Surface Reacquire	Disable surface reacquire after crawl misses.
Debug Disable Air Snap Recovery	Disable air-snap recovery after crawl miss or penetration events.
Debug Disable Airborne Surface Validation Snap	Disable airborne surface-validation snap.
Debug Disable Final Ground Check	Disable the final ground-check pass.
Debug Disable Spawn Density Anti Pile	Disable wall-base anti-pile checks.
Debug Disable Post Crawl Snap Adjustments	Disable snap corrections after crawl steps.
Debug Disable Under Surface Correction	Disable the final under-surface correction before append.
Debug Disable Pre Append Vertical Lift	Disable the small pre-append vertical lift used by crawl points.
Debug Disable Parent Crossing Plane Enforcement	Disable parent crossing-plane enforcement during growth.
Debug Disable Lip Stop Point Insertion	Disable lip-stop point insertion while preserving lip detection.
Debug Disable Commit Guard	Disable the final committed-point guard clamp.
Debug Disable Final Point Smoothing	Disable final authored-point smoothing.
Debug Disable Final Point Deduplication	Disable final point deduplication.
Debug Disable Final Surface Conformance Pass	Disable final surface-conformance adjustment.
Debug Disable Single Point Kink Regularization	Disable final single-point kink cleanup.
Debug Disable Legacy Sharp Corner Smoothing	Disable the older sharp-corner smoothing pass.
Debug Use UV0 For Tangent Computation	Compute mesh tangents from UV0 instead of UV1.
Debug Bypass Final Normals Tangents Generation	Skip final normal and tangent generation for preview debugging.
Use Legacy Preview Payload Mode	Use the old preview payload path for debugging older assets.
Debug Disable Geometry Surface Ring Flattening	Disable surface-ring flattening while keeping ring construction active.
Debug Disable Geometry Ring Transition Easing	Disable ring transition easing during mesh refinement.
Debug Disable Adaptive Ring Resampling	Disable adaptive ring resampling before mesh build.
Debug Disable Geometry Spike Repair	Disable geometry spike repair during frame generation.
Debug Use Linearized Centerline For Meshing	Mesh from a temporary linearized centerline.
Debug Use Raw Central Difference Tangents For Meshing	Use raw central-difference tangents for authored-path meshing.
Debug Disable Geometry History Averaging After RM Frames	Disable ring-basis history averaging after frame generation.
Debug Disable Curvature Weighted Distance Redistribution	Disable curvature-weighted distance redistribution before meshing.
Debug Disable Tiny Step Suppression	Disable tiny-step suppression before meshing.
Debug Disable Neighbor Tangent Recompute	Disable tangent recompute from neighboring points.
Debug Disable Late Pass Pruning	Disable late-pass child pruning before final meshing.

Cave / Underground Root Setup

1. Place a Root actor inside the cave, just below the roof, with its usual up direction pointing toward the ceiling. The cave surfaces need query collision that blocks the configured trace channel.
2. Select Growth Type: Cave / Underground and click Generate Paths + Mesh.
3. Enable Expert Mode and tune Simulation > Organic Behavior > Cave / Underground.
4. Set parent/child lengths for the cave dimensions. Unsupported boundaries terminate growth rather than jumping to a remote face.

Control	Use
Ceiling Traverse Distance	Controls how long the ceiling path travels before nearby forward walls can steer it toward descent. It does not create a wall at that distance.
Wall Descent Strength	Steers the path downward once it reaches a wall.
Lateral Weave Strength	Adds gradual sideways variation during supported descent.
Interior Search Radius	Controls nearby-wall support searches.
Floor Runner Chance	Chance for eligible secondary/finer roots to continue across the floor. Main trunks terminate there.
Re Burrow Strength	Controls the short floor embed at a terminating root.

Vine Actor Reference

The Vine Actor authors climbing, wrapping and hanging vine systems. It follows the Root Actor workflow, with vine-specific support, top behavior, and wrap controls.

Climbing vines stay surface-adhered and climb upward. Wrapping vines orbit support geometry, commit around corners, and keep visible contact tight. Hanging vines grow from supported undersides or ledges into hanging spans.

Main Actions

Setting	Description
Generate Paths + Mesh	Build all generated content from the current settings.
Refresh Mesh	Regenerate the generated mesh from existing spline points.
Export Static Mesh	Generates a static mesh actor from the current generated mesh.
Export Runtime Actor	Export spline data to a runtime growth actor for growth playback.
Open Documentation	Open the Procedural Vine Generator documentation.
Reset to Defaults	Resets all settings to their default values
Overwrite Preset From Current Settings	Select an existing preset row and replace it with the current actor settings. If the preset table is missing, it will be created first.

Components

Setting	Description
Root	Root scene component for the vine generator actor (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Parent Vine Spline	Guide spline used as the parent path for vine generation (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Generated Mesh Component	Primary dynamic mesh component that displays generated vine geometry (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Placement Preview Billboard	Billboard used to preview placement/orientation in the editor (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Primary Container	Scene component parent for generated primary branch splines (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Parent Container	Scene component parent for generated synthetic parent splines (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Secondary Container	Scene component parent for generated secondary branch splines (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Tertiary Container	Scene component parent for generated tertiary branch splines (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

General

Setting	Description
Preset	Select a preset row from DT_VinePresets. Includes custom presets created with New.
Growth Type	Enabled vine growth behavior. Climbing favors upward supported growth; Wrapping follows and orbits support geometry; Hanging starts at a supported underside/ledge and descends into free spans.
Expert Mode	Show advanced/expert controls throughout the vine generator details panel.
Use External Spline	Use a spline from another actor as the parent vine path instead of the built-in spline
External Spline Actor	The actor containing the spline component to use as the parent vine
External Spline Component	The specific spline component from the external actor to use

General / Presets

Setting	Description
Vine Presets Table	DataTable containing vine presets (row type: FVinePresetData)
Apply Preset On Change	Automatically apply preset values when the preset selection changes
Auto Set Preset To Custom On Edit	Automatically set preset to 'Custom' when any parameter is manually edited

General / Advanced

Setting	Description
Preview Mode	Choose which vine hierarchy levels to preview: None, Parent only, Parent + Primary, or All.
Random Seed	Seed for random number generation. Change this to get different vine patterns
Advance Seed On Build Now	If enabled, each Build Now uses RandomSeed plus a transient build counter to reroll topology without mutating RandomSeed.
Last Build Seed Used	Debug/readback of the exact seed used by the most recent Build Now invocation.
Master Scale	Global scale multiplier for the entire vine system
Min Generated Radius	Minimum radius threshold. Vines thinner than this will not be generated

Mesh

Setting	Description
Vine Material	Material to apply to the generated vine mesh

Mesh / Nanite

Setting	Description
Enable Nanite	Enable Nanite virtualized geometry

Mesh / Tube

Setting	Description
Tube Radial Segments	Number of radial subdivisions around the vine tube
Tube Axial Subdivisions	Multiplier for axial sample density along each vine segment (1 = baseline)
Cap Tube Ends	Close the ends of vine tubes with cap geometry
Tube End Cap Taper	How much to taper/narrow the end caps
Tube Terminal Taper Length Scale	Length scale of the terminal taper stub ring appended before each non-welded cap.
Tube Terminal Taper Radius Scale	Radius scale of the terminal taper stub ring appended before each non-welded cap.

Mesh / Smoothing

Setting	Description
Smoothing Type	Type of mesh smoothing algorithm to apply
Enable Single Point Kink Regularization	Run a local point-chain regularization pass before spline assembly to target single-point kinks (smooth/merge/average) without global smoothing.
Smoothing Iterations	Number of smoothing passes to apply
Smoothing Strength	Strength of the smoothing effect
Smooth Boundary Vertices	Apply smoothing to vertices on mesh boundaries
Preserve Junction Vertices	Protect vertices at branch junctions from smoothing

Mesh / Welding

Setting	Description
Weld Branch Junctions	Merge vertices at branch connection points
Weld Coincident Edges	Weld vertices that lie on the same edge

Mesh / Welding / Advanced

Setting	Description
Weld Tolerance	Distance threshold for welding vertices at junctions
Edge Weld Tolerance	Distance threshold for welding coincident edge vertices

Mesh / Static Mesh Export / Collision

Setting	Description
Generate Collision	Generate convex hull collision geometry for the exported Static Mesh.
Hull Count	Target number of convex hull pieces when generating collision for the exported static mesh.
Max Hull Verts	Maximum vertex count allowed per generated convex hull. Higher values preserve more shape detail but cost more collision complexity.
Hull Precision	Precision used by convex decomposition. Higher values improve fit at higher generation cost.

Mesh / Static Mesh Export / Advanced

Setting	Description
Generated Asset Folder	Folder path where generated static mesh assets will be saved

Mesh / Static Mesh Export

Setting	Description
Recenter Pivot To Bounds Center	Move the mesh pivot to the center of its bounding box
Place Static Mesh	Place the generated static mesh into the level
Export Scope	Selects which spline scope is used for export and solo preview.
Export Tier Selection	Tier used when export scope is set to Selected Tier.
Export Spline Selection	Optional single spline selection for export. 'All Splines' exports the full generated mesh.
Export Ancestor Chain As Combined Asset	When exporting branch + ancestors, also produce one combined asset for the full chain.
Export Ancestor Chain As Separate Assets	When exporting branch + ancestors, also produce one separate asset per spline in the chain.
Preview Selected Export Spline	If enabled, selecting a single spline for export will also preview only that spline in the editor viewport.
Show Non Selected Splines In Solo Preview	When solo export preview is active, keep non-selected splines visible as thin editor debug splines.

Animation

Setting	Description
Runtime Export Quality	Controls authored-frame sample density in runtime export data. Full keeps all authored samples.
Bake Growth Animation Data	Bake Animation data into UV3 for runtime growth playback
Runtime Animation Method	Animation method assigned to newly exported Runtime Growth Actors. VAT is the default when baking is enabled; Material / Shader is also available.
Bake Vertex Animation Texture	Bake VAT data during runtime export.
VAT Quality	Frame-count preset for the baked VAT: Low 24, Medium 48, High 64, Cinematic 96, or Custom.
VAT Custom Frame Count	Custom VAT frame count used only when VAT Quality is set to Custom.
VAT Max Texture Width	Maximum width of the baked VAT texture. Vertices exceeding this width wrap into additional rows.
Animated Normals (Unavailable)	Retained compatibility field. Animated-normal baking is currently unavailable.
Bake Reveal Alpha	Pack reveal alpha into the VAT alpha channel.
VAT Reveal Feather	Timeline feather used when baking reveal alpha around the growth frontier.
VAT Mesh Decimation Tolerance	Error-bounded simplification for the exported VAT mesh, expressed as a fraction of local branch radius.
Parent Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to parent/guide vine growth.
Primary Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to primary branches growing.
Secondary Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to secondary branches growing.
Tertiary Growth Fraction	Fraction of the [0,1] timeline allocated to tertiary branches growing. Computed as remainder if 0.

Mesh / Interior Face Removal

Setting	Description
Remove Interior Faces	Remove mesh triangles whose centroids are inside another vine's tube volume

Mesh / Interior Face Removal / Advanced

Setting	Description
Interior Removal Mode	RemoveAll: remove any face inside another tube. RemoveSmaller: only remove from the thinner vine
Interior Test Radius Scale	Scale factor for the containment test radius
Preserve Junction Faces	Preserve faces near branch junction points
Junction Preserve Radius Multiplier	Radius around junction points within which faces are preserved
Interior Test Sample Spacing	Spacing between centerline samples used for containment testing
Junction Start Exclusion Fraction	Fraction of child spline length from start where faces are never removed

Branching / Parent

Setting	Description
Vine Base Thickness	Starting thickness/radius of the Parent vine at its base
Parent Count	Number of generated parent splines.
Parent Length	Target length (cm) of each generated parent spline.
Parent Thickness	Starting thickness/radius of generated parent splines.
Parent Spread Angle Deg	Angular spread used when distributing parent launch directions around the guide hub.
Parent Target Segment Length	Target segment length (cm) for generated parent splines.
Parent Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated parent splines.
Parent Launch Stub Length	Soft-start length (cm) near the guide hub.
Parent Min Angular Separation Deg	Minimum angular separation between parent launch directions.
Parents Use Surface Projection	Project generated parents toward nearby support surfaces.
Parents Participate In Avoidance	Include generated parents in avoidance checks.
Min Segment Fraction	Minimum fraction of each branch length that must be represented by crawl/generation segments.

Branching / Parent / Advanced

Setting	Description
Wall Child Spawn Probability	Probability that a child branch spawns when the parent vine is on a wall surface.
Transition Zone Lookahead	Distance in centimeters used to evaluate dominant surface context near flat-to-wall transitions.
Transition Detection Threshold	Dot threshold used to detect a surface transition zone between adjacent samples.

Branching / Anchor

Setting	Description
Enable Anchor Branches	Generate short contact anchors from climbing or wrapping vine parents. These give the vine small visible holdfasts without replacing the main child-branch tiers.
Anchor Spacing Cm	Average distance between anchor attempts along the parent vine.
Anchor Spacing Jitter	Randomized spacing variation so anchors do not land on a perfectly regular interval.
Anchor Length	Target length of generated vine anchors.
Anchor Length Variation	Per-anchor random length variation.
Anchor Start Radius Frac	Anchor base radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point.
Anchor Taper	Radius falloff from anchor base to tip.
Anchor Tip Taper Multiplier	Extra tip thinning applied at the end of the anchor.
Anchor Min Surface Verticality	Minimum support steepness needed before vine anchors can be placed.
Anchor Spread Cone Deg	Cone angle used when choosing anchor directions around the support normal.
Anchor Surface Hug Strength	How strongly each anchor bends back toward the contacted surface.
Anchor Target Segment Length	Preferred segment length for generated anchor splines.
Anchor Burial Depth Frac	Small inward offset used to seat anchors into the support instead of leaving them visibly floating.

Branching / Anchor / Fiber

Setting	Description
Fibers Per Anchor	Number of fine fiber splines that can be generated from each vine anchor.
Fiber Length	Target length for the fine anchor fibers.
Fiber Length Variation	Per-fiber length randomization.
Fiber Start Radius Frac	Fiber base radius as a fraction of the anchor radius.
Fiber Taper	Radius falloff along each fiber.
Fiber Spread Cone Deg	Spread cone used when distributing fibers around the anchor contact point.
Fiber Surface Hug Strength	How strongly fibers conform toward the support surface.

Branching / Children

Setting	Description
Reject Backward Child Branches	Reject child-branch candidates that turn back against the parent direction strongly enough to read as a reversal.

Branching / Dynamic Length

Setting	Description
Enable Dynamic Branch Length	Let branch length respond to the top-transition/drape context instead of using only fixed tier lengths.
Dynamic Drape Top Travel Parent Cm	Additional travel budget available to parent vines during drape-over-top motion.
Dynamic Drape Top Travel Primary Cm	Additional travel budget for primary branches near top drape transitions.
Dynamic Drape Top Travel Secondary Cm	Additional travel budget for secondary branches near top drape transitions.
Dynamic Drape Top Travel Tertiary Cm	Additional travel budget for tertiary branches near top drape transitions.

Branching / Primary

Setting	Description
Enable Primary	Enable generation of primary vine branches
Primary per Parent	Number of primary branches generated per parent spline.
Primary Length	Length of primary vine branches.
Primary Thickness	Base radius at the start of each primary vine branch.

Branching / Primary / Legacy

Setting	Description
Primary Density	Deprecated legacy primary density control kept for backward compatibility.

Branching / Primary / Advanced

Setting	Description
Primary Max Child Radius Frac	Maximum child radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point.
Primary Taper	Rate at which primary vine branches thin from base to tip.
Primary Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier applied near the primary vine branch tip.
Primary Target Segment Length	Target segment length for primary vine branch mesh generation.
Primary Meander Strength	Random meander strength for primary vine branch paths.
Primary Direction Preference	How strongly primary vine branches keep their initial launch direction.
Primary Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated primary vine spline paths.
Primary Length Variation	Random length variation for primary branches as a normalized fraction of base length.
Primary Thickness Variation Min	Minimum multiplicative thickness variation for primary branches.
Primary Thickness Variation Max	Maximum multiplicative thickness variation for primary branches.
Primary Taper Variation Min	Minimum taper variation multiplier for primary branches.
Primary Taper Variation Max	Maximum taper variation multiplier for primary branches.

Branching / Secondary

Setting	Description
Enable Secondary	Enable generation of secondary vine branches.
Secondary Per Primary	Number of secondary branches to attempt per primary branch.
Secondary Length	Length of secondary vine branches.
Secondary Thickness	Base radius at the start of each secondary vine branch.

Branching / Secondary / Advanced

Setting	Description
Secondary Spread Angle Deg	Maximum spread angle in degrees from the parent direction.
Secondary Max Child Radius Frac	Maximum child radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point.
Secondary Taper	Rate at which secondary branches taper from base to tip.
Secondary Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier near the secondary branch tip.
Secondary Target Segment Length	Target segment length for secondary branch mesh generation.
Secondary Meander Strength	Random meander strength for secondary branch paths.
Secondary Direction Preference	How strongly secondary branches keep their initial launch direction.
Secondary Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated secondary spline paths.
Secondary Length Variation	Random length variation for secondary branches as a normalized fraction of base length.
Min Angle Between Consecutive Secondary	Minimum angle in degrees between consecutive secondary branch launch directions around the same parent.
Secondary Thickness Variation Min	Minimum multiplicative thickness variation for secondary branches.
Secondary Thickness Variation Max	Maximum multiplicative thickness variation for secondary branches.
Secondary Taper Variation Min	Minimum taper variation multiplier for secondary branches.
Secondary Taper Variation Max	Maximum taper variation multiplier for secondary branches.

Branching / Tertiary

Setting	Description
Enable Tertiary	Enable generation of tertiary vine branches.
Tertiary Per Secondary	Number of tertiary branches to attempt per secondary branch.
Tertiary Length	Length of tertiary vine branches.
Tertiary Thickness	Base radius at the start of each tertiary vine branch.

Branching / Tertiary / Advanced

Setting	Description
Tertiary Spread Angle Deg	Maximum spread angle in degrees from the parent direction.
Tertiary Max Child Radius Frac	Maximum child radius as a fraction of the parent radius at the spawn point.
Tertiary Taper	Rate at which tertiary branches taper from base to tip.
Tertiary Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier near the tertiary branch tip.
Tertiary Target Segment Length	Target segment length for tertiary branch mesh generation.
Tertiary Meander Strength	Random meander strength for tertiary branch paths.
Tertiary Direction Preference	How strongly tertiary branches keep their initial launch direction.
Tertiary Spline Smoothing Passes	Smoothing passes applied to generated tertiary spline paths.
Tertiary Length Variation	Random length variation for tertiary branches as a normalized fraction of base length.
Min Angle Between Consecutive Tertiary	Minimum angle in degrees between consecutive tertiary branch launch directions around the same parent.
Tertiary Thickness Variation Min	Minimum multiplicative thickness variation for tertiary branches.
Tertiary Thickness Variation Max	Maximum multiplicative thickness variation for tertiary branches.
Tertiary Taper Variation Min	Minimum taper variation multiplier for tertiary branches.
Tertiary Taper Variation Max	Maximum taper variation multiplier for tertiary branches.

Shape

Setting	Description
Enable Variation	Enable random variation in branch thickness and taper
Variation Strength	Global strength multiplier for all variation effects

Shape / Advanced / Thickness

Setting	Description
Enable Organic Thickness Variation	Add procedural noise-based thickness variations
Organic Thickness Noise Strength	Strength of procedural noise-based thickness variation along vines.
Organic Thickness Noise Frequency	Frequency of procedural noise used for thickness variation.
Use Advanced Taper Curve	Use a power curve for taper instead of linear interpolation.
Taper Curve Power	Exponent used by the advanced taper curve. Higher values keep vines thicker for longer.
Use Length Based Thickening	Scale thickness based on branch length.
Length Thickness Scale	Strength of length-based thickness scaling.

Shape / Flow

Setting	Description
Enable Hierarchical Flow Inheritance	Use a dedicated shading/UV flow frame and parent-attachment inheritance for bark continuity.
Junction Flow Blend Distance Cm	Distance from a child branch start over which shading orientation/phase eases from parent-aligned values into local branch values.
Shading Flow History Window	History window used only by the shading frame. Larger values produce calmer bark/grain flow.
Shading Flow Max Forward Delta Deg	Maximum shading-frame forward rotation per ring in degrees. Lower values reduce abrupt flow pivots.
Shading Flow Max Seam Delta Deg	Maximum seam-phase rotation per ring in degrees for the shading frame.
Shading Flow Surface Blend Strength	Support-normal blend strength for shading frame orientation. Keep low for stable bark flow.
Use Absolute Tree Flow UV	Encode UV1.y as absolute accumulated distance across the parent-child vine hierarchy instead of restarting per branch.
Curvature Adaptive Threshold	Curvature-adaptive sampling threshold used for authored frame and ring placement. Lower values increase samples in curved areas.

Surface Interaction / Surface Seeking / Tracing

Setting	Description
Trace Channel	Collision channel for surface tracing
Use Secondary Trace Channel	Use a secondary trace channel when the primary trace misses.
Secondary Trace Channel	Secondary collision trace channel used when the primary trace does not hit
Trace Complex	Use complex collision for surface tracing
Trace Distance	Maximum trace distance in centimeters used to find surfaces during crawling.
Surface Seek Radius	Radius to search for nearby surfaces
Surface Offset	Offset from the surface to place spline - This is applied uniformly across all the points regardless of tube radius
Use Radius-Adaptive Offset	Apply a radius-adaptive offset at each point to maintain consistent burial depth.
Surface Burial Depth (cm)	Surface burial depth offset in centimeters when radius-adaptive offset is enabled.

Surface Interaction / Wall Climbing / Advanced

Setting	Description
Wall Climb Vertical Bias	Balance between vertical climbing and lateral spreading on wall surfaces.
Wall Lateral Attenuation	Multiplier for lateral spread on wall surfaces. Lower values suppress sideways drift.
Wall Meander Attenuation	Multiplier for meander strength while vines are on wall surfaces.
Wall Seeking Bias	Bias toward nearby walls when launching growth from flat surfaces.
Wall Seeking Search Radius	Maximum wall-search distance used when biasing vine spawn direction toward walls.
Floor Phase Wall Seek Segments	Number of early flat-surface segments that actively steer toward the nearest wall.
Floor Phase Wall Seek Strength	Steering strength for floor-phase wall seeking.

Surface Interaction / Edge Handling

Setting	Description
Enable Edge Rounding	Insert an edge-rounding point on sharp surface transitions so vines wrap around corners instead of cutting through them.

Surface Interaction / Edge Handling / Advanced

Setting	Description
Edge Detection Threshold	Normal-delta threshold used to detect an edge transition between crawl steps. Lower values detect gentler edges.
Edge Search Iterations	Binary search iterations used to locate the edge point more precisely.
Edge Rounding Bisector Scale	Scale applied to bisector displacement when placing rounded edge points.

Surface Interaction / Anti-Double-Back

Setting	Description
Enable Anti Double Back	Prevent vines from reversing direction or looping back on themselves during crawl growth.
Anti Double Back Max Turn Angle Deg	Maximum turn angle in degrees allowed per segment before anti-double-back logic intervenes.
Anti Double Back Min Progress Dot	Minimum forward progress dot threshold for anti-double-back validation.
Anti Double Back Terminate On Violation	Terminate spline generation when anti-double-back rules are violated instead of clamping direction.
Anti Double Back Min Segments Before Termination	Minimum number of segments that must be generated before termination-on-violation can occur.
Anti Double Back Smoothing Window	Window size used to smooth direction history for anti-double-back checks.
Anti Double Back Post Crawl Validation	Run anti-double-back validation after crawl adjustments as an additional safety check.
Anti Double Back Post Crawl Leniency	Leniency multiplier applied to post-crawl anti-double-back validation.

Surface Interaction / Self-Avoidance

Setting	Description
Enable Self Avoidance During Growth	Enable self-avoidance steering so vines deflect away from their earlier segments.
Self Avoidance Radius	Radius multiplier used when testing proximity to previous segments for self-avoidance.
Self Avoidance Strength	Strength of self-avoidance steering force applied during growth.

Surface Interaction / Surface Crawling / Advanced

Setting	Description
Crawl Sphere Radius Multiplier	Multiplier for the crawl sphere radius relative to vine thickness
Max Crawl Iterations Per Step	Maximum crawl iterations per growth step
Use Separate Query Offset	Use a separate query offset for crawl sweeps
Crawl Query Offset	Offset distance for crawl query sweeps
Use Curvature-Aware Crawling	Shortens crawl step size as the surface normal changes more sharply, producing rounder wall/ledge transitions on faceted collision.
Curvature Crawl Min Step Scale	Minimum crawl step scale used on high-curvature transitions. Lower values hug corners more tightly.
Curvature Normal Blend	Blend factor used when interpolating normal estimates for curvature-aware crawling.
Curvature Normal Sample Radius Scale	Probe radius scale used when sampling nearby normals for curvature-aware crawling.
Curvature Normal Samples Per Side	Number of normal probes sampled per side for curvature-aware interpolation.

Simulation

Setting	Description
Upward Bias	Bias toward upward growth. Higher values make vines climb more aggressively
Max Upward Angle Deg	Maximum upward angle vines can grow
Max Climb Height	Maximum climb height above start point. -1 = unlimited
Top Behavior	Behavior when a vine reaches the top of a surface
Top Detection Threshold	Threshold for detecting top surfaces (dot product with up vector)
Tip Droop Strength	Strength of downward droop near vine tips
Droop Start Fraction	Fraction along vine length where droop begins
Lateral Spread	Amount of lateral spread/wandering
Vine Meander Strength	Strength of random meandering in vine paths
Stagnation Lookback	If the vine hasn't moved more than StagnationDistanceThreshold in this many consecutive segments, terminate or attempt to climb over
Stagnation Distance Threshold	Minimum distance the vine must travel over StagnationLookback segments. If less, the vine is considered stagnant. 0 = auto (based on step size)
Max Climb Over Attempts	Number of attempts to climb over an obstacle before terminating

Shape / Junctions

Setting	Description
Enable Junction Bulging	Add thickness bulges at branch junctions
Junction Bulge Strength	Radius multiplier at branch junctions. 1.0 = no bulge, 1.2 = subtle, 1.5 = pronounced.
Junction Bulge Distance	Falloff distance for junction bulge, as a multiplier of the local radius. Higher = wider bulge zone.

Simulation / Avoidance Behavior

Setting	Description
Enable Avoidance	Prevent vines from growing too close to each other
Avoidance Radius	Distance multiplier used for inter-vine avoidance checks.
Avoidance Strength	Strength of directional deflection applied by inter-vine avoidance.

Surface Interaction / Off-Surface / Aerial Growth

Setting	Description
Allow Aerial Growth	Allow vines to continue growing when no surface is found
Max Aerial Segments	Maximum consecutive segments without surface contact

Surface Interaction / Surface Wrap-Around

Setting	Description
Allow Surface Wrap Around	Allow vines to wrap around convex surfaces instead of stopping at the top
Wrap Around Smoothness	Smoothness threshold for wrap-around detection. Higher = more permissive wrapping
Wrap Orbit Strength	Strength of circumferential orbit intent while wrapping around support geometry.
Wrap Inward Adherence	How strongly wrapping pulls inward toward the detected support during orbit.
Wrap Forward Carry	Forward carry blended into orbit movement to prevent static looping.
Wrap Support Search Radius	Multiplier for support-frame search radius relative to current crawl seek radius.
Wrap Desired Coverage Turns	Desired number of turns to cover before reducing strict orbit dominance.
Wrap Corner Commit Strength	How strongly wrapping commits across convex support transitions and edge turns.
Use Wrapping Topology Overrides	Apply wrapping-only runtime topology and contact overrides without changing stored preset values.
Wrap Parent Count Scale	Scale generated parent count in wrapping mode.
Wrap Primary Count Scale	Runtime scale for primary child count in wrapping mode.
Wrap Secondary Count Scale	Runtime scale for secondary child count in wrapping mode.
Wrap Target Segment Length Scale	Runtime scale for parent/primary/secondary target segment length in wrapping mode.
Wrap Meander Scale	Runtime meander scale in wrapping mode to keep wraps tighter.
Wrap Surface Burial Depth Override	Wrapping-only runtime burial-depth target when burial override is active.
Wrap Disable Burial Depth	When enabled, wrapping forces effective burial depth to zero for tighter visible support contact.
Wrap Crawl Radius Scale	Runtime scale for crawl/support search radius in wrapping mode.
Wrap Extra Edge Search Iterations	Additional edge-search refinement iterations for wrapping mode.

Branching / Spawn Spacing / Crowding

Setting	Description
Enable Spawn Density Check	Check density at spawn locations and skip branches in crowded areas
Spawn Density Radius Multiplier	Radius multiplier used when counting nearby splines to determine crowding.
Spawn Density Max Count	Maximum nearby spline count allowed at a spawn location before the spawn is skipped.

Branching / Validation

Setting	Description
Enable Child Orientation Sanity Validation	Validate child branch orientation against sampled support normals before accepting the branch.
Child Orientation Validation Min Samples	Minimum number of orientation-validation samples taken along each child spline.
Child Orientation Validation Max Samples	Maximum number of orientation-validation samples taken along each child spline.
Child Orientation Validation Reject Fraction	Reject child spline when the fraction of failed orientation samples exceeds this threshold.
Child Orientation Up Surface Min Dot	A sample is considered suspicious when abs(dot(Frame.Up, SupportNormal)) is below this threshold.
Child Orientation Right Surface Max Dot	A sample is considered suspicious when abs(dot(Frame.Right, SupportNormal)) is above this threshold.

Editor

Setting	Description
Auto Rebuild In Editor	Automatically regenerate vines in the editor when settings change.
Hide Disabled Settings	Hides all settings that can only be modified when expert mode is enabled.
Auto Rebuild Debounce Seconds	Delay in seconds before auto-rebuild triggers after an editable change.
Draw Debug Frames	Draw debug frames/axes along generated spline points in the editor viewport.
Draw Debug Shading Flow	Draw shading-flow diagnostics (forward/up vectors plus seam/twist/flow labels) from the authored flow cache.
Shading Flow Debug Label Stride	Label stride for shading-flow debug text. Lower values draw more labels.

Editor / Logging

Setting	Description
Log Generation Stats	Log high-level generation statistics after each build.
Log Spline Creation Details	Log detailed per-segment generation decisions. Very verbose.

Editor / Debug

Setting	Description
Debug Use Linearized Centerline For Meshing	Mesh from a temporary linearized centerline.
Debug Use Base Taper Only For Radius	Use only the base taper curve when calculating radius.
Debug Hard Bypass Ring Phase Continuity	Disable ring phase continuity and use a simple cylindrical UV1 wrap.
Debug Use UV0 For Tangent Computation	Compute mesh tangents from UV0 instead of UV1.
Debug Bypass Final Normals Tangents Generation	Skip final normal and tangent generation for preview debugging.
Use Legacy Preview Payload Mode	Use the old preview payload path for debugging older assets.
Debug Disable Append Turn Clamp	Disable the final per-point turn clamp.
Debug Disable Segment Hard Cap Clamp	Disable the segment hard-cap clamp and termination check.
Debug Disable Final Vine Point Smoothing	Disable final vine-point smoothing.
Debug Disable Final Vine Point Deduplication	Disable final vine-point deduplication.
Debug Disable Final Vine Surface Conformance Pass	Disable final vine surface-conformance adjustment.
Debug Disable Final Vine Kink Regularization	Disable final vine kink cleanup.
Debug Bypass Final Vine Authored QC Rejection	Bypass final authored-point rejection checks.
Debug Disable Late Pass Pruning	Disable late-pass child pruning.
Log Wrap Diagnostics	Log wrap runtime diagnostics including phase, confidence, orbit sign, and support reacquire/corner events.
Draw Wrap Support Frames	Draw detected wrapping support frames (axis/normal/tangent) with phase color coding.

Surface Interaction / Attraction

Setting	Description
Attraction Actors	Optional attraction actors whose distributed points can pull generated vines toward them during growth.
Attraction Strength	How strongly attraction points influence vine growth. 0 disables the system.
Attraction Radius	Maximum distance from an attraction point at which vines are influenced.

Surface Interaction / Attraction / Advanced

Setting	Description
Attraction Falloff Exponent	Falloff exponent for attraction weighting. Higher values make the pull more localized.
Attraction Affects Guide Spline	Allow attraction to influence the guide/parent vine during growth in addition to child tiers.

Hanging Vine Setup

1. Place a Vine actor close to a ceiling underside, or on top of a ledge near its edge.
2. Select Growth Type: Hanging and click Generate Paths + Mesh. Initial support must be within Hanging Initial Anchor Max Distance (default 60 cm).
3. Set Internal Parent Length for the supported run plus the intended drop. The generic consecutive-aerial-segment limit is not the hanging-length control.
4. Adjust Surface Interaction > Hanging, then rebuild. Keep the seed locked while comparing settings.

Control	Use
Hanging Anchor Traverse Distance / Edge Seek Strength	Controls supported travel and the tendency to seek a ledge before release.
Hanging Span Gravity Strength	Controls downward steering during a free span.
Hanging Lateral Swing Strength	Adds gradual lateral shape, rather than sharp alternating segments.
Hanging Underside Preference	Biases support classification/reacquisition toward undersides.
Hanging Reattach Search Radius Scale	Controls searches for nearby walls or floors while detached.
Hanging Initial Anchor Max Distance	Limits the initial support search. Missing support produces a warning instead of a floating start.

Use Hanging for underside starts. Climbing and Wrapping remain supported-surface workflows. Hanging generates a mature path with growth playback; it is not a live rope or wind simulation.

Barrier Actor Reference

The Barrier Actor generates strand-based organic barriers across openings.

Curtain, lattice, and organic seal patterns use primary strands, optional cross-links, and optional offshoot branches.

Main Actions

Setting	Description
Generate Paths + Mesh	Build the generated mesh from the current settings.
Refresh Mesh	Regenerate the generated mesh from existing barrier spline points.
Clear	Clears all generated barrier splines and mesh.
Export Static Mesh	Bake the selected export scope, including generated details, into a Static Mesh asset and place it in the level.
Export Runtime Actor	Export barrier spline data to a runtime growth actor for seal and unseal playback.
Open Documentation	Open the Procedural Barrier Generator documentation.

Components

Setting	Description
Root	Root scene component for the actor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Opening Volume	Defines the opening or region used by the barrier generator. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Generated Mesh Component	Displays the generated result in-editor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Strands Container	Container for generated barrier strand splines. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

Components / Debug

Setting	Description
Placement Preview Billboard	Billboard used to show actor placement/orientation in the editor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

General

Setting	Description
Pattern	Barrier strand generation style. Curtain = mostly vertical, Lattice = adds lateral links, Organic = irregular web.
Anchor Mode	Where primary strands are anchored around the opening.
Endpoint Mode	How primary strands choose their targets in the opening.
Expert Mode	Show advanced controls throughout the barrier details panel.

General / Advanced

Setting	Description
Random Seed	Random seed for deterministic barrier generation.

Opening

Setting	Description
Seal Coverage	Overall blocked coverage. Lower values intentionally leave larger holes.

Opening / Advanced

Setting	Description
Gap Noise	Randomly perturbs strand spacing to create uneven openings and gaps.
Sag Amount	Downward sag in cm applied to generated strands.
Strand Noise	Random point jitter in cm for each generated strand point.

Generation

Setting	Description
Strand Count	Base number of primary strands before coverage filtering.
Enable Strand Branches	Add small organic offshoot strands from generated barrier strands.

Generation / Advanced

Setting	Description
Cross Link Density	Controls how many cross-links connect nearby strands.
Target Segment Length	Target spacing in cm between generated spline points.
Strand Branch Density	Controls how many small offshoot branches are added to barrier strands.
Max Strand Branches	Safety cap for generated strand offshoot branches.
Strand Branch Spawn Min Alpha	Minimum normalized parent spline position where offshoot branches can spawn.
Strand Branch Spawn Max Alpha	Maximum normalized parent spline position where offshoot branches can spawn.

Shape

Setting	Description
Strand Thickness	Starting strand radius in cm.

Shape / Advanced

Setting	Description
Strand Taper	Per-strand taper from base to tip.
Strand Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier at strand tips.
Cross Link Thickness Scale	Thickness multiplier for cross-link strands relative to primaries.
Min Generated Radius	Global minimum radius clamp in cm.
Use Advanced Taper Curve	Enable advanced taper curve shaping.
Taper Curve Power	Power for advanced taper shaping.
Enable Organic Thickness Variation	Enable organic thickness variation along strands.
Organic Thickness Noise Strength	Strength of organic thickness noise.
Organic Thickness Noise Frequency	Frequency of organic thickness noise along strands.
Use Length Based Thickening	Scale strand thickness based on strand length.
Length Thickness Scale	How much longer strands thicken relative to shorter strands.
Enable Junction Bulging	Enable localized bulging near authored junction distances.
Junction Bulge Strength	Bulge multiplier around junction zones.
Junction Bulge Distance	Distance in normalized spline space over which bulging fades.
Strand Branch Length Min	Minimum length in cm for generated offshoot branches.
Strand Branch Length Max	Maximum length in cm for generated offshoot branches.
Strand Branch Thickness Scale	Thickness multiplier for offshoot branches relative to primary strand thickness.
Strand Branch Taper	Taper from base to tip for offshoot branches.
Strand Branch Tip Taper Multiplier	Additional taper multiplier at the tip of offshoot branches.
Strand Branch Spread Angle Deg	Spread cone half-angle in degrees for offshoot direction selection.
Strand Branch Droop	Downward droop in cm applied to offshoot branch tips.

Flow

Setting	Description
Enable Hierarchical Flow Inheritance	Use a dedicated shading/UV flow frame and parent-attachment inheritance for strand continuity.
Use Absolute Tree Flow UV	Encode UV1.y as absolute accumulated distance across the parent-child strand hierarchy instead of restarting per strand.

Flow / Advanced

Setting	Description
Junction Flow Blend Distance Cm	Distance from a child strand start over which shading orientation/phase eases from parent-aligned values into local strand values.
Shading Flow History Window	History window used only by the shading frame. Larger values produce calmer flow.
Shading Flow Max Forward Delta Deg	Maximum shading-frame forward rotation per ring in degrees. Lower values reduce abrupt flow pivots.
Shading Flow Max Seam Delta Deg	Maximum seam-phase rotation per ring in degrees for the shading frame.
Shading Flow Surface Blend Strength	Support-normal blend strength for shading frame orientation. Keep low for stable flow.
Curvature Adaptive Threshold	Curvature-adaptive sampling threshold used for authored frame and ring placement. Lower values increase samples in curved areas.

Mesh

Setting	Description
Barrier Material	Material assigned to generated barrier mesh.

Mesh / Advanced

Setting	Description
Tube Radial Segments	Radial subdivisions per tube ring.
Tube Axial Subdivisions	Multiplier for axial sample density per authored spline segment (1 = baseline).
Cap Tube Ends	Close strand start/end with cap geometry.
Tube End Cap Taper	Tip cap taper amount.
Smoothing Type	Optional smoothing for generated barrier mesh.
Smoothing Iterations	Smoothing iteration count.
Smoothing Strength	Smoothing strength.
Smooth Boundary Vertices	Allow smoothing to move mesh boundary vertices.
Preserve Junction Vertices	Preserve attachment/junction vertices during smoothing.

Animation

Setting	Description
Bake Growth Animation Data	Bake per-vertex growth timing into UV3 for runtime seal/unseal playback.
Runtime Export Quality	Controls authored-frame sample density in runtime export data. Full keeps all authored samples.
Runtime Animation Method	Animation method assigned to newly exported Runtime Growth Actors.
Bake Vertex Animation Texture	Bake VAT data during runtime export.
VAT Quality	Frame-count preset for the baked VAT: Low 24, Medium 48, High 64, Cinematic 96, or Custom.
VAT Custom Frame Count	Custom VAT frame count used only when VAT Quality is set to Custom.
VAT Max Texture Width	Maximum width of the baked VAT texture. Vertices exceeding this width wrap into additional rows.
Animated Normals (Unavailable)	Retained compatibility field. Animated-normal baking is currently unavailable.
Bake Reveal Alpha	Pack reveal alpha into the VAT alpha channel.
VAT Reveal Feather	Timeline feather used when baking reveal alpha around the growth frontier.

Animation / Advanced

Setting	Description
Primary Growth Fraction	Fraction of timeline allocated to primary strands.
Cross Link Growth Fraction	Fraction of timeline allocated to cross-link strands.

Export

Setting	Description
Generated Asset Folder	Folder path where generated growth data assets will be saved.
Export Scope	Selects which strand scope is used for runtime export.
Export Tier Selection	Tier used when export scope is set to Selected Tier.
Export Spline Selection	Optional single strand selection for export. 'All Splines' exports the full generated barrier.
Export Ancestor Chain As Combined Asset	When exporting branch + ancestors, also include one combined runtime export chain.
Export Ancestor Chain As Separate Assets	Reserved for parity with root/vine export controls.

Editor

Setting	Description
Auto Rebuild In Editor	Automatically regenerate the barrier in the editor when settings change.
Auto Rebuild Debounce Seconds	Delay in seconds before auto-rebuild triggers after an editable change.
Draw Debug Frames	Draw debug frames/axes along generated spline points in the editor viewport.
Show Generated Strand Splines After Build	Keep generated strand splines visually emphasized after build for debugging.
Draw Debug Shading Flow	Draw shading-flow diagnostics (forward/up vectors plus seam/twist/flow labels) from the authored flow cache.
Shading Flow Debug Label Stride	Label stride for shading-flow debug text. Lower values draw more labels.

Editor / Logging

Setting	Description
Log Generation Stats	Logs branch/mesh counts after each build.
Log Spline Creation Details	Log detailed per-strand flow values during mesh generation. Very verbose.

Editor / Debug

Setting	Description
Debug Use Linearized Centerline For Meshing	Mesh from a temporary linearized centerline.
Debug Use Base Taper Only For Radius	Use only the base taper curve when calculating radius.
Debug Hard Bypass Ring Phase Continuity	Disable ring phase continuity and use a simple cylindrical UV1 wrap.
Debug Use UV0 For Tangent Computation	Compute mesh tangents from UV0 instead of UV1.

Bridge Actor Reference

Place BP_PRG_Bridge_Actor (PRG Organic Bridge). Move the four bank anchors: AL/AR are the left/right sides of End A; BL/BR are End B. Click Generate Bridge, then refine the sag, structural strands and landing approaches.

Control	Use
Style	Root Structure, Vine Structure or Hybrid.
Placement / Anchors	Set both banks and bridge width using AL, AR, BL and BR. Left/Right Guide splines describe the span.
Shape	Sag and guide sampling shape the span. Root/strand variation and end-radius controls refine its organic character.
Mesh / Parent Rails and Primary	Set the parent rails, primary roots per rail, bundle spread, path/thickness/cross-section variation and twist.
Mesh / Weave	Enable secondary/tertiary strands and tune their count, radius and vertical weave.
Material / Mesh Density / Smoothing	The default structural material is MI_AlderRoot. The bridge shares mesh-density, smoothing, bark-detail and optional fusion controls.
Collision	Generate Walkable Collision creates a simple proxy with configurable thickness. It is not per-strand physical simulation.
Details	Enable and rebuild user-assigned detail attachments along the finished structure.
Output	Export Static Mesh for a fixed result including generated details, or Export Runtime Actor for VAT or Material / Shader growth.

Bridge animation

1. Build the bridge and click Export Runtime Actor. Re-export older bridges to obtain the new directional timing data.
2. Select the exported runtime actor and choose Growth > Bridge > Bridge Growth Mode: Use Exported Growth Mode, End A to End B, End B to End A or Both Ends to Middle. The generator labels the last option Both Banks to Middle.
3. Use normal runtime timing controls, a Growth Progress track or Character proximity to play it. Newly exported bridges enable editor preview and Auto Play on Begin Play.

Growth Direction / Reverse Growth reverses time and retracts the bridge. Bridge Growth Mode chooses the starting bank. At full progress, the entire authored surface is restored.

Attraction Actor Reference

The Attraction Actor distributes deterministic world-space attraction points from a local box volume. Root and Vine actors can use those points to pull growth toward a chosen area.

Main Actions

Setting	Description
Distribute Attraction Points	Generate or refresh attraction points using the current scatter settings.
Clear Attraction Points	Remove all generated attraction points from this actor.
Get Attraction Points	Get the generated world-space attraction points.

Components

Setting	Description
Root	Root scene component for the actor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Scatter Bounds	Box component used by the Attraction Actor for area scattering. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

Components / Editor

Setting	Description
Placement Preview Billboard	Billboard used to show actor placement/orientation in the editor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Point Preview Component	Editor preview component used to display generated attraction points. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Projection Debug Line Batcher	Editor debug line batcher used to draw the local-down projection direction. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

Scatter

Setting	Description
Point Count	Number of attraction points to distribute inside the bounds.
Box Extent	Half extents of the local point-field volume.
Project Points Along Local Down	Project generated samples along the volume's local down direction.
Projection Trace Distance	Trace distance used when projecting generated samples along the volume's local down direction.
Surface Offset Cm	Offset applied along the sampled surface normal after the point is generated.
Random Seed	Seed used for deterministic point distribution.
Lock Seed	When enabled, Distribute Attraction Points always uses the exact Random Seed.
Last Build Seed Used	Read-only seed used by the most recent distribution pass.
Draw Projection Direction Debug	Draw the attraction volume's local down/projection direction in the editor.
Attraction Points	Current world-space attraction points used by PRG generators that reference this actor.

Growth Data Assets

Runtime export creates a UPRG_GrowthData asset. It stores branch timing, source metadata, geometry settings, material references, VAT metadata, and the mesh payload used by runtime playback.

Stored Data	Description
Payload Version	V4 exports use payload version 7, including the finished mesh, growth data and physical texture/junction mapping.
Branches	Parent-first branch data, authored frames, radii, timing, tier index, and parent attachment metadata.
Authoritative Mesh Payload	Saved final mesh topology and overlay data used to reproduce the export mesh at runtime.
Mesh UV Layer Count	Current payloads contain eight UV layers, including flow, growth timing, VAT lookup, centerline collapse and parent texture coordinates.
Material / VAT Material	The normal runtime material and the optional VAT-enabled material resolved during export.
VAT Position Texture	RGBA32F position texture used by Vertex Animation Texture playback. RGB stores final local-space position; alpha carries reveal timing when enabled.
VAT Normal Texture	Compatibility reference for older data. Animated-normal baking is currently unavailable.
VAT Counts	Frame count, vertex count, texture width, and texture height saved for validation and runtime setup.
Finalized Ring Metadata	Per-frame ring width, top/bottom scale, and final shaping metadata used by runtime reconstruction and material growth.
Vertex Keys / Aliases	Stable FPRG_VertexKey identity data used to align authored branch vertices, runtime mesh elements, and VAT rows.
Default Animation Method	The method the spawned Runtime Growth Actor should use first. Root, Vine, Barrier and Bridge exports can use VAT or Material / Shader.

Runtime Growth Actor Reference

Runtime Growth Actors consume exported Growth Data and play authored growth forward or backward in game or in editor preview.

Main Actions

Setting	Description
Play Growth	Start growing forward from current progress.
Play Growth From Start	Start growing forward from 0.0.
Reverse Growth	Start shrinking (reversing) from current progress toward 0.0.
Reverse Growth From End	Start shrinking from 1.0 toward 0.0.
Stop Growth	Pause playback at the current progress.
Reset Growth	Reset progress to 0.0 and stop playback. Mesh becomes invisible.
Set Fully Grown	Instantly set growth to 1.0 (fully visible). Stops playback.
Set Growth Progress	Directly set the growth progress. Stops playback.
Play In Direction	Play in the specified direction from the current progress.
Build Preview	Rebuild runtime preview mesh from GrowthData now, even when automatic editor preview rebuilds are disabled.
Refresh Runtime Material	Recreate the runtime material instance without rebuilding geometry.
Clear Runtime Material Override	Clear the runtime material override and return to the material exported in GrowthData.

Components

Setting	Description
Mesh Component	Primary runtime dynamic mesh component for committed grown geometry. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Tip Mesh Component	Secondary runtime dynamic mesh component used for the active growth tip. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)
Proximity Trigger	Sphere trigger used for proximity-driven playback. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

Components / Editor

Setting	Description
Placement Preview Billboard	Billboard used to show actor placement/orientation in the editor. (Read-only, Blueprint read-only)

Data

Setting	Description
Growth Data	The exported growth data asset from the authoring actor (Root, Vine, Barrier or Bridge).
Source Type	Whether this growth data was authored from a Root, Vine, Barrier or Bridge actor.
Source Actor Name	Name of the authoring actor that produced the currently assigned growth data.
Total Branches	Read-only branch count contained in the currently assigned growth data.

Animation

Setting	Description
Animation Method	Runtime playback method. Choose VAT for data with a valid baked VAT payload, or Material / Shader for parameter-driven growth. Bridges also support VAT and directional growth.
Vertex Animation Texture	Uses a fully grown mesh plus a VAT position texture for animated growth. This avoids rebuilding mesh sections every frame.
Material / Shader	Uses material parameters and growth payload data for reveal-style playback when VAT is disabled or unavailable.

Timing

Setting	Description
Growth Duration	Total seconds for autonomous playback from 0% to 100%. Sequencer key times set cinematic duration instead.
Playback Rate	Speed multiplier applied on top of GrowthDuration. 2.0 = twice as fast.
Easing	Easing function applied to the growth timeline.
Custom Easing Curve	Custom easing curve. X axis = raw progress (0-1), Y axis = eased progress (0-1).
Start Delay	Seconds to wait before the animation begins after PlayGrowth is called.
Auto Play On Begin Play	Automatically start growth animation on BeginPlay.
Loop	Automatically restart growth when it finishes.
Ping Pong	When looping, reverse direction each cycle (grow then shrink then grow...).
Growth Direction	Direction of growth when using AutoPlay or editor preview scrubbing.

Timing / Advanced

Setting	Description
Use Hierarchical Runtime Branch Scheduling	Enable runtime-derived branch timing. When disabled, playback uses the authored timing from Growth Data.
Log Runtime Branch Scheduling	Log authored and runtime branch scheduling values when playback caches are rebuilt.

Editor / Debug

Setting	Description
Log Branch Schedule Diagnostics	Log per-branch authored, attachment, and scheduled timing diagnostics after rebuilding runtime schedule.

Editor Preview

Setting	Description
Editor Preview Progress	Preview the growth state in the editor. 1.0 = fully visible. Adjusting this in the editor will update the mesh preview.
Auto Rebuild Preview	Enable editor preview mesh rebuilds. Enable when previewing exported growth in the editor. Newly exported bridges enable it; Build Preview restores an empty transient preview.

Trigger

Setting	Description
Use Proximity Trigger	Enable the built-in proximity sphere trigger. Disable this if you want to trigger growth from your own Blueprint/code.
Trigger Radius	Radius of the proximity trigger sphere (in cm).
Only Play Once	Only allow the growth animation to trigger once.
Trigger Direction	Direction to play when triggered by proximity.

State

Setting	Description
Growth Progress	Current growth progress from 0.0 (hidden) to 1.0 (fully grown). Key this property directly in Sequencer; keyed values bypass autonomous easing.
Is Playing	Read-only. True while a forward or reverse growth animation is actively playing.
Is Reversing	Read-only. True when the actor is playing in reverse (shrinking back toward 0.0).
Has Completed	Read-only. True once forward growth has reached 1.0 and stopped.
Has Reversed	Read-only. True once reverse growth has fully unwound back to 0.0 and stopped.

Events

Setting	Description
On Growth Finished	Fired when forward growth reaches 1.0.
On Growth Reversed	Fired when reverse growth reaches 0.0.
On Growth Started	Fired when playback starts (forward or reverse).
On Growth Stopped	Fired when playback is stopped via StopGrowth().
On Growth Progress Changed	Fired every tick while playing. Passes current progress.

Rendering

Setting	Description
Max Displacement Cm	Max displacement magnitude in cm. Must match your material's WPO displacement range.
Runtime Material Override	Optional material used by Material / Shader reveal mode.
Runtime VAT Material Override	Optional VAT-enabled material instance used for Vertex Animation Texture playback.
Shader Growth Feather	Smoothstep feather width around each vertex appear time when using Material / Shader playback.
Shader Growth Hidden Offset	World-space offset applied to unborn geometry when using Material / Shader playback.
Animation Shadow Mode	Shadow update mode during growth animation.
Shadow Update Interval	Minimum interval between shadow map updates during animation.
Cast Shadows	Whether this mesh casts shadows. Disable for best animation quality.
Cast Two Sided Shadows	Two-sided shadows reduce self-shadowing on thin tube geometry.
Disable Indirect Shadows During Animation	Disable indirect shadow casting to reduce Lumen shadow artifacts during animation.

Sequencer: First Growth Animation

1. Build your Root, Vine, Barrier or Bridge, then click Export Runtime Actor. Animate the exported runtime actor, not the authoring actor.
2. On the runtime actor, turn off Auto Play on Begin Play and Use Proximity Trigger. Enable Auto Rebuild Preview if needed, and use Build Preview if the loaded preview is empty.
3. Create a Level Sequence from the Content Browser or Cinematics menu and open it.
4. Drag the runtime actor from the World Outliner into Sequencer. On that actor track, choose + Track > Growth Progress.
5. At the starting frame, set Growth Progress = 0 and add a key. At the ending frame, set it to 1 and add another key.
6. For a four-second example at 30 fps, use frames 0 and 120. Select both keys and choose Linear interpolation for a steady rate.
7. Scrub forward and backward. Add a later key at 0 to retract, or edit the curve for pauses and acceleration. For gameplay, assign the sequence to a Level Sequence Actor and play it from Blueprint or enable that actor's Auto Play.

Sequencer drives Growth Progress directly and stops autonomous playback. Its keys own duration and easing; runtime Growth Duration, Playback Rate and Easing control Play Growth instead. VAT frames interpolate without changing the saved body topology. More frames can improve a complex bake, but also increase texture cost.

Proximity-Triggered Growth

1. Select the exported runtime actor, disable Auto Play on Begin Play and enable Use Proximity Trigger.
2. Set Trigger Radius in centimeters and choose Trigger Direction. The sphere is centered at the runtime actor's origin; it does not cover the whole branch network automatically.
3. Test in Play In Editor with an ACharacter whose capsule generates overlap events and overlaps the trigger. A plain Pawn or prop is not accepted by the built-in trigger.
4. Leave Only Play Once enabled for one-shot growth. Reset Growth rearms it. Additional overlaps during playback do not restart it.

A Character already inside at Begin Play also activates the trigger. Forward growth honors Start Delay; Reverse Growth starts immediately. For props, plain Pawns or another activation rule, disable the built-in trigger and call Play Growth or Reverse Growth from your own Blueprint overlap/event.

Upgrading from V3

1. Back up the project and any customized plugin content, then close Unreal Editor. Existing actor/preset paths and the saved Burrowing enum value are preserved.
2. Install the package built for your Unreal Engine version. Do not copy a newer engine's .uasset files into an older project.
3. Use Generate Paths + Mesh on Root, Vine or Barrier, or Generate Bridge on bridges, to obtain corrected paths. Refresh Mesh updates geometry on existing paths.
4. Regenerate Static Mesh and runtime Growth Data exports to obtain V4 geometry, texture mapping and bridge directional timing. Preserve old exports if their exact appearance must remain unchanged.
5. Re-export existing bridges before using Bridge Growth Mode. Reversing Growth Direction retracts a bridge; it does not choose the opposite starting bank.
6. Keep fusion off for normal iteration. Enable it only for a measured final bake when a connected junction mesh is needed.

Locked seeds reproduce matching inputs within an engine, but V4's path corrections can change an old result on rebuild. Cross-engine collision differences can also change placement. Keep the old finished Static Mesh/Growth Data when exact art continuity is required.

The five distributed actor Blueprints were recreated independently in each engine and verified in clean projects. Their original asset paths and defaults are retained. If plugin content was customized locally, preserve those customizations before installing the update.

Keep customized assets through updates

Back up customized plugin content before installing an update. Updates can overwrite changes made inside the plugin folder. Make project copies of materials, textures or preset tables and assign those copies explicitly if you want independent versions. There is no automatic customization merge or bundled-content import workflow.

Restore Presets and Reset Actor replaces built-in preset rows and resets the actor to class defaults. Custom-named rows remain; customized built-in rows should be backed up first.

Troubleshooting

Nothing appears after Build

• Make sure you are using an authoring actor, not only a Runtime Growth Actor.
• Check that the current preview/build mode is not hiding the generated hierarchy.
• If using an external spline workflow, confirm that the assigned external actor/component is valid.

Generation is too slow while iterating

• Start from presets and block out shapes at lower detail before moving to full-quality settings.
• Reduce branch counts, segment density, and smoothing complexity while iterating.
• Prefer Static Mesh export for final non-animated environment work.

Runtime playback is heavy

• Choose VAT or Material / Shader growth based on the asset. All four generators support both methods; high-density VAT bakes can require large textures.
• Reduce authored complexity before export, narrow the export scope, or loosen VAT Mesh Decimation Tolerance where that control is available.
• Use dense runtime playback where animation matters. Use Static Mesh export for final non-animated dressing.

VAT export fails or bakes fewer frames than requested

• Check the Output Log for VAT element count, requested frame count, texture width, and texture limit warnings.
• Lower the density preset, reduce branch counts, increase VAT Max Texture Width within your platform limits, or loosen VAT Mesh Decimation Tolerance.
• If the asset is too dense for even a low-frame VAT, split the result across multiple actors or use Static Mesh export.

A runtime actor uses Material / Shader playback instead of VAT

• Confirm the Growth Data has a VAT payload, VAT position texture, and VAT-enabled material.
• If payload validation fails, re-export from the authoring actor so saved mesh data and VAT counts are rebuilt together.

VAT growth stretches into long strips or collapses toward the origin

• Regenerate and re-export the asset so Growth Data is payload version 7.
• Confirm a new exported mesh has eight UV layers and that UV5/UV6 contain the centerline-collapse vector used by MF_Growth.
• Make sure the material reads TexCoord[5] and TexCoord[6] for collapse. Do not rebuild collapse from normals, tangents, or UV2.

Hanging or cave growth does not start

• Use Hanging for ceiling/underside vine starts. Keep the initial support within the configured search distance.
• For Cave / Underground, place the Root actor inside the cave near the roof, not on terrain above it.
• Check query collision and the surface trace channel, then rebuild the paths.

Bridge growth is missing or fully grown from the start

• Regenerate the runtime export after updating. Select the runtime actor and check its Bridge Growth Mode and animation controller.
• Keep the authoring bridge hidden while previewing playback. Generate Bridge makes the source visible again for editing.
• For Sequencer, disable Auto Play and the proximity trigger, then key Growth Progress.

Proximity growth does not trigger

• Test an ACharacter with overlap-enabled capsule collision inside the runtime actor's sphere, not at a distant branch tip.
• Reset Growth after a one-shot activation. Use Blueprint events for a plain Pawn or prop.

Surface adherence is not behaving as expected

• Check the relevant trace/surface/crawling settings for the current actor.
• Verify that the target geometry blocks the expected collision channels.
• When working against complex meshes, the complex-trace options may be necessary for accurate adhesion.

Textures do not follow branch direction correctly

• Use a flow-aligned material that reads the directional payload channels instead of a generic world-aligned shader.
• Confirm your material is decoding UV1 flow coordinates, UV2 shading frame data, and Vertex Color surface/radius data as intended.
• For VAT playback, confirm the material reads UV4 for VAT rows, UV5/UV6 for centerline collapse, and the exported VAT position texture assigned by Growth Data.

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