Let's Build the RPG! - 19 – Character Footstep Sound Effects – Unreal Engine 5 Blueprint Tutorial

In this episode, we set up dynamic character footstep sounds based on footstep events in our ThirdPerson Animation Blueprint. I go over all the free footstep sounds I'm using from Zapsplat, as well as how to set up the Audio Sound Cue and Attenuation. We cover how to set up sphere traces from the character's waist downward to identify the specific physical material he's stepping on, and then play the appropriate sound based on the material, but also based on whether the character is running, walking, or jumping onto the surface.

Link to spreadsheet of all sounds used in this episode (and everything else used in this series, up to episode 19):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

00:00 Intro
00:15 Today's Goals and Key Concepts
01:45 Preparation steps for this episode
02:43 Sound Cues and Attenuation assets
06:04 Identifying your Animation blueprint
07:01 Adding AnimNotifies to walk and run animations
09:31 Testing AnimNotify setup
10:53 Setting up Sphere trace from hip down to foot
15:12 Setting up Physical Materials and connecting with SphereTrace
23:59 Setting up sounds to play for each type of material including landscape painted layers
28:02 Setting up different sounds to play for walking vs. running
30:23 Setting up different sound to play based on height-based layer in landscape setup
34:55 Cleaning up the build: Why and how to save the sound setup in a Blueprint Function Library
41:08 Setting up local variables for a function: eliminate blueprint spaghetti
44:54 Setting up Jump Landing Sounds
48:51 Adjusting the Sphere traces to be alligned with the character's feet (left and right)
51:32 Conclusion


New episode released every Saturday morning!


My favorite sources for free sound content:

https://www.zapsplat.com/
Zapsplat has higher quality sounds in general than freesound.org

https://freesound.org/
Freesound.org has a TON of free sounds, though most of them are lower quality. I typically use freesound.org if I'm looking for a more obscure sound



Direct References

Physical Materials:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-...

Overview of Traces:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en...

Blueprint Function Libraries:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-...

Sound Cue Editor:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-...

Sound Attenuation:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-...



Additional references

Audio in Unreal Engine 5:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-...