Navigation3D getting started

Get an agent pathfinding in 3D free space as quickly as possible: mount an SVO navigation volume, add a flight agent, run one flight query, and see the path in the viewport. The Gem does not ship ready-made volume assets—airspace comes from scene geometry via runtime build or offline bake. AutoBuild is the fastest starting point.

Prerequisites

• Navigation3D is enabled in the project (Project Manager or project.json). After enablement, Navigation3DSystemComponent joins the system entity automatically.
• Geometry is available: the SVO volume gathers triangles through RecastNavigationProviderService on the same entity (from RecastNavigation, or a PhysX geometry provider). You usually also enable RecastNavigation.
• If you use offline bake, AssetProcessor is running so .svonav sources compile to .svonav_baked.

Minimal loop (five steps)

1 Enable the Gem
 → 2 Add SVO volume + geometry provider on an entity
 → 3 Add FlightNavigationComponent on the AI entity
 → 4 AutoBuild or Bake the SVO
 → 5 Query + verify with debug draw

1. Mount a navigation volume

Create a scene entity as the container for flyable space:

1. Add SVO Navigation Volume (SvoNavigationVolumeComponent / editor EditorSvoNavigationVolumeComponent).
2. On the same entity, add a geometry provider that offers RecastNavigationProviderService—it decides which triangles become obstacles.
3. Defaults are enough to start (full fields in Components):

2. Add a flight agent

On the AI entity, add Flight Navigation (FlightNavigationComponent; Game menu only, no editor variant):

• Volume entity: point at the volume; leave empty to resolve by query point at runtime.
• Post processor: Hover (default, omnidirectional) or FixedWing.
• Agent: radius, max speed / accel, and kinematics that shape the trajectory (see Motion and following).

3. Make the SVO ready

• AutoBuild (fastest): with Auto build = true, the volume voxelizes from the geometry provider on activate. Good for iteration.
• Offline bake (preferred for shipping): editor Bake to asset → .svonav → AssetProcessor → .svonav_baked → assign Baked asset. AutoBuild is ignored when a baked asset is set. See Authoring and baking.

When build / load finishes, NavigationVolumeNotificationBus::OnNavigationVolumeReady fires; you can also poll IsVolumeReady().

4. Run a query

Synchronous flight query:

#include <Navigation3D/FlightNavigationBus.h>
#include <Navigation3D/SvoPathTypes.h>

Navigation3D::FlightPath path;
Navigation3D::FlightNavigationRequestBus::EventResult(
 path, agentEntityId,
 &Navigation3D::FlightNavigationRequests::FindFlightPathBetweenPositions,
 fromWorldPos,
 toWorldPos);

if (!path.m_waypoints.empty())
{
 // path.m_waypoints is a world-space polyline; path.m_length is total length (m)
}

For hybrid / multi-domain scenes prefer the unified facade: HybridNavigationComponent + NavigationQueryRequestBus::FindPath (double-precision world coordinates). Sync is fine for low frequency; use *Async for high frequency or large maps. See Querying.

5. Enter game mode and verify

• nav3d_debugDraw 1 — paths / trajectories; nav3d_debugDraw 2 — also SVO and occupied voxels.
• nav3d_debugAgent <entityId> — focus draw on one agent.
• nav3d_dumpStats — scheduler and per-volume stats.
• nav3d_validateVolume <volumeEntityId> — SVO invariant self-check.

More in Debugging.

Turn a trajectory into motion (optional)

Queries return path / trajectory data; they do not move the entity. To actually fly:

• Consume m_waypoints / the trajectory in your motion layer; or
• Add FlightPathFollowComponent and each frame read GetDesiredVelocity() into your rigid body / character controller (it never writes Transform). See Motion and following.

To feed desired velocity into a flight-control pipeline, see Flight.

Next steps

• Core concepts — SVO / chunk / tier / coordinates
• Components — full field tables
• Querying — ground + air + climb hybrid
• Authoring and baking — Bake, cost zones, takeoff links
• HTN integration — let AI decide when to take off