Water reference

Quick reference for Water. Narrative workflows live in the other handbook chapters.

Components

Display nameRuntime typeRole
Water Body RiverWaterBodyRiverComponentStream / River / GreatRiver spline strip
Water Body LakeWaterBodyLakeComponentClosed-spline or polygon lake
Water Body OceanWaterBodyOceanComponentInfinite or finite ocean
Water BuoyancyWaterBuoyancyComponentRigid-body buoyancy
Water Dry VolumeWaterDryVolumeComponentQuery exclusion box
Water Surface AttachmentWaterSurfaceAttachmentComponentKinematic wave follow
Water River NetworkWaterRiverNetworkComponentTributary confluence graph
Water Particle BridgeWaterParticleBridgeComponentOptional OpenParticleSystem mapping

System / bridge components (auto-mounted when the Gem is enabled): WaterSystemComponent, Atom bridge, SurfaceData bridge, Navigation bridge, debug overlay, river mesh builder.

Category in the Editor: Water. Create Entity submenu: Water ?River / Lake / Ocean.

EBuses (public headers under Gems/Water/Code/Include/Water/)

BusAddressKey methods
WaterSurfaceRequestBusSingleGetWaterSurfaceSample, height, underwater, flow, GetDisplacedSurfacePosition, batch samples (C++)
WaterSystemRequestBusSinglewater time, time source (C++), global tide, GetWaterInfoRaster (C++)
WaterBodyRequestBusBody EntityIdwater level offset, waves enabled
WaterSurfaceAttachmentRequestBusAttachment EntityIdrest anchor, enabled
WaterNotificationBusFloater EntityIdenter / exit / submersion
WaterSystemNotificationBusBroadcastcamera + body enter/exit/submersion

Script category: water. C++-only exclusions: SetTimeSource, GetWaterInfoRaster, batch samples, NotifyGlobalTideChanged.

Assets

KindPath
PrefabsGems/Water/Assets/Prefabs/Water/River_Default, Lake_Default, Ocean_Default
WavesGems/Water/Assets/Waves/*.waterwaves
MaterialsGems/Water/Assets/Materials/Water/WaterSurface_*.material
Material typeGems/Water/Assets/Materials/Types/WaterSurface.materialtype
PassesGems/Water/Assets/Passes/WaterParent.pass, MultiView variant, ripple / InfoMap / FFT passes
RegistryGems/Water/Registry/water.setreg
Flow bakesAssets/WaterBakes/FlowMap_*_lutrgba8.png (project)

Sample content

ContentPath
LevelsAutomatedTesting/Levels/WaterSamples/{Stream,Lake,Ocean,Estuary,RiverNetwork,ConcaveLake,RiverProfiles,TransparentSorting}
PrefabsAutomatedTesting/Prefabs/Water/{BuoyantCrate,Driftwood,SimpleBoat}
Python smoke / goldenAutomatedTesting/Gem/PythonTests/WaterSamples/

Default query priorities

BodyPriority
River family160
Lake128
Ocean64
DocAudience
Getting startedFirst-time setup
AuthoringField tables
Waves and materialsSpectra / materials / tiers
Buoyancy and gameplayPhysics / script
DebuggingOverlay / Registry / troubleshooting
RecipesFollowable levels
PolyTerrainRiver-bed carve
World StreamingAlwaysLoaded oceans
Double-precision renderingOrigin-stable waves
Navigation3DUnderwater hybrid routing

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