Skip to content
UdemyGame Development FundamentalsPaid courseAll LevelsCertificate

Unreal Engine 5 C++: Climbing System (Udemy.com)

Build a climbing system through Movement Component, Control Rig and Motion Warping in Unreal Engine 5 using C++

Created by: Vince Petrelli

Last updated January 2026

icon
What you will learn

  • Use custom character movement component to extend the movement logic
  • Learn all sorts of important math concepts like dot product/cross product for climbing calculation
  • Use control rig to add root motion to mixamo animation
  • Use control rig to adjust mixamo animation
  • Understand the animation logic behind animation blueprint
  • Utilize control rig for hand and feet IK
  • Make use of motion warping for advanced character movement
  • Create custom algorithms for ledge and floor detection
  • Build a robust climbing system with clean and extendable code
  • Create custom algorithms for different climbing condition check

icon
Quality Score

No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.

Content Quality
/
Video Quality
/
Qualified Instructor
/
Course Pace
/
Course Depth & Coverage
/

Overall Score : 94 / 100

icon
Course Description

Welcome to Unreal Engine 5 C++ Climbing System, in this course, you’ll learn how to build a robust climbing system completely from scratch with a deep understanding of how to handle the climb physics, create climb locomotion, climb up and down the ledge, hand and leg IK using control rig, vaulting mechanics, hopping capabilities and a range of other exciting features for a robust climbing experience.


In the first section, we’ll look into how we can handle the movement for our climbing , and start with a new enhanced input with a custom movement component to handle the basic climbing logic. Then we’ll go over how to use different traces to get hold of all the climbable surface info we need, and handle all the physics code needed in order for us to move our character in a custom movement mode. Once we have a working physics, we’re gonna process all the climbable surface info and calculate the velocity and rotation for our climbing.


In second section, we’re going to take care of climbing up, climbing down, climbing to the left, climbing to the right, climb up the ledge, climb down the ledge, enter and exit the climb state. We’ll begin with a charcter anim instance class in C++ and rebuilding our existing animation blueprint. Then we’ll go through the mixamo animation pipeline and look at how we can make use of mixamo converter to retarget animation. Next, we’ll handle the climb locomotion and create our own algorithms to check if we have reached the floor or the ledge.


In the third section, we’ll build a control rig for our hand and leg IK to fix the placement issue when we are climbing, and we’ll dive into motion warping and enhanced input system to implement features like vaulting and hopping. We’ll start with a handy climb IK trace function in our control rig, and dynamically adjust the position of our hands and feet based on the surface. Then we’ll go into motion warping and create more algorithms to check which surface is vaultable, and dynamically set our target point during runtime. After we have fully functional vaulting mechanics, we’ll dive deep into enhanced input system and look at how we can use it to create a two key action that only be triggered during climbing.


icon
Udemy Discount

The discount is applied through our link. Open the course from here and Udemy's current promotional price is applied at checkout on most courses, no code to type.

Some courses are excluded from Udemy's promotions. If the price does not drop, clear your browser cookies and use the button again.

icon
Instructor Details

Vince Petrelli

When I started my career as a technical artist, I was driven by a deep desire to make a significant difference in the work I was doing. Specifically, I wanted to help my co-workers enhance their work efficiency and productivity within the Unreal engine. Leveraging my prior experience as a teacher, I discovered my knack for simplifying intricate concepts and explaining them in a way that was accessible to anyone willing to learn.


As my aspirations evolved and I contemplated becoming an online instructor, those around me frequently asked, "What kind of instructor do you envision yourself becoming?"


In my view, I firmly believe that no subject is too daunting when you have a knowledgeable instructor who can guide you through each and every step. By employing a clear, step-by-step approach, anyone can acquire mastery in their desired area, including Unreal.


That is precisely the kind of instructor I aspire to be—an instructor who empowers learners by providing comprehensive guidance and enabling them to confidently navigate their Unreal journey.

icon
More courses by Vince Petrelli

$99.99

$99.99

$19.99

$84.99

$19.99

$19.99

icon
More Game Development Fundamentals courses

$94.99

$94.99

$69.99

$84.99

$89.99

$109.99

icon
Reviews

4.7

300 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Michael Cole on 8/11/2024

You are spending an adequate amount of time explaining the concepts. I do have to slow down the video so that you speak slower. I do not understand the physics that you are talking about, Quat, Unrotated(), etc. It was interesting to see how to use the traces in the various ways during the lectures. I'm being exposed to a LOT of new information. Learning it will require a great deal of review of the many concepts that are used in the lectures as if I was already supposed to be exposed to them.

By DullSword on 6/26/2024

The course is good, but I think PhysClimbing and UnrotateVector could be explained in more detail. I know from the course how to do certain things, but I don't understand why they should be done that way. Of course, I can understand these things by searching on my own, but it would be better if I don't have to do that. Finally, thank you for the course.

By George Huan 1994 on 4/6/2024

Firstly, this is a great course! I have purchased and studied most of the author's courses. As the author mentioned at the end, due to the nature of animation assets, a lot of time was spent in the course dealing with them, but the final results were not satisfactory. Moreover, due to the lack of suitable animation assets and inadequate integration in member design, it is difficult to expand in the future. If there are authorized assets, I am willing to pay additional expenses, and I hope to obtain a showable and scalable small project by the end of the course.

By Satyam Deo on 2/7/2024

The sheer amount of knowledge and experience from this course you get is the pure industry standard and what people like me enjoy learning, The other thing is this course is not about handholding it's about learning and exploring and challenging your self do something more or better than what you are being taught and that is simply awesome, as every course out there starts from zero which is something I'm adept at, and these things are what make game development fun, breaking down gameplay features from other games, Really looking forward to the similar course from Vince in Future.

By Blazing Jacob on 10/31/2023

The tutor definitely knows what he's doing, you will learn a lot at a fast pace in this course. However sometimes some decisions in code aren't explained well enough. In another instance some aspects of the Engine, like why we are picking a certain curve over an other isn't really explained in the animation portions. There is a lot of copy pasting going on in the course in comparison to other courses that take the time to write things out while also explaining the methodology of Unreal Engine. So in the end its a really thorough course however explanations leave a bit to be desired.

By ACanto on 9/20/2023

This was very useful to me, the final section really expanded my knowledge with control rigs and IK. It was especially helpful because it was founded in C++. I hope to integrate this system into a FPS project. My only suggestion would be to use the different viewpoints when aligning the different animations, that would have made it easier for someone like me who is not strong in animation to see what the objective was. But overall amazing course and I will be following the instructor more.

By Mong Yang on 9/18/2023

This is a great course for anyone who wants to learn more about building a custom movement component, especially a climbing system, that extends the default Character Movement Component. I can't say that this course will be easy for everybody because some of the ideas and techniques used in this course require that you have a basic understanding of programming and some understanding of math topics such as dot products and cross products. I enjoyed the challenges in this course and the instructor was always quick to respond to questions. After completing this course, I feel a great deal of appreciation for Vince and the work he has into this course. There are very few intermediate-level Unreal Engine courses like this one, so I am very thankful that Vince has put out a course like this one.

By Philip Cox on 7/30/2023

I am so far very please I purchased this course. Although there is no deep-dive into the details of what we are coding, (some explanation and brief math concepts) the design and implementation is still clear regarding the what and the why. What I am enjoying about the course is it's specificity. It's a nice size course with a clear objective which is also not taking me as long to complete as some courses that try to cover a plethora of concepts, for example, making an entire game.

By Michael Walker on 6/8/2023

I've been taking classes on UDemy now for about 5 years. It is RARE that I give any class 5 stars. Most instructors don't explain things enough, or change the code without explaining, go to fast, too slow, etc. This class has VERY clear and concise material and the instructor does an excellent job of explaining every step and has even had some good challenges. Also if you've ever had to go through the painstaking process of converting animations from Mixamo to Unreal Engine using Control Rigs, this class will save your life! Vince shows you a MUCH better way! That small nugget alone makes this class worth it! As of the time of this writing there were only 5 questions total in the Q&A section. That tells you very few students had issues with this course. Excellent work Vince! I hope see more classes from you very very soon!

By Sugram on 6/4/2023

It's an excellent course with a bit weird subject as the climbing system is not the important skill being thought here. As a beginner, this a great course to learn a lot about: character controllers, creating components in c++, physics ray tracing, importing animations, blending animations, the animation controller, handling input with the new input system (with c++), animation sequences, animation control rig, animation montages, animation inverse kinematics and animation warping. The course is very beginner friendly, but does not help you set up the very first steps for c++(or programming). If you can program with any statically typed language in general and are able to run a hello world c++ project for Unreal, then you are good to go.

Showing all 10 reviews on CourseDuck

Read all 300 reviews on Udemy