UKismetMathLibrary::Quat_VectorUp

function Engine Blueprint Since 4.0

#include "Kismet/KismetMathLibrary.h"

Access: public Specifiers: staticUFUNCTIONBlueprintPure

Description

Returns the up direction (local Z axis) after applying this quaternion's rotation. Semantic alias for Quat_GetAxisZ.

Caveats & Gotchas

• Functionally identical to Quat_GetAxisZ. Choose based on readability in context — 'Vector Up' communicates intent more clearly in Blueprint graphs that work with surface normals or gravity alignment.
• For physics-based characters that can be tilted (wall-running, planetary gravity), this will not match world up. Cache the result if you call it multiple times per frame.

Signature

static UE_INL_API FVector Quat_VectorUp(const FQuat& Q);

Parameters

Name	Type	Description	Default
Q	const FQuat&	The quaternion representing the orientation.	—

Return Type

FVector

Example

Align a surface-hugging enemy to wall normal C++

FHitResult Hit;
FVector TraceStart = GetActorLocation();
FVector TraceEnd   = TraceStart - FVector(0, 0, 200.f);

if (GetWorld()->LineTraceSingleByChannel(Hit, TraceStart, TraceEnd, ECC_WorldStatic))
{
    FQuat AlignedQuat = FQuat::FindBetweenNormals(FVector::UpVector, Hit.ImpactNormal);
    FVector LocalUp = UKismetMathLibrary::Quat_VectorUp(AlignedQuat);
    SetActorRotation(AlignedQuat.Rotator());
}

Version History

Introduced in: 4.0

Version	Status	Notes
5.6	stable	—

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