Prefabricator - Open Source Prefab Plugin

[Ion Cocarcea]

Hey Ali Akbar I tried to make with the prefab and also with dungeon architect some boxes with physics enabled it seems it is not working . I wanted to setup some boxes one over another theny to make them fall. Andto make them have physics enabled but it didn't work. Maybe you can figure out. Thank you.

[Ali Akbar]

Hi,

I currently try to convert objects of a scene of mine to prefabs, but I have some really annoying problems.

The first one is that when I create a prefab from some actors in the scene, sub-objects of the hierarchy are not saved in the prefab.
(e.g, I had a window with handles parented to the window frames.)

And finally, when I save my scene and then reload, some prefabs are not loaded correctly any-more. Some prefabs are loading other prefabs. ???

For information, I use UE4 4.21.2

I hope these bugs will be fixed soon, because it really seem to be a wonderful tool.

J.Lefebvre Sorry for the issue. I'll have a look

[Ali Akbar]

Hey Ali Akbar I tried to make with the prefab and also with dungeon architect some boxes with physics enabled it seems it is not working . I wanted to setup some boxes one over another theny to make them fall. Andto make them have physics enabled but it didn't work. Maybe you can figure out. Thank you.

Ion Cocarcea I've tested with physics enabled a while ago and it worked. I'll test it again tomorrow

[Methosborgoff]

Random thought. Is it possible to use prefabs with landscapes or height maps? Say if I wanted to use this to make random-ish mountains that are in the same location but different design of mountains. Awesome looking Plugin and even if landscapes/heightmaps are out of the question I'll still be picking this up.

[Ben_Cykyria]

Spawning Prefabs from a Blueprint Construction Script is not supported right now. Will it be possible in a future version?

[Ali Akbar]

Random thought. Is it possible to use prefabs with landscapes or height maps? Say if I wanted to use this to make random-ish mountains that are in the same location but different design of mountains. Awesome looking Plugin and even if landscapes/heightmaps are out of the question I'll still be picking this up.

Methosborgoff Thank you! Landscapes are not supported and saving the heavy heightmap data will be out of the scope as this deals with properties

[Ali Akbar]

Spawning Prefabs from a Blueprint Construction Script is not supported right now. Will it be possible in a future version?

Ben_Cykyria Try calling Load Prefab function from the prefab actor. I also made a change this morning that shouldn't require this call. I'll test it tomorrow and let you know

[Ben_Cykyria]

Ali Akbar this is my simple blueprint test in the screenshot. The debug shows that the construction script is run without error. I tried a different stuff for the world context object. Anyway, what I want to do, is I'd like to place prefabs in editor, and adjust them. Blueprint "Building" will spawn one or many "Floor" prefabs. I can't do that with prefab collections. It works in play mode, but then I can't see how the building will fit into the landscape (this would be much easier in the editor).

[gigapede]

Thank you for creating this!

I have a few questions:
1. Instantiating
How performant is Prefabricator as compared to HISM? It looks blazingly fast in your demos but would I be better off using HISM for large amounts of objects (like asteroids)? Does Prefabricator replace (or utilize) the built-in hierarchical instantiation? btw: I was trying to build a corridor that has the same walls on both sides and Prefabricator doesn't seem to allow me to use HISM within P_objects.

2. Prefab Collections
When I double click my newly created "Prefab Collection" I get a blank tab that takes over my screen that's titled, "PC_Ceilings* - Generic Assets". I'm on an iMac running the latest software. I tried re-booting and deleting my various project folders.
**EDIT** I found how to do it for anyone else curious: Select the Prefabricated objects in your Content folder and right click and choose "Create Prefab Collection"
Note: Double clicking on the PC_collection icon still only opens a blank screen so I cannot see what's in the collection or affect the weighting.

3. Interactivity
I know that Prefab is Blueprintable but can I put damage decals and otherwise affect Prefab actors in the world?
Note: It appears that Prefabricated objects cannot be set to "Movable"

[TexelBud]

Hey writing to say that thanks for this plugin, it's a great work you've done here.

Just little issue and that's simply to do with using the plugin in c++. Right now the blueprint function library cannot be used in c++ (to spawn Prefabs in code) due to the symbols not being exported as it's missing the XXX_API definition (linker errors). It's only a small issue as the source is available in GitHub and you can make those modifications there if you need the code implementation or you can simply copy the implementation inside the function you need to use (it's source so you can do whatever).

Other than that this plugin has been a great help, many thanks.

[Ali Akbar]

Thank you for creating this!

I have a few questions:
1. Instantiating
How performant is Prefabricator as compared to HISM? It looks blazingly fast in your demos but would I be better off using HISM for large amounts of objects (like asteroids)? Does Prefabricator replace (or utilize) the built-in hierarchical instantiation? btw: I was trying to build a corridor that has the same walls on both sides and Prefabricator doesn't seem to allow me to use HISM within P_objects.

2. Prefab Collections
When I double click my newly created "Prefab Collection" I get a blank tab that takes over my screen that's titled, "PC_Ceilings* - Generic Assets". I'm on an iMac running the latest software. I tried re-booting and deleting my various project folders.
**EDIT** I found how to do it for anyone else curious: Select the Prefabricated objects in your Content folder and right click and choose "Create Prefab Collection"
Note: Double clicking on the PC_collection icon still only opens a blank screen so I cannot see what's in the collection or affect the weighting.

3. Interactivity
I know that Prefab is Blueprintable but can I put damage decals and otherwise affect Prefab actors in the world?
Note: It appears that Prefabricated objects cannot be set to "Movable"

1: HISM is not supported and I'll be adding that in the future. If you want instancing, please stick with HISM for now
2: Thank you for the steps, it helps with debugging. However, I cannot reproduce it on my end. I'll keep testing it
3: I've fixed this and will be available in the next build soon

[Ali Akbar]

Hey writing to say that thanks for this plugin, it's a great work you've done here.

Just little issue and that's simply to do with using the plugin in c++. Right now the blueprint function library cannot be used in c++ (to spawn Prefabs in code) due to the symbols not being exported as it's missing the XXX_API definition (linker errors). It's only a small issue as the source is available in GitHub and you can make those modifications there if you need the code implementation or you can simply copy the implementation inside the function you need to use (it's source so you can do whatever).

Other than that this plugin has been a great help, many thanks.

Thank you @TexelBud

I've added exports on the following missing classes

Runtime Module

    UPrefabricatorBlueprintLibrary

Editor Module

    FPrefabricatorAssetBroker
    FEditorUIExtender
    FPrefabActorCustomization
    FPrefabRandomizerCustomization
    FPrefabricatorSelectionHook
    FPrefabEditorStyle
    IPrefabricatorEditorModule

[Ali Akbar]

Ali Akbar this is my simple blueprint test in the screenshot. The debug shows that the construction script is run without error. I tried a different stuff for the world context object. Anyway, what I want to do, is I'd like to place prefabs in editor, and adjust them. Blueprint "Building" will spawn one or many "Floor" prefabs. I can't do that with prefab collections. It works in play mode, but then I can't see how the building will fit into the landscape (this would be much easier in the editor).

Ben_Cykyria The engine doesn't allow spawning actors in the construction script. A better way would be to allow you to add PrefabComponent to your blueprint's component list, which is not supported yet. I'll explore ways and try to add this in the next build

[CopperStoneSea]

Firstly, thanks again for this brilliant plugin - I got it before it was on the marketplace and I'm really happy it's on here now. It is exactly the kind of tool I needed.

I'm currently using it to place a variety of drippy candles around a few rooms, but I've hit a problem with lights.

1. When lights are part of the Prefab, the lighting doesn't update in the same way that they would if I'd placed the light in a scene manually.

Repro: place a static mesh and a point light. > create a prefab > duplicate it - the light is not 'on'. If you edit light in the new Prefab (e.g. change the luminosity) the light will begin to show in the preview lighting render.

2. Lights have duplicate GUIDs.

Repro: place a static mesh and a point light. > create a prefab > duplicate it > build lighting and enjoy the 'PointLight_Blueprint' has the same GUID as 'Light-Flickering_C_01' warnings.

Like I say, I love what you're doing here. Keep up the great work!

[Ali Akbar]

Thank you CopperStoneSea, I'm happy you find it useful

I just check the lighting/build issue and cannot reproduce it on my end. (I do get the temporary large X mark on the light which I'll look into, but the lights work as expected)

Does this also happen on a new empty scene?