Hi all,
probably I’m requesting for a plugin that already exists.
I found really difficult a simple pipeline to export a textured and animated scene from Max into UE4 in one shot.
The first obstacle is the double UV…Never heard before about lightmap channel but is ok, games are a different beast.
I would like to see an exporter for 3ds Max compatible 100% with UE4 where materials are maintained and map channels are automatically prepared for light map.
regards
Hi Gabrielefx,
I don’t think this is possible. It would be nice to have everything work that easily, I can tell you from experience that Lightmaps can be frustrating to begin with but when you understand their need it can make or break a good staticly lit model.
In your post in the Content Creation section “How to import a bunch of objects?” I’ve posted a link to another forum post detailing a bunch of informational links for Lightmapping and how to properly utilize them.
Building UV Unwrapping trouble - Asset Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums](Building UV Unwrapping trouble - Asset Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums)
As for using 3Ds Max (this is the software I’m familiar with so this may not apply to other 3D software packages) you can export animations and bring them into Matinee or have standard animations within UE4 using FBX (I’m not an animator so I woudn’t be able to direct you exactly on this). In UE4, if your FBX import does not have a 2nd UV setup for lightmap it will automatically use the 1st UV as a default UV which if you have overlapping UVs will cause errors with the shadows and give you the “overlapping UV error” message when you build lighting.
It’ll take a bit of work to make your models shine. There isn’t an exporter that will do all the work, unfortunately.
If you have any questions about setting up things or run into some problems feel free to ask. This is a great community of developers and we’re all eager to help each other with our situations!
Thank you!
Tim