Hey all,
Very soon I am going to be tasked with developing a way to attach static mesh objects to other static mesh objects, via attachment points, preferably defined in the external DCC through some method such as locators.
Now I am, vaguely, aware of the socket system on skeletal meshes, but these are static mesh objects like buildings, that have no rigging or anything.
Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can start looking?
You can also add sockets to static meshes -> in the static mesh editor go to “window” - socket manager - add a socket - attach it in a blueprint 
Ah ok that’s cool, and works, though it is difficult to really be precise. Is there no way to do this in the DCC using something like a Locator/Null that will then be recognized on import?
It may not be feasible but something that’s possible is to create a tiny object without your external program, put it at the center of the axis grid and then freeze its transformations to 0 it out. Then, snap that object to a vert or place it where you want. Once you’re in the static mesh editor and are placing the socket, type in the same X/Y/Z positions as the tiny object has within your DCC. It’s not an exact fix in any way but it’s what I’ve been doing. I’d like to know if there was a better way to set sockets too though =/.
Create a null called “SOCKET_Attachpoint” in Maya/whatever, export the FBX and make sure it’s in the FBX along with the mesh and the importer will create sockets for the static mesh.
WOW, just tried this with Blender, when did that start working? I think I voted for this on Answerhub
That is exactly what I was looking for thanks! I thought something like that might exist since it does in other engines.