Blueprint prefab geometry rendering problems

General Feedback & Requests
1

I’m attempting to turn an existing room (static meshes, lights, fx, etc) into a prefab that I can instance in multiple places in the level. My understanding is that I should be doing this with a blueprint object.

The problem: Lighting seems to show problematic results when attempting to prefab geometry in a blueprint object.

Lighting using non-blueprint static meshes (this is how it should look):
c32a7e5f33f2ea9ad55a311b3e5362b24319f861.jpeg

Lighting using blueprint static meshes (this is not how it should look):
lighting_blueprint.JPG

2

What is the mobility set to on your mesh components (near the transform in the details panel)?

Try setting them to static and rebuilding lighting.

Cheers,
Michael Noland

3

Thanks Michael. That solved the lighting issue.

That said, I actually have feedback for the blueprint systems as a means to building level/object prefabs. I was going to start a new thread but maybe it’s better just to add it to this thread (for now).

Context: I’ve been a Unity game designer for a few years. I’m currently re-learning and evaluating Unreal4 (I’ve used Unreal2.x at a previous studio).

The problem: For level object prefab construction, I’m finding the blueprint system to be very cumbersome.
(note: It’s possible that I’m using the blueprint system is a way that it’s not intended to be used. Please let me know if this is the case.)

  • Adding new objects (e.g. static meshes) to an existing blueprint is clunky. Let’s say that I want to take an existing set of static meshes from the level file and add them to an existing blueprint. There seems to be no way of doing this. It seems I can only add new objects to a blueprint through the blueprint’s viewport. This is ok but there doesn’t seem to be a way of copy/pasting objects from the level to the blueprint. I must add the objects in the viewport and then copy/paste/edit the transforms, meshes, basically all detail panel values manually (as an additional note, it would be ideal if the details panel would allow copy/pasting all transform value in a single action.)
  • Converting an existing blueprint back to non-blueprint level objects seems non-existent.
  • Certain objects cannot be added to a blueprint. For example, I tried to add a target point but this doesn’t seem to be possible.
  • I can’t seem to edit the origin of the blueprint.
  • Ideally I’d be able to simply drag objects from the map file to and from an instanced blueprint. Then be given the option to apply the instance changes to the blueprint default object (this is basically how Unity does it… and it’s great).

**Bottom Line: So far my experience with Unreal has been a very positive one but… Unity’s prefab functionality seem vastly superior to Unreal at the moment. **

4

Hello ,

I was reading over you last post and I wanted to inform you that a feature request for what you have mentioned has already been submitted. However, depending on your needs there is a feature in the engine that could be viable. You can select the actors in your scene and then use the blueprints drop down to convert them to a single blueprint via the “Convert Selected Components to Blueprint Class” option. I hope that this information helps.

Example:

ConvertActorsToBlueprint.png

Make ti a great day