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Creating a master library of assets

Community General Discussion
#1

Hello everyone,

Sorry if this seems a stupid question, I have gone through the first 60 training videos and was beginning to start building some simple projects but was concerned about keeping my workflow and assets organized.

I saw the videos regarding the content browser and how to create, delete and rename files as well as importing and migrating assets but I’m still confused about what seems must be a simple process.

I’m struggling to understand how (if at all) I could create a master library of all my assets across all projects. At the moment i’m using whatever free assets come with the UE4 demo scenes but i’d like to have all the demo assets (and any future assets) all stored in one location so they can be easily imported into any project without migrating from the original demo each time.

I understand that I will want to keep my projects small and so don’t want to import every asset every time, but i’d love to have a central place to keep everything.

For example when i’m looking to place some trees in a scene i’d like to be able to see every tree i have used in every project in one place.

I was thinking of creating an empty project called “Master_Library” and migrating everything to that one project, but that seems an untidy solution.

How are you all accessing your assets? Can a single master library be easily created, updated and managed? If you came from an earlier of different game engine, how do you use all your old assets without importing each into a project one at a time?

It would be great to be able to search my master library from within unreal and then only import those selected elements into y current project. Is this possible?

Sorry again for the noobie question, i’m sure its very straight forward and i’ve just missed something.

Thanks for your help,

Andy

#2

Just move your content to the UnrealEngine-4.7-Samples-StarterContent folder. Now before you create a project you can enable “use starter content” in the project launcher and then you have all those assets in your content browser :slight_smile:

#3

Epic has also mentioned they will be adding in support for creating content packs that can be added to any project, similar to how the starter content works. Not sure if this will be a 4.7 feature or 4.8, but it is coming soon.

#4

Hey Fight5347, thanks for your response.

I tried copying everything to the samples folder but no joy. When adding starter content, the new assets are not added to the new project although they are in the local folders in the correct build version. As a result, I now have an even bigger unorganized pile that UE4 wont even read :slight_smile:

Even if this method did work, it doesn’t seem a good idea to add every asset ever to your project before you begin. Then you get the pleasure of deleting every unused asset at the end before compiling your final game.

Seems like organizing large amounts of assets like this should be UE4 101 page 1.

Again, unless i’m missing something I have no idea how anyone maintains an organized workflow when you can’t simply have all your assets stored, organized and managed in a single location or “Master Vault” of assets.

What if you created a tree 7 months ago for another project and you wanted to use it again? Do you have to load up the old UE project (assuming you can remember the name and build version) and then migrate the specific tree to your new project? This seems a huge waste of time compared to simply searching your master vault for trees.

It’s really disappointing that a software that is capable of some stunning visuals, is incapable of some very basic project management.

I’m really hoping that someone can shed some light and give me a “of course!” moment on this, surely this isn’t what UE4 considers an effective way to work.

Andy

#5

When you always use the same folder structure, you can also just move the content -> without migrating :slight_smile:
That’s really strange that it doesnt work, I will check it when I’m at home

#6

Thanks Fighter5347, I appreciate the help!

Andy

#7

UE4 version 4.7 preview 5 was just released a few minutes ago, and I noticed this in the release notes:

So it looks like this feature will be in 4.7, and you can try it out in the preview. I have been looking forward to this feature for a while, great to see it finally implemented! :slight_smile:

#8

I am looking forward to this also, it’s a major pita right now.

#9

Source Control may help as well. It allows for workspaces to be created. I havent used it (yet) so it may not provide the function that your looking

#10

Thank you John, I’ll take a look.

#11

Hello,

Just thought i’d suggest the workflow I would like to see in UE4 for using and storing assets.

Ideally, I’d like to have my own local “Master Vault” of models, textures, etc living on my computer/cloud.

When I import them to UE4 an reference of that element would then be created and could be used to build my game.

When the game is compiled for exporting, UE4 could “build” my game and copy over the files that any instances used.

This could also be an option at any point during the game dev by selecting a “make assets local” feature or similar, compiling your game to your local game folder.

I’m sure i’m over simplifying the process but thought I throw out my ideal work flow to see what anyone thinks.

How would you prefer assets to be stored when your studio has a large cache of models, textures, etc?

Andy

#12

I am also looking for a way to organize assets in a package and make it available for import into new projects. The ability to add a content pack through the Content Browser, as DotCam suggests, is really useful for downloaded packs, but how do I create my own asset pack that would show up along side the downloaded content in the Vault? Thanks in advance for your help!

#13

I want to know!!!:mad:

#14

Just thought I’d drop this on the thread. I use it. It’s free.:rolleyes: