Datasmith Feature Requests

[anonymous_user_af1d400e]

@roberteker

A robust and modern hierarchy system, with expand all, collapse all, hide/delete subtree, etc. etc.

The hierarchy support in Unreal right now is so rudumentary and volatile that we still prefer to use Unity. Unreal is also really picky about object and file naming, which Unity isn’t, and you get a lot of long and complicated file/part names with CAD importing.

+1 for this. , I know you did mention the team is aware of this but if I may add another vote for this so you can tally up feedback. Specifically the Hierarchy and layer explorer is very limited. If your team wants to look at examples to follow I would say is not a bad place to start as it is pretty powerful when is comes to its layer and hierarchy explorers. There are some issue with allowing duplicate names and so on that maybe shouldn’t be that way however simple things like:

• Collapse all
• Auto collapse
• Select children
• Allow nested layers

Addition features that would be useful are:

• A more powerful layer or grouping system (perhaps Both). I listed a few things above but in depth research could be done on this
• Allow quick isolation of objects
• More robust snapping and alignment tools - options to choose what to snap to or functionality to press tab to switch to different reference points (this is a hard one to do but look to Revit as a example software. I know that their software is intended for industrial use so accuracy is very important which is not such the case for UE but look at how things can be rotated and moved by any point or reference accurately and easily)
• More effective select all assets with the same Material (Maybe its just me but i cant always get this to work right)
• Selection Sets Feature. Additional to having Grouping and layers. Selections sets can be a real life saver in
• Simple Uv mapping - Planar. Cylindrical etc. This is just a nice to have for some of those odd Revit object that need better mapping
• Fixing the issue with using altered pivots correctly in UE. With the Revit plugin coming these types of changes will only be done in UE and not . So offsetting the pivot to the end of the door so it can be animated in sequencer is going to be required. - it is possible to hack this with creating an parent actor and moving the static mesh the to the correct place of the desired pivot but the current pivot offset feature should work with sequencer)

These are just a few things that would allow UE to become alot easier to manage as a go to solution for Visualization. UE with the intention of Datasmith is in effect replacing many common tasks that one would use a DCC app to do. It would likely become the final software where all other data is being imported and composited in. Therefor Organization of actors and the ability to correctly place data from multiple sources in the final level is very important.

A simple example of where I hope our workflow in ArchViz will go in the coming year or two.

• The building will be created in Revit and Linked/updated directly into UE using the coming Datasmith plugin (Cant wait for this become a reality)
• 2D/3D plans will quickly be exported to as a reference to allow population and placement of custom interior assets (either created in or SKP) - Populating Interior in UE really isnt the best workflow so its best to do that in a DCC app.
• Interiors will then be exported to UE from with datasmith (The ability to properly update these assets with proper bi-direction sync is vital - no more finding which actors need to be deleted in UE because the scene in has changed - I believe this issue better resolved in the next version)
• Utilize Substance materials as much as possible (I hope Datasmith will translate this material from to UE in the future with the new substance plugin for now available. Substance materials should not have their textures exported but rather a link to the actual substance file with the correct preset used in the mat should be done when exported)
• Utilize SpeedTree for vegetation.
• Render HQ stills with VRAY for UE (For now this is requirement till hardware is up to date with DXR than maybe Vray would not be so necessary bu certainly still useful)
• Produce walk-throughs / VR experiences / videos with already power UE features.

If the Team working on DataSmith can keep this workflow in mind when testing and creating new feature I think this would be wise as I see UE being used in this way a lot more for ArchViz. I know thier focus is mostly on the export and transfer tools however i like the new addtions being added in 4.20 like Mesh Editing. You guys are on track to start making more changes to the way the editor functions and how it can be more efficient and easier to use and not just translating data from different sources. So although alot of the above mention are just mere wishes, in the long term they can be invaluable.