First time UE user, modeling in blender for UE

anonymous_user_bd5644a2 · February 15, 2015, 10:12pm

So I decided to fiddle with game creation and see what is possible. My first step is learning how to model in blender. I have the basics down, but I’m looking for info on the specifics of creating things to be used in UE4. Mostly things that are important for a good rendering outcome in UE4.

Consider me a total idiot, spare no details or even the simplest trick that you think everyone should know. A checklist of things I need to make sure I do from modeling to importing into the engine would be nice.

Here we go:

Which maps can/should be used for a model/texture in UE4. Besides the diffuse I mean.
Does the engine have issues with triangles over quads, or any quirks about models that I should be aware of when creating them?
Does the scale of my model matter in blender? Can it be changed in engine without messing it up?
What format should my models/textures/skeletons/animations and other things like that be for UE4?

I’m sure there is more I’m forgetting, so feel free to offer any advice that you can.

Thanks.

Furyhunter · February 16, 2015, 5:29am

You should have a look at the material system in UE4 since it’s not so straight-forward. You compose the inputs for each part of the PBR pipeline with whatever you want, similar to Blender’s Cycles stuff.
Exporting to FBX should automatically triangulate your mesh, but you should always use triangles when possible. The engine does not support other polygon shapes.
You should export 100x scale from Blender in the FBX Export dialog. Always apply object transforms before exporting, especially when working with armatures.
FBX, PNG, FBX, FBX. The engine will convert them to internal formats when imported. Use the latest version of Blender as its FBX tools recently got big improvements (courtesy of a donation from Epic Games). Blender will export the .blend file’s Actions for each Armature as a separate animation inside an FBX file, and Unreal will be smart enough to separate them for you. Make sure to import a mesh as a Skeletal Mesh if it has an armature. The armature in an exported FBX model will be turned into a Skeleton asset and Unreal will keep track of the source FBX for you, so keep your exported FBXs in the same area. (Note: in 4.7, Unreal will automatically import any raw assets in Content to your project.)

In Unreal, 100 units = 1 meter. In Blender, you should work with default scale such that 1 unit = 1 meter.

anonymous_user_923c79df · February 16, 2015, 6:46am

diffuse, normal, heightmap, specular map, ao map, sss map -> but you dont have to use all of them

anonymous_user_bd5644a2 · February 16, 2015, 7:01am

I was referring to model creation inside of blender. I assume that I should use quads, and that UE4 will have issues with ngons and triangles.

Great answers though, thanks for the help. It clears up a lot.

I don’t even know what a heightmap, ao map, or sss map even is lol.

anonymous_user_f70d3582 · February 16, 2015, 8:22am

you only need to do this if you set the units in blender to metric with unit scale set to 1, you can also set the units to metric and set unit scale to 0.01 and then export with scale set to 1 or you could do what I do and leave the units in blender at there defaults and just use 1 unit in blender as 1CM and export with scale set to 1, its easier and there is less to go wrong.

by default 1 blender unit is the same size as 1 Unreal unit so this isn’t necessary.

its fine to model with quads/tris or anything else you want however I would recommend you triangulate before exporting from blender as automatic triangulation can give you some smoothing/shading errors due to the faces triangulating in the wrong direction.