Gridline Marker / Helper

I am trying to use UE4 to make a map and I noticed something very useful missing.

I’ve asked around for this several times on IRC and it seems there is nothing to ‘mark’ gridlines to help you build stuff. This is an example of what I mean:

This has 3 functions:

  1. Marking an XYZ gridline to build on
  2. Finding the center XYZ gridline of a piece or set of geometry instantly
  3. Using the marker to place new objects, instead of randomly dragging into the environment

Here is the same thing in 3DSMax, referred to as “point helpers”
https://www…com/watch?v=uFN7KkfQ3vU#t=2m55s

So far I’ve seen nothing in UE4 that lets me ‘mark’ places like this easily. Most actors can be clicked and you get the center point like I described in #2, but it is not persistent, once you de-select it, it is gone. This means you cannot use it as a measuring tool to move other objects against it. I have thought about manually creating a crosshair across all viewports with geometry edit but the editor really dislikes that idea. I also tried to use ‘place actor’ from the context editor to mark center pivot points, but they always offset from the center.

Those who have heard me before, sorry if I sound like a broken record, but this would be EXTREMELY useful tool to build faster.

Hi,

I think this would be a great addition to the editor and have entered a feature request, UE-16735 to be considered by the development staff.

Thank you much!

[=lakecityransom;307187]

Here is the same thing in 3DSMax, referred to as “point helpers”
https://www…com/watch?v=uFN7KkfQ3vU#t=2m55s

So far I’ve seen nothing in UE4 that lets me ‘mark’ places like this easily. Most actors can be clicked and you get the center point like I described in #2, but it is not persistent, once you de-select it, it is gone. This means you cannot use it as a measuring tool to move other objects against it. I have thought about manually creating a crosshair across all viewports with geometry edit but the editor really dislikes that idea. I also tried to use ‘place actor’ from the context editor to mark center pivot points, but they always offset from the center.

Those who have heard me before, sorry if I sound like a broken record, but this would be EXTREMELY useful tool to build faster.
[/]

The 3DSMax tool isn’t really the same thing, in other applications we call those “Nulls” or “Dummy Actors” (in 3DSMax) which means non-rendering objects that have their own axis/rotation/scaling etc, which are useful for both parenting purposes and locating stuff.

Still, your request in regards to having XYZ “Guides” is a good one in terms of desired functionality. I’m not familiar enough with the current Unreal Engine (4.7+) to know if there are actually XYZ guides, but as some alternatives:

you DO have something similar to Nulls or Dummy Actors in UE4 Target Points: Target Point Actors in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation. There is also an actor Component called “SceneComponent” that gives the same heirarchy abilities (to an actor) that I’m used to using Nulls or Dummy Actors for in other 3D applications (where you might want to have scaling or rotation around an axis that’s off center from your mesh, in which case you make it a child of the null and transform that)… I might be mis-remembering SceneComponent’s functionality but that’s what memory tells me =]

@Valis TY for the terminology… that document looks like it was exactly what I was hoping to find & read, but it looks like the main purpose of these targets is just to be part of blue prints… unless you can make a blueprint that affects the editor itself?

The only other benefit would be simply ‘marking’ a spot it seems, but its not even in the UT4 flavored UE4 program, unless there is a special way to conjure it up.

Hi, I wanted to checked on the fate of UE-16735 since I’ve started using the editor again. I read that we can’t see the UE4 tracker and just have to ask (read that hereanswers.unrealengine.com/questions/316820/how-to-find-bug-status-based-on-number-eg-ue-21411.html)

[=]
Hi, I wanted to checked on the fate of UE-16735 since I’ve started using the editor again. I read that we can’t see the UE4 tracker and just have to ask (read that hereanswers.unrealengine.com/questions/316820/how-to-find-bug-status-based-on-number-eg-ue-21411.html)
[/]

Hi,

At present our resources are dedicated elsewhere. Unfortunately, I do not have a timeframe of when this will be addressed.

[= ;531590]
Hi,

At present our resources are dedicated elsewhere. Unfortunately, I do not have a timeframe of when this will be addressed.
[/]

Understandable, just wondering if a decision had even been made. Thanks.

I did manage to make something now that I’m a bit more familiar:

If anyone is interested this is what I did:

  1. Made an audio volume (yellow color since you can’t take off the red/blue/green axes that mark 0,0,0 coords)
  2. Go into geometry mude and ‘split’ the cube in topdown viewport twice, once in left viewport
  3. Drag vertex from the corners in all 3 viewports to the middle
  4. In details pane, under spawn collision handling, set actor to “do not spawn”
  5. In geometry mode, use arrow keys to nudge points out 10,000 units. Don’t scale, as this will mess up the pivot point and it will never stay at the intersection.

The reason is has to be this way is because if you try to make a 1 dimensional piece of geometry (a line) the piece will simply vanish.

From here you can use this as an alignment tool or you can get the coords of the pivot at the center point and put new items directly on the point (such as pickups).