Firstly I new to UE4 so I’m still in the early days of working things out…
Having trouble trying to import a 3D topo survey from CAD to use as a landscape to use in UE4. I’ve manage to bring it in as an asset (static mesh) with a single texture applied using the .obj file format. However I’m unable to apply different textures & add foliage as it doesn’t recognise the mesh model as a landscape.
Can this done? If so where am I going wrong?
Would you post a screenshot of the topo map? Importing as a static mesh is not going to function correctly with foliage and other landscape tools, I think. It’s much easier to generate a grayscale heightmap and import that to create a landscape from it quickly. It requires a bit of editing of the black-to-white heightmap image in a program such as Photoshop or Inkscape, such as blurring and smoothing / sharpening, but it’s easier than trying to recreate the exact terrain of a 3D map with the sculpting tools. There’s also a plugin called TerraForm that is for importing 3D map data to Unreal Engine, and it might have a few pointers for importing a CAD topo in the web site tutorial about that plugin / application. Different parts of the tutorial are accessible by links to the topics, like a table of contents link list, and here’s a link to it:
Otherwise, I’m not sure if there’s a way to transform a 3D CAD survey map to a UE landscape within UE. Try looking up the release notes of 4.25.3 and 4.25.4 for CAD under Landscape / Terrain, or in the docs.
Example image of a CAD topo 3D survey model (image taken from plan view & one isometric). I did try and generate a height map but you need software to really generate the correct grey scale values. The file is a .dgn (Bentley Microstation CAD file & exported as a .obj to bring into URE4).
I wanted to use the engine & the mega scan library to render the site to compare the result against LumenRT.
I’ll have a look at this TerraformPro
What is it?
It’s a survey of a railway siding in London, We’re redeveloping the site and I was hoping to use UE4 to show case the rending power with the hope to push towards using tools like this for future works if it’s proven to provide benefits.
Ok. I’m surprised there’s no other replies. It’s not a commonly asked question, if CAD topo can be imported to a landscape somehow. Try the AnswerHub too, as sometimes responses are more frequently had there. What is the exact file format? The solution I think of, though I don’t know how to do it, is creating a Datasmith plugin or ‘pipeline’ for the specific CAD file. Yet, I’d say keep looking for an alternative that’s faster and more accessible (less technical than constructing a plugin). I learned how to generate a landscape from a PNG black/white map image that can also be imported in other file types like JPG. There’s also LiDar point cloud, though I don’t know if it’s applicable there.