How to know which foliage type I have selected in the viewport?

Wir3d · November 19, 2020, 5:39am

I can’t figure out how to know which foliage type I have selected in the viewport.

Lets go step by step:

I saw problem with some of the bushes I am using, and I have like 30 similar bush types in my foliage collection
I enter foliage mode, and instead of “paint” I choose “select” mode
I select one of the bushes in my viewport that are causing issues

There is no way (or I am blinded) to figure out what foliage type I am using for that bush, right?
I can’t be right because I doubt I am the first one needing that, but I really can’t find the way to figure out which one from my library is the one I have picked.
Then I just go one by one bush in my foliage collection (guess mode) and choose “select all instances” than “deselect” and I check if the next one will be the right one…

ClockworkOcean · November 19, 2020, 8:40am

I don’t think there is a way. If you can’t tell which mesh it is, then maybe it’s not very distinctive?..

Wir3d · November 19, 2020, 5:12pm

Are you telling me that I shouldn’t go for realism in arch viz because meshes should be very distinctive for proper editor work? I shouldn’t use 20 different bush types to achieve subtle scene differences but should use only one because of editor missing features?

How about missing features to be recognised and properly treated if arguments are valid.

ClockworkOcean · November 19, 2020, 7:26pm

Naturally, you can do it any way you like, of course.

But if you can’t tell which mesh it is, then anybody looking at the scene, for sure can’t.

If you want to go for realism, I’d use a lot of different kinds of bushes. People would notice that, even if unconsciously.

presto423 · November 19, 2020, 8:25pm

Would right-click, “Browse to Asset” or “Audit Asset(s)” work?

Wir3d · November 19, 2020, 11:41pm

Unfortunatelly nothing happens when you right click. There is no new menu opened, output log even doesn’t tell that you have selected anything…

This is just one of the missing features in the current UE4 version and I am just buffled that nobody else needed this.

When you work on a project for a few weeks, and you did foliage on the start, there is just no way you can tell which plant you have selected as they all look similar in foliage library preview so you either need to increase thumbnail size or to “guess” which model that can be and to “select all” than to deselect if wrong and check another one.

It is simply a feature that needs to be added, and yes - right click and browse to foliage library asset would be a perfect solution.

anonymous_user_1c9e08e91 · March 8, 2021, 8:33am

Hi !
I had the same problem. Do you get the right way now?

PCF_Goran · March 18, 2021, 4:20pm

I was struggling with this too and couldn’t find a proper way. As a workaround, to find out what foliage instance was in my scene I made a quick Blueprint actor, which fires a linetrace forwards on ConstructionScript, then prints out the hit component.

Wir3d · March 18, 2021, 8:26pm

I haven’t solved this, but I had more issues with foliage while I was working until now.

I remember having wrong thumbnails multiple times which makes original problem even worse.

@Goran:
Thank you for this. I’ll have it in mind if I need it in the future.

ianFisch · August 16, 2021, 11:13am

You’re a ■■■■. If you don’t have an answer to the question, don’t bother posting.

ianFisch · August 11, 2021, 9:19pm

Indeed. How has Epic not realized that this is a problem?

ClockworkOcean · August 16, 2021, 11:27am

Yes Sir! …

soulbank · February 12, 2022, 9:35pm

is there a updated link where i can find this script ? thanks !

Rogue_Programmer · September 30, 2022, 10:29pm

One technique that I use sometimes is this:

Select foliage mode.
Deselect, just in case
Open the foliage types panel and right-click one of the types that I suspect might be the one.
Choose “select all instances”.
If my foliage instance becomes selected, I found it, otherwise try a different one.

slam.js · November 17, 2022, 11:18am

That’s nice workaround.

Too bad that minor feature is still missing…

krz9000 · November 17, 2022, 11:55am

foliage is in a bad state. the problem you described is still ongoing but also the inability to move (export/import) existing foliage distributions from one worldpartition map to another one killed 100s of hours of work for me (there is some code in the ue4 to ue5 convertion tool that does that, but i havent figured out how to trigger that from within the editor)

VATREX · January 16, 2023, 1:00am

Hiya! First reply on this forum in my life!

Wire style (electronic nodes plugin)

Then by right clicking a foliage actor in the level editor viewport you can call that event from “SciptedActions” category.

diModrone · February 3, 2024, 5:02am

I don’t understand anything, why when I copy this BP by inserting it into my BP file half of the links fall off? Why is it for version 4.26? Is there something for 5.3? What kind of code to insert where should I insert it? I don’t understand anything, anyone please explain what to do about it

for 4 years it was impossible to add to the program?

AN3O · February 8, 2024, 5:22am

Because in UE 5 GetLevelViewPortCameraInfo and GetEditorWorld moved to Unreal Editor Subsystem. Add this node to BP and create missed links like at screenshot.