How to organize things? groups cannot be renamed (?)

Development Asset Creation
1

Hi, im relatively new to make things in UE4 (at least more serious things that I have done with udk),
I build some modular meshes to construct a corridor (the typical sci-fi modular type) so I got imported my modular meshes and put it together in the editor and want to make copies to place it in other parts of the level, it includes the walls, floor, ceiling a couple of lights. To maintain things in order and clean I first put all the parts in a folder in the world outliner then group them and from then used the group to make the copies to make sure every time I was picking all the elements.

Is that the way this kind of things is done? is there a better way to do this?

anyway it seems groups cannot be renamed, I searched the answers hub and a guy was told there last year that groups cannot (yet) be renamed, it seems by now still cannot be renamed.
Even I searched Trello if at least be a card to implement so in the future, but cannot found it…

So I started to think that creating groups is not the most clean way to make this kind of thing, I read too that making layers is a good way to organize things but I didnt like it… :3
because world outliner still gets dirtier and dirtier it looks so crowded after every new copy/paste… I know the whole point of using layers is eventually hide them, still dont like it

I know to that in the old days of UDK existed the concept of archetype to make this kind of things, btw I dont want/think to make blueprints for this is the correct way (but Im just guessing)

I think the ideal scenario would be that 1.- after group all the individual elements gets collapsed under the group node and 2.- you can rename the groups, with that I would be happy and World Outliner will get cleaner.

Thanks for any advice.
btw sorry for my bad english

2

You could build those parts in an actor bp + give it a name and place it -> then you can add it into a special folder in the scene outliner.
Otherwise just rename your assets and use your way :slight_smile:

3

So we should use blueprints as an equivalent for archetypes or prefabs, right? that is the way to go (?)
Thanks

4

Yep, use actor bp’s as prefabs -> https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?4673-Prefabs :slight_smile:

5

It seems existents blueprints (ie: I have a light with some geometry (a lamp) as a blueprint that I want to include in this bigger blueprint) things cannot be included in a bigger blueprint, it crash, maybe is a limitation

6

My final “solution” is
1.- create blueprint to attach toghether staticmesh as wall/floor/column/door_frames/etc, lets called our prefab_01 (corridor_type_01 in my case)
2.- all the items to be included in the “volume” inside the structure, but that are blueprint it-selves, are added, located in later in the editor as you do normally
3.- then inn world outliner you select them and dragged over to the prefab_01 so they became children

now if only you coud duplicate prefab_01 just by ctrl+w but you cannot, that only will duplicate the prefab_01, not its children, you still have to selecthem manually and you dont even have a “select children” option… :frowning:

but at least when you move the prefab_01 the children will move with it (btw an alt+drag will fail to to copy the children, only parent will be duplicated)

7

ok, why nobody mentioned “merge actors” feature? :smiley:

8

Ahh, yep, that’s a new feature from 4.9 -> you can also use that for the things that you want to do :smiley:

10

Select and then Left Click the name in World Outliner