Importing gltf files with interleaved geometry fails

Hi,

I have a fresh install of the latest Unreal 4.27, I tried importing gltf files which seemed to work in some cases, but it seems interleaved data is not supported, for example this one:

Not sure if the bug is in the Datasmith or the glTF plugin but I thought I’d report it.

The other feedback I have is that when I import a gltf file with multiple childrens (which have children on their own, etc) to the Content Browser, this scene hierarchy is lost after the import, only the meshes are imported. Is there a way to keep the hierarcy of the imported gltf scene?

Thanks,
Andrew

Hello Andrew,
thank you for reporting. We are aware of current limitations of glTF importer and are doing some improvements for UE5. I will share your remark to the team, to see if it is something we could support.

Did you import through the Datasmith button? I tried on one of my sample with hierarchy and I got the nodes in the world outliner. Could you share the model and/or some screenshots?
Bests,
Flavien

Hi Flavien,
thanks for the reply!
You’re correct, using the Datasmith button the hierarchy is kept in the world outliner!
I assume that means glTF improvements will not reach UE4 anymore. Regarding UE5 and glTF import, is that something I can test and give feedback, or do you think I should wait for UE5 to mature?

Are there plans to make glTF a first class citizen in Unreal or is there a point in contributing to the importer to make it more stable?
Thanks!

Yes there are two plugins for glTF importer, the datasmith one being an extra layer on top of the default one. And to use the datasmith glTF importer you do need to go through the datasmith button. There is plan to merged those two.

You are correct, 4.27 is out so we just do bug fixes at the moment. Future glTF importer improvements are going to be on 5.0 and future versions.

You are always welcome to build the engine from source to test features. ​I have seem some work done to support import of more glTF materials extension that should now be in UE5 main.

It is important for us to hear community comments. However we cannot provide support on those version in development. Also there is no straightforward way for us to communicate in details on what features are scheduled or worked on. And we would not really want to do so unless the job is done and we are confident it is going to meet a release. The best places are the public roadmap and the git repository that is up to date.

We have needs for better importer and exporter for glTF that comes from community as well as our internal teams at Twinmotion and Sketchfab so we will continue improving it.

In terms of contribution: you can report bugs and share your feature request with us.
I am not very familiar with the code contribution but we do accept those and you can find technical details here: Contributing to Unreal Engine 4 | Unreal Engine Documentation

Thanks for the detailed answer. I found some time to play around UE5 and it looks better but I can still see quite a few issues around gltf importing using the Datasmith plugin.
Should I create a new blog post like this on the forum and list the things I found?

Yes and put share the link to that post with me or tag me to the post so I do not miss it.