I have tested out Packed Level Instancing, Batch Merging Actors, and Harvest Instances when finding a tool that works best for staging crowds with the ability to adjust locations of individual assets and not effect the duplicates of the instanced actor. Batch Merging and Harvest Instancing seems to work best for that and also renders properly when animating the instanced actors around. I would like to request two features that would make my quality of life better when using these tools.
When I select an instanced actor, have it highlight the top node that is found in the outliner so I can find out which top node I should move around the scene. (image attached shows me selecting an instance and nothing in the Outliner shows me what it belongs to.
The ability to convert my top node instanced actor back to individual static mesh. (I can’t find a native UE tool that does this besides the tool that converts everything back to a single static mesh rather than individual ones.)
If there are other tools that I should look into that UE has that will achieve what I am looking for, I’d love to hear those too. Thanks!
I apologize for the delay. I just checked 5.5, and selecting an instance in the viewport will also be reflected in the outliner. For the actor splitting, which tool were you referring to?
Apologies if this isn’t considered “instance” but I assumed so since the actor I selected is called “instance 1” in the details panel. I was taking a group of shapes and going to Merge Actors > Batch and they become a single actor in the outliner. If I then select on of the individual actors it doesn’t show anything selected in the outliner. Does this help? Also, we are in 5.4 on this show, not sure that makes a difference though. [Image Removed]
I have also sent an email for this, but wanted to have a record of this solution.
The functionality you are looking for has been added as of 5.5. Below is the GIT reference for the code that allows for children within ISMs to be selected. The trick here, which can be tested in 5.5, is to Double-Click the ISM, then Double-Click again to select the individual component. Here is a video as well: Box | Login
Thanks for looking into this Michael! I tested it in 5.6 and it does help a lot more. It highlights when you select the group instance within the actor but still doesn’t show when you select an individual shape that is a part of that instance. Definitely better than the current state in 5.4 though. I noticed that the cvar allowed me to see and select the instance within the actor but it took away my ability to select an individual shape in one of those instance groups. Does the github link you sent bring back that functionality to match what I was experiencing in 5.6?
Hey all - we’re also curious if this could work in 5.4 if we backport the CL. Can we check in with the developer if there’s anything they’d flag from preventing us in doing that?