I’m wondering if there is a 3Ds Max/Vray archviz scene available. A scene we can use as a “datasmith converter” reference ?
Datasmith is promising a lot, so are all the tutorial and demo video’s I’ve seen. Sadly when I try to put it into practice on a everyday archviz scene I still see “issues”.
For example, why are Vray lights converted to some weird blueprint and not a mesh with an emissive material ?(https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-us/…o/EmissiveGlow) and are Vray lights (using lumens) not converted properly.
Want to give Epic credit for the great documentation and video’s.
For me personally a real scene would be the best source of info on the subject of converting scenes.
We can create a perfect scene that will convert perfectly but I want to see a everyday scene being converted well.
Everyday meaning: Not everything is perfect, no manually unwrapped lightmaps on every surface. Basically something that was made to earn money in limited time
Hey thx for your reply!
We indeed don’t have to look far for great Vray projects. I’ve got hundred’s of scenes I can get off my work server. Then there are Evermotion providing scenes just to name one
What I would like to see is an example scene by Epic or a partner that:
1, showcases the abilities of Datasmith. So for example what kind of materials convert well, which should be simplified etc.
2, showcases the things necessary for a proper Datasmith workflow and which things we can leave to Datasmith to solve.
3, showcases the ‘forgiving’ part of Datasmith, not everything build with a deadline is really neat
We have amazing Unreal projects already available showing what is possible. No doubt about that!
I can build up a pretty nice Unreal Scene from scratch doing all the lightmaps etc. myself etc. But that’s not the point of Datasmith !
I get the feeling that i’m somehow missing the miracle part of Datasmith. That or, the marketing department maybe needs to take a few steps back.
Hope I don’t sound too negative haha, maybe I’m just expecting too much
I kind of know what you mean! I guess if you were already good without Datasmith (oups Unreal Studio! ;)) then it won’t offer you much! …well it’s still faster to me to export a whole scene with it than with scripts…
For people who have no idea it’s really cool I guess! Importing materials and lights (ISH!!) with one click WOOOAAAAOO! But it’s not a magician! There are problems all over (lights, rotation issues, lightmaps are far from perfect, materials also…) but for a start it IS amazing! I can see it’s future! …just a bit more tuning and it will be AMAZING!
Thanks Epic for this wonderful tool and for everything else too of course!!
It’s an impossible task to 100% convert everything you can do in several offline renderers (V-Ray, Corona, Mental Ray) into UE4. There are some things that are simply impossible to support in UE4, and there is no mapping, and there are things that would be very difficult to achieve in the engine. Unreal Studio is a compromise to help people tackle some of these issues. This is also the first version of Unreal Studio, so we have 2 more versions just this year coming at you. We’re not static. If you want it to improve, you have to log bugs.
Report Unreal Studio bugs here: https://unrealstudiohelp.epicgames.com/s/article/How-do-I-report-a-bug
Thanks for the reply!
I’m very impressed already by what Datasmith is managing to do right now. It’s day and night compared to the FBX (scene) workflow.
Reason I’m asking for an “official” demo scene is that it can be both a nice learning tool and a great way to convince people what is possible in practise.
I notice at work that it is quit challenging to convert colleagues to start experimenting with Unreal. Some have been making artist impressions for 20 years and are pretty much “stuck” in working with Vray. When they see me struggling with lightmaps for a few days (I’m by no means a veteran so I take full responsibility here…) this might not be the best way of convincing them!
Personally I enjoy learning all this new technology and I happily watch a few hours of tutorials. But sadly not everyone has this drive or time available.
This is why I think a nice showcase scene would help a bunch.
Is there a centralized place available where we can share our experiences and requests related to Unreal Studio and Datasmith ?
Hey Cultor,
I understand there’s a thread for feature requests Ken setup on the other forum but I’m working on some demo scenes and I’d love to cary on with this discussion here if that’s ok with you? I’m curious if you work in an Architect’s firm or visualisation studio? The workflows are slightly different in each situation.
