Repeat action or tool

General Feedback & Requests
, , ,
1

Searched for a tool for this, but didn’t find one.

Would be awesome if UE4 editor had a button/shortcut to “repeat last action/tool”. A lot of 3D packages have a tool like this, i.e. Softimage, Maya, etc. that improves workflow and efficiently by allowing the user to reuse a repetitive command over and over. For example, say in Maya you are modeling a mesh, and you’re using the extrude tool a lot- 20 times in a row, you can use the default hot key “Y” to reactivate the last used tool, in this case, the extrude tool. This improves workflow and makes you do repetitive tasks super fast.

Instinctively, I find myself trying to do the same thing in Unreal editor. For example, I am currently working on doing a BSP rough of a level and constantly having to tick on the Extrude tool is a real pain, especially when having to create some BSP with even simple complexity. Really annoying.

With a “repeat last action/tool” I could just hit the hotkey and go straight to extrude mode instantly and work so much faster. BSP editing is one example, but this could be handy for tasks across the board when working in Unreal editor.

What do you guys think? Could we get something like this?

2

Hi Leonard,

I was thinking how to enter this request, but I am unsure of how it could work with Rocket. Let’s look at your example between Extruding in Maya and Rocket. In Maya, to extrude, you have to select a face, and then click the Extrude button. Every single extrusion requires the clicking of the button (or hotkey). Rocket, however, is different. In Rocket, you click on the Extrusion option just once, and instead of performing an action, you are put into a state of extruding. In this state, all subsequent movement of faces is automatically an extrusion. If you want to stop extruding, then you have to enter into another state (like Edit or Pen).

Repeating your last command in this case would simply re-enter you into the Edit/Pen state again. This same logic applies outside of BSP as well, for instance with Landscapes, you toggle between different states of Sculpt or Paint.

I suppose the option that could work is a hotkey that enters your previous state. So that if you Extrude, then Edit, then press the hotkey you are returned to Extrude. And clicking again would toggle back to Edit.

I do however only see this action being useful in the Level Editor. For example, I am not seeing a usefulness for it in the Blueprint Editor.

Please, let me know your thoughts on some practical examples of how you would like to use such a feature.

Thanks!

3

Yeah I think we’re almost on the same page. It would be useful mainly for the level editor (i.e. working with BSP, editing environments, working with lights, etc.) In BP it could also be useful, but more on that in a bit.
A level editor example: I am doing a BSP rough for a new level, it requires working with BSP for a few hours. This will require creating brushes, editing brushes (extrude, weld, etc.), moving brushes, etc.
When I am extruding, sometimes I have to go back to edit mode to move a BSP component around (i.e. some verts), then I have to extrude a new polygon, switch back out from extrude mode, use the weld tool, etc. Rinse and repeat, over and over. It would be faster and more efficient if I could hit “Y” and be back using the last previously used tool. So, I am extruding a poly, now I have to move some verts around, I select a poly to extrude and hit “Y” to go back to previous tool (extrude), quickly extrude some more geo, go back to moving some verts around, etc. Much faster then clicking on a small radial button to activate extrude mode over and over. Now I have to weld some verts, so I select some verts, hit weld, go back to moving verts mode and tweak my BSP some more, select some verts to weld again, hit “Y” to reuse the last tool/command (which was weld), and I can continue working faster and more efficiently.

In BP, it can be useful too. Say I have a huge node network and I am going to comment the sections for organization; I select a group of nodes representing custom events, I create a comment with specific colors (red) for those events, etc., I can then select other nodes I want commented the same way, hit “Y” and they get commented with the same colors and data as the last created object in BP, which happened to be that specific custom comment object. This is a simple example, but imagine the possibilities with being able to hit “Y” to add most recently created node? I know it would be similar to ctrl+w, but if you copy/paste/duplicate, you have to make the copy and then place it (in the case of comments). With “Y” the selected nodes would get commented and have all the attributes and placement done for you, it’s just faster.

Not sure if my long post makes sense? I’m sure a feature like this would be useful in many situations where we wouldn’t even realize right now; it would be one of those things where you’re like “wow that’s useful, glad I had it in that situation”.

4

Thanks for fleshing the idea out a bit more. I have reported a feature request for this in a way that shows practical application and could lead to further discussion.

Cheers!

5

Hello

I am new to UE currently using 5.3, I’m using UV projection and was wondering if there’s a shortcut to apply the same UV projection to multiple objects. I know it’s a very niche scenario but something like that exists in maya and if it can work in different modes then it could be very useful. This post is from 10 years ago and there might be something similar to this in UE already, I’m probably just oblivious to it.

6

Is this implemented yet? I’m copying a modular wall by alt dragging, now I want to press a shortcut to repeat that so I can make the wall 100 pieces long without manually dragging 100 wall pieces into place. In Blender it’s shift r (for repeat).