Ulrich Thuemmler - Physics Asset Shape Tools

Distribution Product Discussion
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Physics Asset Shape Tools adds a small Shape Tools panel to the Physics Asset Editor viewport. It makes the everyday work of fitting collision shapes to a character faster and less error-prone – for ragdolls, cloth collision, hair or any other physics setup.

Keep shape selection while editing

After changing a shape in the Details panel or with the gizmo, the Physics Asset Editor sometimes jumps to a different shape of the same body. The plugin keeps the shape you are working on selected. Undo still works in one step: the extra selection steps the editor records after an edit are removed from the undo history, so Ctrl+Z undoes the edit itself.

Shape overlay – translucent or opaque

Draws all collision shapes as a filled, depth-tested overlay, so you see exactly where a shape cuts into the mesh. One slider goes from off over translucent to opaque and shaded (light from the camera, real depth, overlapping shapes cover each other correctly). Four colors: purple, green, yellow, blue. The selected shape and the other shapes of its body are highlighted. Shapes stay clickable; hidden bodies and the editor's collision view modes are respected.

Mirror left → right / right → left

Copies spheres, boxes, capsules and tapered capsules of every body of one side onto the matching body of the other side, mirrored on the chosen axis (X, Y or Z) in the reference pose. Missing bodies on the target side are created. Collision pairs (collide / disabled) are mirrored as well. Recognized names: thigh_l / thigh_r, CC_Base_L_Thigh / CC_Base_R_Thigh, Left / Right. Everything is one undo step.

No runtime dependency

The plugin is editor only and stores nothing of its own in your assets. Physics Assets edited with it are plain engine assets and keep working without the plugin (also in packaged games).

Getting started

Enable the plugin under Edit → Plugins → Editor → Physics Asset Shape Tools and restart the editor. Open any Physics Asset: the Shape Tools panel appears in the top right corner of the viewport. All features are also available as console commands (PhysicsAssetShapeTools.*), documented in the README.md included with the plugin.

Technical details

  • Code modules: PhysicsAssetShapeTools (Editor)

  • Number of Blueprints: 0

  • Number of C++ classes: 1 (editor-only overlay component) plus the editor module

  • Network replicated: No

  • Supported development platforms: Windows (Win64)

  • Supported target build platforms: none needed – editor-only plugin, not included in packaged games

  • Supported engine version: Unreal Engine 5.8

  • Documentation: README.md included in the plugin folder (features, console commands, how it works)

  • Example project: not needed – open any Physics Asset after enabling the plugin

Notes

  • After undo/redo the Physics Asset Editor selects the first shape of the body (engine behavior, not changed by the plugin).

  • On the first undo of a session the engine itself may log "Ensure condition failed: !GIsTransacting" from the Physics Asset Editor; this also happens without the plugin and is harmless.